FARMERS URGE CHANGE IN WETLANDS LEGISLATION

Missouri's farmers want some changes in wetlands legislation.

"The wetlands issue has become a very public and controversial issue," Don Fischer, the Missouri Farm Bureau president, said in Cape Girardeau Monday. "Farmers are confused and angered over the wetlands issue as it is now and want some changes made."

Landowners are generally in agreement that true wetlands must be conserved, said Fischer. "But they feel that the efforts of four different federal agencies to regulate millions of acres of cropland with little or no wetland characteristics is too much."

Fischer, Bob Hitzhusen, Farm Bureau director of national legislative programs, and Terry Buker, director of Farm Bureau information, were in the area Monday to discuss some of the priority policies that were adopted during the National Farm Bureau Annual Convention last week in Kansas City.

"Our lobbying efforts at both the state and national levels are already under way to carry out the policies adopted by our members," said Fischer. "We want to discuss these issues with farmers and ranchers throughout the state."

The Farm Bureau delegation met with members at Bloomfield Monday night and will be in Winona tonight. "We're making a tour of the state to discuss the primary national and state policies," said Fischer.

"We're looking at four priority national issues and a couple of big state issues," said Hitzhusen.

They include:

The national wetlands issue.

Private property rights, both national and state.

The national Clean Water Act, which will be reauthorized this year.

The national self-employee health act.

Proposed taxing of farm equipment.

The proposal for sales tax on agriculture, mining and manufacturing equipment is the major concern on state issues.

"Every adjoining state has a sales tax exemption on farm equipment," said Fischer. "If Missouri adopts the tax, many farmers and manufacturers will be going out of state to purchase their equipment."

Hitzhusen said legislation to re-enact the tax have been proposed the past two years, but one proposal this year is to reinstate the sales tax on farm, mining, and manufacturing equipment, and to eliminate sales tax on food.

"The elimination of tax on groceries is a popular one," he said. "We may have a real fight on our hands this year."

Hitzhusen said the Missouri Farm Bureau supports a couple of proposals concerning wetlands.

"One of the new proposals by U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond would provide that all wetland determinations on farmland be made by the Soil Conservation Service," said Hitzhusen. "This would help reduce confusion and misunderstandings caused by the current system of having four federal agencies with jurisdiction in wetland regulations affecting farmland."

Currently farmers must seek opinions from such federal agencies as the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Corps of Engineers, The Environmental Protection Agency and the Soil Conservation Service.

"President Bush indicated in his speech at the National Farm Bureau Convention last week that he would favor one agency" that discussed the Farm Bureau's wishes on House Bill 1330 and Senate Bill 1363, said Fischer. "He didn't say which agency."

"The Farm Bureau proposals would support conserving truly valuable wetlands such as marshes, bogs and swamps," said Fischer. "We also want to see landowners compensated for properties which are preserved as wetlands."

Farmers' concerns about the Clean Water Act, which will be reauthorized by Congress this year, are that legislators will be driven by political popularity and emotion instead of science and common sense concerning fertilizer and pesticide runoff from agricultural land.

"This legislation historically has been directed at industrial and municipal waste pollution," said Hitzhusen. "It appears, however, that this year legislators will be focusing on how to reduce any pollution from the fertilizer and pesticide runoff."

The 25 percent tax deduction for health care insurance costs for farmers and other self-employed taxpayers will expire June 30.

"The Farm Bureau supports a permanent 100 percent deduction," said Hitzhusen. "If that cannot be realized, the bureau at least wants to keep the 25 percent deduction."

Another big area of concern is the regulatory threat to property rights at the state and national levels. "Both state and federal authorities are trying to regulate wetlands, livestock products and other areas of agriculture," said Fischer. One property rights issue was the Rails-to-Trails Act, he said.

"Some Missouri landowners lost their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the rail to trails in Missouri," he said. "Farmers felt they should have been reimbursed when their property was taken once rails were removed and a trail installed. But the government balked, saying that the trails could be returned to rails if they were ever needed."

Another state area of concern was the corn checkoff, a proposal to increase producers' contributions for research and market development from the current half-cent to one-cent a bushel until a national checkoff passes.

"A national checkoff may be down the road a few years," said Fischer. "The ultimate consensus of voting delegates was to support the proposed increase. They feel that Missouri farmers need to do all they can to promote and get a better price for their commodity."