Washington State Farm Bureau News
Sept. 10, 2001     No. 126

NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF LAST YEAR’S $27 BILLION IN FEDERAL FARM AID WENT    to just 10 percent of the nation’s farm owners, including several multimillion corporations and government agencies. (AP/The Olympian, Sept. 10) At least 20 Fortune 500 companies and more 1,200 universities and government-run farms, including state prisons, received federal assistance, as well as real estate developers and absentee landowners. Since federal rules base subsidies on acreage, rather than financial need, large operations receive most of the money. The American Farm Bureau Federation noted that large farms also take greater risks and have greater expenses. Federal aid made up nearly half of the total farm income nationwide last year.

 

WASHINGTON RECEIVED $413 MILLION IN FEDERAL FARM AID LAST YEAR — 22ND among all states. (AP/The Olympian, Sept. 10) Most of the farm aid in Washington went to wheat and barley growers, including more than $80 million in Whitman County, $57 million in Lincoln County, $44 million in Adams County, and $40 million in Walla Walla County. But “farm subsidies cover a relatively small portion of the state’s $5 billion agriculture economy” and “unlike in many states, most of the farm subsidies in Washington go to actual farmers, rather than large corporations or institutions.” Jon Newkirk, a Washington State University extension agent, noted that most of the farms in Washington “are owned by farm families and have been for several generations.”

 

AN ONGOING DISPUTE BETWEEN THE NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE AND the Bureau of Reclamation is delaying efforts to repair Keechelus Dam, raising the possibility that the reservoir’s capacity will continue to dwindle. (Tri-City Herald, Sept. 10) The Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Yakima Irrigation Project, wants to repair soft spots in the dam left by rotting timbers to ensure public safety, while the fisheries service wants to rebuild the dam to include fish-passage for steelhead and bull trout, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The dispute “could be enough to prevent the project from moving forward for years.” The reservoir’s capacity was reduced by 17,000 acre-feet after the soft spots were detected in 1998.  

 

BECAUSE OF CONTINUING DROUGHT CONDITIONS, 2002 WINTER WHEAT MAY NOT qualify as an irrigated crop for insurance purposes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA’s Risk Management Agency said growers must have adequate water, or the reasonable expectation of adequate water, when they plant their 2002 crop. Farmers have until Sept. 30 to change their crop insurance coverage for 2002 wheat.

 

SIX NEW STUDIES, TO BE PUBLISHED THIS WEEK BY THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF Sciences, found that Bt corn poses a “negligible” risk to monarch butterflies. (New York Times, Sept. 8) Publication of the new studies was moved up several weeks because the Environmental Protection Agency is to renew permits for the biotech corn on Sept. 30. An earlier study suggested eating pollen from Bt corn could harm monarch caterpillars, which became a rallying cry for anti-biotech activists. But recent research suggests the early study was flawed. About 19 percent of the corn and 35 percent of the cotton planted in the United States last year contained the Bt gene, which enable the crops to produce their own natural pesticide.

 

THE WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY AG RESEARCH CENTER WILL ELIMINATE 16 positions for the 2001-2002 school year, according to director Ralph Cavalieri. (Spokesman-Review, Sept. 6) Positions are being cut in the areas of agricultural economics, animal science, crop and soil sciences and horticulture. The university, however, is adding new positions in the areas of plant and animal biotechnology.  ________________________________________________________________________________

Ó 2001 Washington Farm Bureau. NewsWatch is a daily update on news of interest to agriculture. Contact Dean Boyer, director of public relations, 1-800-331-3276 or dboyer@wsfb.com, to receive NewsWatch by fax or e-mail.

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