Ag Secretary Listens

Ag Secretary Listens. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

The Ag Secretary has been holding a series of “listening sessions” designed to get some important feedback from, you’ll excuse the expression, the horse’s mouth. On Monday he was in Colorado along with Governor Bill Ritter, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, and Representative Betsy Markey. Secretary Vilsack got an earful from farmers and finally said. At issue was the closure of a local bank and the FDIC’s insistence that they only have 30 days to find new financing.

VILSACK: When this is over I intend to get on the phone and see if there is some way that we can buy some time and get folks to understand the crisis here and I know a few people in Washington I can call and I’ll do that.

Vilsack also heard concerns from Colorado dairy producers and said he is working to help the dairy industry.

VILSACK: We expect and anticipate over the course of the next 12 months we’ll spend somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion dollars to help out the dairy industry.

Of course the dairy industry is facing high production costs and very low prices. Vilsack said the USDA is doing what they can like taking surplus product out of storage and putting it into the hands of food banks. The Secretary is also collecting opinions on the National Animal ID system which is right now divided on the issue. There are a lot of questions being raised like who will pay for it and who controls the information.

VILSACK: I do not have an opinion about this one way or the other. I’m listening. I’m trying to figure it out. I’m trying to figure out what the problems are. Trying to figure out of there are creative ways to solve some of the problems and then we’ll make what we hope is the best choice and decision about this that can best involve all of the producers all over the country.

Vilsack notes a lot of work has been done over the course of the last five years to get producers involved in developing a system they could support - but concerns about cost, the impact on small farmers, privacy and confidentiality and liability are still causing debate. He says it’s time for frank and open discussions about NAIS and working collaboratively to resolve concerns and move forward. Vilsack continued his listening tour on Tuesday in Missouri

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.