National Grange President William A. Steel wrote to U.S. President George Bush concerning the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations that were indefinitely suspended in July 2006. President Steel stated, “It is our understanding that these discussions will resume in the near future with a full resumption of the Doha Round of trade negotiations. However, we also understand that the expiration of the U. S. Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is on June 30, 2007, meaning that an urgency now exists to show progress in dialogue, thus supporting TPA renewal.”

Farm income and agriculture’s economic well-being depends heavily on exports, which account for over 25 percent of U.S. producers’ cash receipts, provides jobs for nearly one million Americans, and makes a positive contribution to our nation’s overall trade balance. In FY 07, U.S. agriculture exports are projected to be $78 billion, up $9.3 billion over last year and up $25 billion since 2002. However, exports could be significantly higher if it were not for a combination of factors, including continued high levels of subsidized foreign competition and competition crushing trade barriers.

President Steel noted that the National Grange supports legislation, trade agreements, and other measures that will lead to the freeing of world trade between nations on a mutually beneficial basis. “We support “fast track” trade legislation to provide you, as President, with sufficient legal authority to negoti­ate effectively for a reduction in trade barriers, both tariff and non-tariff,” Steel stated.

The National Grange also supports sound trade agreements for agriculture by encouraging the Administration and the Congress to aggressively ensure American farmers access to all markets covered by trade agreements. “To that end, we support negotiations to eliminate all tariff and non-tariff trade restrictions against United States’ agricultural exports. We continue to favor the principles set forth in the WTO and support swift reme­dies to trade disputes ,” Steel concluded.

The National Grange Legislative Director, Leroy Watson, recently wrote to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Administrator Stephen L. Johnson supporting proposals by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reform air emissions reporting requirements imposed on family farmers and ranches with livestock operations. “It is our understanding that the USEPA is considering regulations to partially exempt animal waste air releases from CERCLA reporting obligations. It is also our understanding that EPA is developing either proposed rulemaking or guidance interpreting EPCRA’s statutory exemption of “routine agricultural operations” to include the application of manure as a fertilizer when applied at agronomic rates,” Watson stated. The proposal focuses on exemptions for reporting air emissions from manure that is appropriately applied as fertilizer. Watson encouraged USEPA to produce the proposed rule on this issue by next year.

Legislative Director Watson also sent a letter to the majority and minority Chairmen of the House Committee on Energy, the House Committee on Transportation, and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on this issue. HR 1398 and S. 807 mandate similar exemptions stating that manure should not be considered a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Watson concluded, “Federal and state laws including the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act already regulate animal operations. Farmers and ranchers should not be threatened by potential liability for emissions or discharges from manure produced or used.”

In letters to each of the federal agencies, the National Grange recently applauded the efforts of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U. S. Department of Transportation, and the U. S. Department of Energy for establishing the nation’s first comprehensive Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. The Grange commended the Administration for their forward thinking on renewable fuels and releasing these standards in a timely manner.

The National Grange supports encouraging conservation of natural resources and to increase the use of domestic alternative energy sources. The proposed RFS will help accomplish these goals. The proposed RFS standards will increase the use of renewable and alternative fuels to power our nation’s vehicles, thus making us less dependent on foreign energy.

Improving the fuel efficiency of passenger cars and light trucks is also a National Grange goal. We agreed with the Administration that reforms are needed for passenger car fuel economy standards. In fact the National Grange noted that additional regulatory efforts are needed to assure that higher blend concentrations of renewable fuels such as E85 and B20 will be available at service stations across the nation for consumers with appropriate manufactured vehicles who elect to go beyond the customary low volume blended fuels of E10 and B5.

In the letters, the Grange concluded that an important aspect of the RFS program is the increased use of fuels largely produced from American crops. The agricultural community has the capacity to provide our nation with domestic fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. By encouraging domestic alternative fuels we will also be supporting American agriculture.

The National Grange recently wrote to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees urging them to comprehensively address immigration reform. The National Grange advised the Committee to modify immigration laws providing for an orderly, well-regulated flow of immigrants to meet the needs of our country and ensure a stable workforce. While deliberating on this issue, we asked the Judiciary Committees to consider supporting the following provisions:

• Increased efforts by the U. S. government to patrol our borders to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into our nation, including deployment of active military personnel, if necessary.
• Strict enforcement of current immigration laws.
• A prohibition on general amnesty for illegal aliens.
• Required proof of citizenship and/or legal residence to obtain any government benefits.
• Restrictions on automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants until the parents have obtained U. S. citizenship.
• Granting state and local law enforcement officials authority to detain illegal aliens for further processing.
• Enactment of practical and enforceable foreign guest worker visa programs to meet agricultural labor needs.
• Reforms of the H2A program so the wage costs to farmers more closely reflect local prevailing wages.
• Expansion of the H1B visa programs for professionals to enter the U. S. to fill positions requiring specific technical skills in rural communities
• Assurances that agricultural employers are not responsible for verification of authenticity of migrant or seasonal worker documentation.
• Protections for employers who unknowingly hire illegal aliens.

April 5, 2007 marked the second anniversary of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA) the nationwide non-profit program to assist individuals and families that currently lack adequate prescription drug coverage. In recognition of its success, the PPA celebrates its second annual Patient Assistance Day to remind patients, their family and friends, health care providers and community leaders that help is available to those in need. The PPA, sponsored by America’s pharmaceutical research companies, has been overwhelmingly successful in helping lower income, uninsured and underinsured patients obtain their prescription medicines for free or nearly free. The National Grange is a founding member organization for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance.

