12/12/08 Implimenting the farm bill

There are several provisions in the Farm Bill passed this year that have not be finalized by the Bush Administration. It looks like provisions like permanent disaster aid or the new ACRE program are going to have to be decided by the incoming Obama administration. For now a federal judge has blocked the pending no match rule for catching illegal workers whose social security numbers don't match government records. American Farm Bureau's Paul Schlegel says Social Security Administration letters can still go to employers informing them of discrepancies in an employee's records and farmers getting one should act appropriately and responsibly. SCHLEGEL "But what is prohibited is DHS saying that if you do this and infer that you have broken the law and we will prosecute you." The Bush administration is coming out with a new Labor Department rule for the H2A guest worker program. SCHLEGEL "If we can make sure that the people that we are hiring aren't using fraudulent documents, are in fact legally here in the US, that's being helpful for agriculture." He also expects that the Obama team will try to regulate livestock emissions through permitting which USDA said could cover many operations. SCHLEGEL "Dairy facilities with over 25 cows, beef cattle operations with over 50 cattle, swine operations with over 200 hogs and farms with over 500 acres of corn may need to get a Title Five permit." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott