WASHINGTON D.C. SEMINAR

FEBRUARY 12-13, 2001

Matt Connor

The National Travel Study Seminar for Class 1 of the South Dakota Ag and Rural Leadership Program manifested itself  February 12 – 17, 2001 as a trip to our nation’s capital in Washington D.C. After an uneventful flight into Baltimore, we boarded a bus bound for D.C.  The bus doubled as a sightseeing tour bus and our driver chaperoned a short tour of some of the more famous sights in the city.  Stops included a walkaround of the recently completed FDR Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, The Korean and Vietnam War Memorials, and Women’s War Memorial.  We also stopped at he Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and finally arrived at the Holiday Inn for checking in.

Tuesday began with a visit to the headquarters of the National Farmer’s Union to listen to and spar with lobbyists and top officials from that organization.  Next, we visited with Jason Hofemeister and Teresa Howe from the US Trade Representative’s Office.  These people shared views of the WTO, and their hope to get China as a trading partner.

   

After a brief stop for lunch, we were treated to a tour of the Capitol Building.  Next, we met with Senator Tim Johnson in the cafeteria of the Russell Senate Office Building.  Johnson commented on a few issues, including the budget surplus, which he thinks will be the central issue of the year.  He said the surplus is only a projected figure, so we shouldn’t spend money we don’t have yet.  Our next meeting, perhaps one of the highlights of the week, was a visit from Senator Tom Daschle.  The senator also spoke of the budget surplus, along with tax cuts, election reform, and rising energy costs.  He spoke of the 2 pillars of a democratic society: free enterprise and democratic leadership.  His advice to leaders was 1) Ignore those who say ‘It can’t be done’.

    2) Commit yourself to your convictions.

As far as whether or not he will run for President in 2004, he is taking a wait and see attitude.  His aide, Zabrae Valentine, then went to work, asking us our opinions on a wide variety of issues.

   

We moved onward to the House Office Building for a visit with Representative John Thune.  Thune supports tax cuts, warning us that letting a budget surplus sit idle in Washington is dangerous.  He supports campaign reforms, and discussed possible structures of the Farm Bill, including his desire to see it designed to comply with WTO rules while still maintaining countercyclical payment programs.

The last event on the agenda Tuesday was a trip to the Chinese Embassy.  This visit, graciously hosted by Brian Jennings of Senator Johnson’s office, helped us prepare for some Chinese culture, which will be helpful in the near future.  The Chinese talked about issues they have to deal with before succession to the WTO, but also asked for our support in that endeavor.  They described the huge task of making their 900 million farmers a priority in world policy negotiations.  They then graciously prepared a buffet of authentic Chinese food for us to enjoy while we spent time getting to know them.  By all accounts, it was a very informative and impressive day in our program.

 

                                                                         

SDARL National Study Seminar

Thursday, February 15, 2001

Washington, DC

Reported by Jim Gerwing

The fourth day of the South Dakota Agricultural and Rural Leadership National Study Seminar started at 7:15 AM with a security check in at the USDA building on Independence Avenue.  The destination for the first half of the morning was the National Agricultural Statistics Service(NASS).

Rich Allen, NASS associate administrator explained what NASS does, which includes releasing 400 reports per year on 120 crops and 45 livestock issues.  Many of the reports are done in conjunction with state agricultural statistical services.  NASS has agreements with all fifty states to coordinate and cooperate on the 400 or so surveys done each year to gather data.  They also do surveys under contract for other government agencies.

Rich stressed the confidentiality of the surveys, the impartial analysis they do and the extra security measures (lockdowns) they take so reports are not leaked  early.  He also stressed economic analysis is done by them but not economic interpretation.

The second NASS speaker, Rod DeSmet, explained how the federal/state agreements worked and what kinds of special projects they do.  They have done projects with the Department of Agriculture, EPA and numerous universities collecting data on things ranging from christmas trees to pig numbers.

As Chief of Technical Services Branch Information Technology Division, Rod gave details of the lockups, which can last for most of a day, and how reports are distributed by mail FAX, and now the internet.  All reports are now available on the internet at www.ers.usda.gov.