Through a toll-free number (1-888-4PPA-NOW) and user-friendly Web site (www.pparx.org), the PPA provides individuals who lack adequate coverage for their prescription medications a single point of access to more than 475 public, foundation and private patient assistance programs that could offer help on more than 2,500 prescription medicines, including a wide range of generics.  There is no charge or fee to participate in PPA. In addition all patient information is held in strict confidentiality.

In just two years, the PPA has helped more than 3.5 million people get access to patient assistance programs for the prescription medicine they need. Much of this success is due to the support and commitment of state and local Granges and that of the other 1,300 national and local health care, physician and patient advocacy organizations that have partnered with the PPA to help spread the word.

In addition to prescription medicine, the PPA’s nearly 10,000 health care provider and clinic database, which was added to the system last year, has connected more than 135,000 patients with free clinics and health care providers in their communities.

“Since we launched the PPA in 2005 we have helped more than 3.5 million patients, and we’re not slowing down,” said Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.  “We are proud of the PPA’s accomplishments over the past two years, but we are redoubling our efforts to make sure patients who need help are aware that help is here. Pharmaceutical companies are committed to this effort and finding other ways to help Americans live longer, healthier, and more productive lives.”

Assisting the uninsured in rural communities to find access to the health care resources they need continues to be a top priority for the National Grange. To learn more about the Partnership for Prescription Assistance, visit www.pparx.org .

A broad coalition of agriculture, regulatory, consumer protection organizations, including the National Grange, working under the banner of the Coalition for Fair Agriculture and Rural Markets recently wrote to the members of the U.S. Senate urging support for S. 1149 by Sen. Herb Kohl (WI), Max Baucus (MT), and Kent Conrad (ND); and S. 1150 by Sen. Orrin Hatch (UT) and Mike Enzi (WY), pieces of legislation that will resolve a basic inequity that has existed since 1967 and allow interstate sales of state-inspected meat and poultry.

Under current federal law, meat and poultry products from 34 foreign countries can be freely shipped and sold anywhere in the United States—but our domestic small businesses and processors cannot ship their products across state lines. “This is unfair and wrong,” the coalition letter plainly states.

The restriction on interstate meat sales does not apply to “non-amenable” products—such as venison, bison, pheasant, quail, rabbit and others. These products are normally regulated by state inspection programs, yet can be shipped in interstate commerce without restriction. In addition, no other state-inspected food commodities are prohibited from being shipped across state lines. Other state-inspected food products (milk, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, fish and shellfish) are freely marketed across the country. “It does not make sense for these products to be sold across state borders while beef, poultry, pork, lamb and goat cannot be shipped interstate,” the coalition letter argued.

Twenty-eight states currently have meat and poultry inspection programs. They serve more than 2,000 state-inspected meat processors—mostly small, family-owned businesses—who are prevented from competing in the national marketplace. “Our locally-produced, state-inspected meats are some of the best specialty products in the country,” the coalition letter explained.

Three USDA advisory committees have long recommended that the ban on interstate sales be removed. Congress has debated and introduced legislation for more than a decade—and all of the resulting hearings, reports, and recommendations have supported removing the ban on interstate meat sales. Coalition for Fair Agriculture and Rural Markets believes now is the time to finally take action. The coalition letter concludes “Current law discriminates against U.S. meat and poultry products and favors imports from foreign countries. American processors and businesses are simply asking for a fair and reasonable chance to market their products here at home. Our country’s hard-working producers, processors and family-run small businesses only want the opportunity to expand their markets. How can anyone deny this to them? We ask you to support and cosponsor S. 1149 and S. 1150 and level the economic playing field for rural America.”

In a letter to the conference committee members finishing work on the supplemental appropriations legislation, the National Grange expressed strong support for a permanent extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract Program (MILC). Both the House and the Senate versions of the supplemental appropriations legislation have addressed this issue, with the Senate providing for a permanent extension.

The Grange letter explained that when the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act was passed in 2002 it included the MILC Program. The plan was initially enacted for a three year period until September 2005 but was extended to August 31, 2007 in the 2006 Budget Reconciliation Bill. The MILC Program has been instrumental in helping dairy producers financially throughout the nation over the past five years when farm milk prices were extremely low. “Now Congress has the opportunity to continue the program indefinitely,” the Grange letter explained.  “National Grange urges Congress to pass Senate language allowing for a permanent MILC Program,” the Grange letter concluded.

As America’s pet owners, and now America’s livestock producers, cope with contaminated wheat gluten in animal feeds, National Farmers Organization (NFO) has been working with allies like the National Grange to remind consumers that increased safeguards are needed for imported food products. The tainted pet food and animal feeds incidents underscore the importance of imported food safety and the urgent need for country of origin labeling (COOL). The recent pet food and animal feed scares also spotlights the fact that other countries that routinely exporting billions of dollars worth of food products annually into the United States do not follow the same tough safety requirements that our domestic food producers follow. COOL is only a start. Much tighter regulations are needed on food imports.

Testing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Cornell University has found melamine in apparently raw form in concentrations as high as 6 percent in wheat gluten, used as an ingredient of the recalled cat and dog foods. Reportedly about 70 percent of wheat gluten consumed in the U.S. for animal feed and pet food is imported each year!

National Farmers Organization believes increasing imported food safety regulations is extremely important for consumers. Reportedly, some vegetables and fruit imports originate from countries still allowed to use DDT and other chemicals that have been banned in the U.S. for many years. NFO, like the National Grange, is a part of Americans for Country of Origin Labeling, (ACOOL), a coalition of more than 150 agricultural and consumer groups, who believe COOL is designed to provide important information to consumers, and give them the ability to differentiate between U.S. and imported products. COOL needs to be implemented as a first step to increase the level of food safety and security American consumers deserve. Working together we can make this happen.