U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Nebraska) and Greg Ibach, director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, got an ear full of ideas from a group of producers, landowners and ag lending experts Monday during a listening session in advance of opening discussio
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SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Nebraska) and Greg Ibach, director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, got an ear full of ideas from a group of producers, landowners and ag lending experts Monday during a listening session in advance of opening discussions on the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center here.
The current Farm Bill was adopted in 2014 and expires next year. Delays and political maneuvering in advance of adoption of the current legislation hopefully resulted in teachable moments which will be remembered as the current rounds of debate gear up and get under way, Smith said.
“Hopefully, there were lessons learned from the last Farm Bill,” he said. “Delays can be counterproductive. They can certainly be unproductive.”
Concerns in the audience ran the full gamut, from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to irrigation infrastructure to trade as Smith and Ibach took questions and comments in one of a series of meetings of this type around the state. Leading the discussion, Phyllis Norwood, an employee of the Scottsbluff-based Enterprise Irrigation District, noted much of the infrastructure of Enterprise and other, small districts around the region is aging and finding money for repairs or replacements of the systems is becoming a burden.
“Smaller districts just don’t have the money for repairs,” Norwood told the Nebraska Dist. 3 representative. “These districts are in dire need of infrastructure repair. What can be done to assist?”
President Donald Trump has placed infrastructure high on his list of “things to do” in the early days of his presidency, just behind the recently-failed attempts to reform the health care system and the upcoming tax reform work. Smith said, while irrigation infrastructure wasn’t specifically mentioned, he’s circulating letters among his colleagues in the House of Representatives, with an eye toward making Trump aware of the needs of western states.
Issues of agriculture exports and trade with foreign countries were also on many minds during the meeting. With the White House wanting to step away from sweeping, regional trade agreements in favor of deals with individual countries, working out the details of those agreements becomes of paramount importance.
On the heels of trade agreements with Japan and European countries in recent years, country-of-origin labeling, for example, takes on a new priority, said Lyman, Neb.-area rancher Mike Norby. Being able to track, and be accountable for, exactly where a commodity such as Nebraska beef comes from is at the top of the list of prerequisites to trade deals, Smith and Ibach said.