After the NASS presentations, Jerry Bange, chairperson of the World Agriculture Outlook Board (WAOB), explained how the board was started in 1972 after what many people called the “great grain robbery” by Russia.  That year Russian wheat buyers got together and all bought wheat on the same day across the country, dramatically driving up prices after they had purchased the grain at bargain prices.

The WAOB was established to provide better information on what was happening with grain stocks and purchases around the world to help foster healthy grain markets and prevent another grain robbery.  With the help of US foreign ag services offices in 70 locations around the world, the WAOB estimates grain supply, demand, and potential yields for 140 countries.

A special topic covered by Jerry was potential China trade.  The WAOB has been working with China for the last six or seven years to set up a similar reporting mechanism for grain stocks and yield estimates as those used in the US so meaningful reports can be generated.  The WAOB already does special reports on some countries like Brazil and Argentina because of their large production capacity and influence on world supplies and prices.

Jerry felt china has a huge production capacity but also has a lot of people, about 900 million who still live in the countryside, mostly on small farms.  China would like the countryside designated underdeveloped so they will fall under less stringent WTO rules.  He summarized his comments on china by saying china could be either a larger importer or exporter of food in the future, and we do not know yet which it will be.

The second half of the morning was spent in the Federal Reserve Board of Governors conference room.  The conference room was the one where Allen Greenspan and the Board of Governors meet to set interest rates.  Several class members took turns sitting in Chairman Greenspan’s chair.  All admitted they felt more energized and more powerful afterward.  A special event was when Don Larson, general seminar manager for the day, got to shake hands with Chairman Greenspan.

In the Board of Governors conference room, John Rosine, an ag economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, explained some of the indicators they use to determine the health of the economy.  He felt labor productivity (output per hour) was a key.  It has been on the increase since 1960 with only a slowdown in the 70’s.  Productivity has more than doubled since 1960, averaging 3% growth per year and almost 4% the last couple years.

Farm productivity was also discussed at the Federal Reserve.  Since 1950 most crop yields more than doubled, and some like corn and wheat nearly tripled.  Animal agriculture productivity had similar increases. At the same time the percentage of income in the US spent on food decreased from over 20% to about 12%.

After meeting at the Federal Reserve, the SDARL class returned to the Department of Agriculture building Cafeteria for lunch.  The noon lunch speaker was John Franzen, uncle of Nate Franzen, a SDARL class member.  John is an independent campaign consultant with almost 30 years experience serving Democratic candidates and public interest groups.  He managed Leon Panetta’s first campaign.  John felt most candidates run for public office to make a state or country a better place to live rather than an ego boost or money.  He felt message discipline was important in any campaign.  A candidate must boil it down to three issues to be effective and not dilute the message. 

The USDA administration building (Whillen Building) was the next stop for the SDARL class after lunch.  Administrators from the Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Grain Inspector, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) explained their programs and answered questions.

The FAS represents the Secretary of Agriculture and has staff in 75 countries around the world.  Their goals include promotion of US ag exports as well as collect ag intelligence on yields, grain stocks and world trading activity.  They are an advisory group to the Secretary of Ag.

Bob Accord, Deputy Administrator at APHIS, explained that the purpose of APHIS’s five programs is to protect agriculture in the US.  The Vet program protects health of the national heard, the plant protection and quarantine program prevents introduction of pests, the wildlife program protects endangered species and does animal control, the animal care program does inspection of research animals, and the international program tracks pests and diseases worldwide. 

Tom Weber, deputy chief of programs for NRCS gave a quick overview of NRCS.  He indicated the agency was started to fight erosion but now has the broader mission to protect all water and land resources. It also has a mandate to carryout the farm bill provisions like the cost share program and CRP.

The last speaker for the afternoon was JoAnn Waterfield, deputy administrator of GIPSA.  She discussed enforcement of the packers and stockyards act, stressing how difficult it was to prove in court infractions made by large companies.  Other activities of GIPSA include investigating trade practice complaints and enforcing mandatory price reporting rules.

In the evening a roundtable discussion was held with Donnie  Tennyson, a recent graduate of the Maryland LEAD program.  He described the program and how it directed him to leadership positions and an invitation to go overseas on a trade mission.  He ended the discussion with a description of his farm in Southern Maryland and his farming practices. 

