By Rick Zimmerman and Margaret Laggis
Advocacy is the common theme for NEAFA as it engages with lawmakers in various Northeastern capitals. State legislative sessions generally run from January through the spring months, however Massachusetts drags their session on throughout the year. There was a time when these citizen legislatures hustled through their work in time to get home for spring planting. But that orientation is long gone and so have most of the farmer legislators. Today, we are fortunate if there are any farmer-state lawmakers in the northeastern states which makes the challenge of advocating for agriculture policy ever more difficult.
In New York where there are only nine out of 63 majority party senators representing districts north of the Tap Pan Zee Bridge (oops! Mario Cuomo Bridge) which makes agriculture’s voice within the majority party rather faint. The situation is a bit less lopsided in the State Assembly, yet the overwhelmingly large number of urban based legislators make it difficult for agriculture interests, to break through. Nevertheless, the strong leadership of Agriculture Committees Chairs Assemblymember Donna Lupardo and Senator Michelle Hinchey, along with the collaborative efforts of upstate legislators from both parties, help significantly to bring the ag community’s voice into the debate. This fact was particularly apparent during the state budget debate.
The State Budget was finalized during the early days of April and the ag lobby’s efforts to restore funding to critical programs came to fruition. Despite huge deficits threatened by the COVID Pandemic, the Governor and legislative leaders dedicated sufficient funds to make sure programs like PRO-DAIRY, FarmNet, Farm Viability Institute, Integrated Pest Management and the NYS Diagnostic Laboratory received full funding. We are appreciative for the leadership in the Assembly and Senate, particularly Agriculture Committee Chairs Donna Lupardo and Michelle Hinchey, for their strong support of NEAFA’s legislative priorities.
Now that we are in the second half of the NYS legislative session, pesticide bans are garnering steam. There is a concerted effort by environmental groups across the country to demonize neonicotinoid pesticides and put corn and soybean production in peril. Most of the corn and soybean planted throughout the northeast are treated with imidacloprid or another neonic to protect the seed and seedling from numerous critters. Farmers know that treated seed is a good risk management tool, well worth the investment because they could lose an entire crop to soil born insects. Treated seeds and neonics are in the cross hairs of state legislature and NEAFA, in collaboration with several agricultural and horticultural organizations, are working hard to solve the pollinator challenge without losing neonics. Our challenge this year is greater due to the political dynamics referenced above and we are looking to our agriculture committee chairs to help us find a way forward.
In Vermont, the bills that we have been tracking have passed out of their final committees and are headed to the floor of the House or Senate. From there a conference committee will work out the differences between the two houses before the legislative session draws to a close next month.
House Bill 434 would install an Agriculture Innovation Board to replace the existing Pesticide Advisory Council. The board will include wide array of farming interests and it will report annually to the legislature on pesticide use and other agricultural practices and could make recommendations for incentive programs. The existing Seed Review Committee, created two years ago in response to the Dicamba tolerant GE seed issue, will be folded into the Innovation Board. We continue to work to remove their authority to override the Secretary of Agriculture’s ability to approve the sale, distribution and use of new seed traits. NEAFA, with the assistance of Cubby Bourdeau, testified and submitted a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Bobby Starr guiding him on finetuning the proposal.
Senate Bill 102 is a wide-ranging regulatory proposal that deals with post-consumer compost and chicken foraging as well as the regulation of pet and livestock animal health supplements, soil amendments and plant biostimulants. The bill sets up labeling and registration programs for these items. The Food and Drug Administration has been attempting to regulate this area of animal health supplements for 20 years and they appear to be on the verge of coming up with a regulatory program. Regardless, the State Legislature is poised to create this new state-level regulatory program.
We pushed hard to remove livestock supplements from this bill and a letter from NEAFA and the Vermont Feed Dealers Association to the House Agriculture Committee appealed for exclusion. But legislative leaders have been insistent on leaving them in. Agency of Agriculture has seen a rise in unproven claims by some livestock supplements products and they want the ability to go after companies selling products that do not work as advertised. However, language was included that will disengage Vermont’s regulatory program if the FDA picks up the responsibility. NEAFA will continue to work with the Agency of Agriculture to assure that Vermont dairy farmers continue to be able to acquire the new feed supplements necessary to keep the industry competitive.
Plant biostimulants represent a new area of research and innovation into natural ways to boost a plant’s ability to resist pests and disease and they are on the Agency of Agriculture’s radar screen. Fortunately, we successfully lobbied for a definition and labeling language consistent with other states.
Soil amendments are also being brought into the Agency’s regulatory shop as they see more farmers looking for alternatives to traditional fertilizers. With the issues surrounding PFAS and other little-known pollutants being found in unexpected places, the Agency wants to track what is being put onto Vermont’s fields and to be sure that soil amendment claims are based in sound science. NEAFA will continue to monitor this program to assure farmers are able to get the products they desire and that suppliers are not restricted from serving their farmer customers.