NAWG President meets with USDA and EPA
Farm and Ranch December 23, 2011 Last week, National Association of Wheat Growers President Wayne Hurst of Idaho, was among agriculture stakeholder representatives that met in Washington D.C. with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson. USDA and EPA have held several of these meetings to hear the concerns of growers and Hurst gives them credit for doing so. He says the secretary talked about the importance of agriculture the that it is a part of the economy that is doing well. Hurst: “Administrator Jackson said there are better ways to do business. She stressed she is committed to seeing better air quality and water quality but also the terms common sense and partners were used quite a bit. Also regulatory certainty was mentioned by them more than once. We desire and need regulatory certainty and I couldn‘t agree more. In general, at least from these meetings, the EPA seems willing and talks like they are willing to be reasonable and talk to us. We still see things on the ground though at times that makes you wonder if the message is getting all the way down to the ground.” Hurst and NAWG staff also met with Surface Transportation Board Chairman Daniel Elliot to learn about the Board’s priorities. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net. ? ?