Washington D.C. Report – Friday, Feb. 16 Submitted by Jim Petrik

Our last full day in the capital began like the rest of the week for our group with a crack of dawn breakfast at the Holiday Inn. By 7:00 we were off on our first visit of the day to the Community for Creative Non-Violence. The CFCNV is the largest homeless shelter in the United States. This shelter is located in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in the city and is only a short walk from the capital building. The organization is run by an amazing lady named Terry Bishop and is a model for how these facilities should be managed. In fact Terry has a Masters Degree in management and worked for 20 years in the federal government and the federal prison systems before joining this organization. Before her arrival the CFCNV was in a sad state of affairs. The organization had major financial, discipline and corruption problems. They had been featured on the television program 60 Minutes and were considered a poster child for what was wrong with homeless shelters. The organization was $500,000 in debt, had many chronic drug abusers in long term residence and had a manager who was later found to have embezzled a lot of the organizations funding. When Terry was finally given full control she implemented some very strong financial and disciplinary policies. Terry told the group “I believe that at some point in everyone’s life they need to do something for somebody else for nothing. That is why I and every one else on this staff work as unpaid volunteers. We want folks to work here because they want to help not because they want to get paid.” Terry implemented a fiscal responsibility program that has been so successful that they are now almost entirely out of debt despite the fact that they rely entirely on private contributions- no federal or city money is accepted at the CFCNV. She also infused the same rigid discipline in the habitants of the shelter. The rule at the CFCNV is now that residents may only stay in the shelter for one year and they then must live on their own for at least one year and then if need be they may have one more stay for a maximum of six months. Terry explained to the group “I believe that if you give people the opportunity to fail they will take it every time. Therefore it is necessary to make sure residents try to make a go of it on their own at some point in time.” In the shelter the homeless no longer get a free ride either. In order for them to learn responsibility they are expected to assist with cooking, housekeeping and other chores. The shelter averages over 700 homeless guests each evening as well as up to 100 resident volunteers. Some residents are in the shelter for only a short while, such as immigrants or people who have been through very tragic events. Others have never had a job and simply live within the system. Terry estimates there are over 10,000 homeless in the greater Washington D.C. area. About 50% have substance abuse problems, over 1/3 are elderly and as many as 1/3 have AIDS. How does one draw the strength to help people in the light of such difficult problems? It appears to this writer that Terry is a very strong lady with a much higher sense of purpose than most ordinary people. She seems to draw enough strength from each little victory to make it through each impossible battle that inevitably comes along. Our visit to the CFCNV will not be forgotten by this group for a long time.

The next stop on our days activities was a visit to the Shepherd Elementary School. Our assignment at this stop was to split up into two person teams and give the students a little taste of South Dakota and Agriculture. I was very apprehensive about my presentation because as a parent I know how hard it can be to hold a young person’s attention for more than a few minutes before they get distracted. I could not have been more wrong about these young people. The students along with their teachers had been on the internet studying before our visit and they were bursting with questions about South Dakota, animal production and all about our farms and lifestyle. We had a wonderful time with the students as well as the many fine staff and teachers at the school. Our time there literally flew by and we left wishing we had more opportunities like this to communicate about agriculture.

After leaving the Shepherd school the SDARL class split into small groups to have lunch and attend our afternoon assignments. We again split up into teams of 2 or 3 and visited several D.C. based organizations. Our meetings were with a wide variety of groups ranging from the American Meat Institute (meat packers) to the Farm Animal Reform Movement (vegetarians) to the CATO Institute. Obviously this provided for some pretty lively and informative discussion. I’m not sure how many minds were changed but I do know a lot of new viewpoints were brought to light! I think this was also one of the better segments of our agenda.

After our afternoon visits SDARL members had about 2 hours of free time before we regrouped at the Capital Brewery for some supper and group discussion. As usual our round table discussion was very lively and provocative as group members discussed the high and low points of a very hectic but outstanding week in the Capital as well as our individual experiences in the small group meetings. The group then ended the day at the Ronald Reagan Building attending a political satire called Capital Steps. Many group members said they hadn’t laughed so hard for a long time as the comedy skits were hilarious and no political person was left unspared!

Saturday, February 17

Our day began even earlier than most on Saturday as we need to leave for the Baltimore Airport by 5:45 AM. We had a very uneventful trip home as our flights were all on time and a lot of members caught some much needed sleep and relaxation. We arrived in Sioux Falls by 12:30 and after some closing thoughts from Dr. Gee SDARL members were on their way home.

CATO INSTITUTE

            The CATO Institute was very good, with the staff generous with their time and resources.  CATO is an institute that tries to be non-partisan, whose ideals can best be described as libertarian in nature.  Because South Dakota has a small libertarian presence it is nice to be introduced to other ideas.  I feel they would be an excellent group to meet with as a whole class.  They have excellent facilities, a large staff, and seemed genuinely interested in sharing their views.  The following was gotten out of literature they gave us:

The CATO Institute Principle

Individual Liberty

Limited Government

Rule of Law

Free Markets

Strategic Independence

“Freedom from bureaucratic institutions is not only consistent with human nature but is also the source of human progress.”

Defenders of Property Rights

Defenders of Property Rights have been in existence for 10 years.  It was started and is still managed by Roger and Nancie Marzulla of Washington DC.  Defenders are the only Foundation in the United States whose only purpose is to defend the rights of property owners.  Our meeting was with Robert Harrison, (a Montana native), who is in charge of Legislative Affairs.  Our other participant from Defenders was Frank Vitello, a staffer with Legal Background.  All these people have been working on the “Hill” for sometime and have many connections with a broad spectrum of elected officials and Bureaucrats.  Once again it is important “Who you know”. 

Aside of them visiting with us about wetland issues here in the Midwest, environmental issues that may affect the use of our property, they have several key points that Class members should be aware of:

1.      Defenders of Property Rights exist to help us keep the ability to grow and develop.

2.      They work to prevent Radical Determination, Legislation, State or National, should not radically change the use of our property or affect its value without due process and property owner involvement in the process.

3.      At the present time their main focus has been on issues that are depriving people from use of their property.

4.      They strongly believe that Liberty and Property Rights are intertwined and we cannot have one without the other.  Think about it.  Without one do we have the other?  Maybe a topic to be touched on at some future dates.

5.      Something they recognize as an issue of the future is Intellectual Property.  With the Internet and modern communication what protection do you have with your new bright idea?

In conclusion, us “Aggies” had a lot in common with these people.  I don’t think we maybe agree with them on everything and maybe they kept the meeting “warm and fuzzy” by staying away from the “hot potatoes”. I think our committee felt that they shared with us what they are all about and we need to stay in contact with them, possibly for future help and also as a resource for them to gather practical information.

Don Larson, Reporter

Environmental Protection Agency

Cody Jorgensen, Jim Gerwing, and Susan Wismer

Once we figured out that this man was in charge of the EPA division that gave approval to Starlink corn, we had lots to talk about.  One of his first comments was “There’s BT and then there’s Starlink,” indicating, I believe, that his bad experience with Starlink was not tainting his opinion toward other BT products.  Mr. Hutton explained that actually three entities had to give their approval to Starlink: USDA, EPA, and FDA.  The reason Starlink was given less than full commercialization approval is that they haven’t been able to prove yet that the protein in the corn won’t be an allergen.  The protein doesn’t fully digest, he said, and they’ve been trying to figure out how to decide if the protein could be an allergen since 1994 by using several different methods, such as cooking and digestion.  When we asked why they gave the partial approval, his response was that the chemical companies had always been pretty good citizens before.  EPA believed that the company would live within the rules they laid down (use Starlink corn only for livestock feed.)  We discussed the impracticality of that approach considering the way that most seed corn is sold, depending on local farmer/seed salesmen to communicate the usage limitations.

Other topics included the language of the pesticide bill “reasonable certainty of no harm.”  Because of that language, a chemical company can’t just decide to take the risk of safety on a product themselves.  The language has been construed to be such an extreme burden of proof that several products may have to be pulled from the market before they can be re-approved.  The science or research hardly exists that can meet that burden of proof for some of the products.

Other quotes, “If everybody’s mad at me, I’m probably doing O.K.”  (Not favoring either side too much).  “We like BT.”  “Media drives what we work on.”  He pointed out that the day the Taco Bell/Starlink story broke, a small boy died from rat poisoning.  He thought it quite ironic that the Starlink story continued to dominate the news for weeks, with no evidence of harm done, while the poisoning death, an actual consequence of pesticide danger, was buried after the first day.

He mentioned that he does know some people in South Dakota, specifically Mike Schmidt and John Haverhol, both Cattleman’s Association connections.  Mr. Hutton actually owns a small farm in Maryland where he lives and tries out the products with which his office deals.

Globecast

            Pam Geppert, Rae Jean Gee, and Matt Connor were invited to visit with SDSU grad Grant Oines about his position with, and the operation of Globecast.  A very informational and interesting tour, Grant explained that Globecast is the leading broadcast services company in the Americas, as well as throughout the world.  Their job is to transmit and distribute programming to and from any location on earth.  Grant explained that most of the transmission is via satellite and spent a little time explaining the operation of satellites.  Globecast owns no satellites, but has transponders on broadcast satellites, which actually transmit the information.  In addition, they maintain master control centers all over the world, such as the one in D.C. where they control the flow of broadcast transmissions.  Globecast does very little production, but takes the production of others and transmits to wherever they are needed.  An enjoyable visit and Grant was extremely accommodating and cordial.

National Association of Wheat Growers

National Association of Wheat Growers is a dues- paying membership association comprised of 23 state-affiliated organizations.  NAWG’s policy position is defined from their policy adopted at their National Convention.  It is not a grain trading organization; they do not buy or sell any commodity.  NAWG represents its dues paying membership on wheat and other Ag related issues.  Wayne Hammon is the Director of Government Relations (lobbyist) in Washington DC.  Mr. Hammon stated several issues of importance in this years Congress.  They included environmental issues, pesticide and herbicide price harmonization, trade particularly with China, and of course the Farm Bill.  NAWG wishes to maintain the current spending level for the farm bill, as well as they are working with other ad hoc Ag groups to gain a consensus for a farm proposal.

Mr. Hammon went on to define the NAWG plan for the next farm bill which included 5 main points.  They are: (1) maintain planting flexibility (2) secure base payment similar to current 1999 AMPTA level (3) equalize the loan rate within all commodities, wheat would raise (4) create a countercyclical payment (5) take immediate action on short term needs that cannot wait until a new farm bill; examples included are LDP payment for grazed wheat acres, fix durum insurance issues and other immediate priorities.

National Fisheries Institute

By Steve Halverson

            As part of the South Dakota Agricultural and Rural Leadership (SDARL) national study trip to Washington D.C., Dr. Dan Gee, Executive Director and Steve Halverson visited Justin LeBlanc of the National Fisheries Institute (N.F.I.)

            The N.F.I. was founded in 1945.  They represent the Fish and Seafood Industry “from the ocean to the table.”  They are entirely funded by their members.  Basically, they focus on fishing conversation issues.

            Mr. LeBlanc stated that they are facing two main issues in their industry today.  The first is environmental- Overfishing, habitat loss, and also the accidental catching of protected species (sea turtle, dolphin, etc).  The second is food safety- how the fish is handled from the time of capture until it is sold to the customer.

            When asked about the future of aquaculture, Mr. LeBlanc said that this is an exploding issue whose limitations are not market driven but regulation driven.

            Overall I felt the meeting was interesting and the organization would be worth a visit on future trips to D.C.

The Department of Education

Tom Bruner, Wanda Blair, and John Fink met with Larry Case, the Chief Executive Officer of the Center of Ag and Rural Education.  Mr. Case is the former head of the National Future Farmers of America, which has since combined with the Department of Education to form this new position.

The Department of Education defines ‘rural’ as communities with less than 2500 people, and Mr. Case expressed frustration with trying to change that definition to include larger communities.

Problems currently before the Center of Ag and Rural Education include teacher recruitment and retention, educational leadership, school financing and declining enrollment.  Economic development in rural communities is essential in addressing all these concerns.

The group discussed mandatory testing of students according to state and federal standards.  Mr. Case contends that children are not all alike, and they need to be taught practical applications.  This enables students to be excited about learning, since they can see the direct application of what is being taught.

Mr. Case applauded the South Dakota Agricultural and Leadership program, and commended the participants for their willingness to develop their leadership skills.  “Leadership is not always from position, but, on how one uses you influence”, commented Mr. Case.