by Chris Chinn of Clarence, Mo. She serves on the state board of directors for Missouri Farm Bureau

My husband, Kevin, and I farm in northern Missouri with his parents and brother. We are the fifth generation of farmers in our family and we raise hogs, cattle, corn, soybeans and rye. We are also raising our children on our farm and clean water is important to us. Regardless of whether Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires it, protecting our water is one of our priorities. We want to pass our farm on to the next generation so it only makes sense that we care for our natural resources in a responsible manner.

EPA’s proposed Clean Water Act rule will significantly affect our family farm. The proposed rule will expand the scope of “navigable waters” subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiction by regulating ditches, small and remote “waters” and ephemeral drains where water moves only when it rains.

Most of these areas look more like land than like “waters” and they are dry most of the year. This proposed rule means any ditch on your land will be regulated by the EPA, even if it only holds water one day a year. This will prohibit farmers from using land that is in or near a ditch unless they have a Clean Water Act permit.

Congress writes the laws of the land, not federal agencies. When Congress created the Clean Water Act, it clearly limited federal regulatory power to “navigable” waters. Congress did not intend to allow EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to regulate farmland just because water occasionally flows across it. EPA should respect the limits set by Congress.

Some people are saying farmers and ranchers should have no concerns because we are “exempted” from the rule but this is not the case. The “normal farming and ranching” exemption only applies to a specific type of Clean Water Act permit for “dredge and fill” materials. There is also no farm or ranch exemption from Clean Water Act permit requirements for what the EPA would call “pollutants,” but I would call plant nutrients and protection products. This means under the proposed rule, many common and important practices like weed control and fertilizer spreading will be prohibited in or near so-called “waters” unless you have a Clean Water Act permit. This further complicates my situation due to the fact we frequently use recycled fertilizer from our hog barns.

Another startling fact is the EPA and the Corps have interpreted the word “normal” to mean only longstanding operations in place since the 1970s—not newer or expanded farming and ranching. Does this mean when we pass our farm onto the next generation’s hands that they will no longer be able to farm that land? This rule would appear to me to be detrimental to new and beginning farmers—exactly the type of farmer that many of us in agriculture have been working hard to support. That just makes no sense.

The proposed Waters of the U.S. ruling is a bad idea and it will cripple the ability of farmers and ranchers to continue to produce food. If the proposed rule prevails, it will be illegal for farmers to spray for weeds or apply fertilizer to their ground unless they have a permit. Routine tasks like building fences will even require permits if they will be built in or near a ditch. Many farming practices are time-sensitive and farmers cannot afford to wait on a government agency to process a permit.

Common sense goes a long way and it is desperately needed when looking at this proposed ruling. If dry farm fields and ordinary farm ditches and ponds are allowed to be regulated as “waters of the U.S.,” farming and ranching will suffer and so will those who depend on agriculture for food.

We need to make our voices heard. It is time to ditch the water rule. You can share your comments and make your voice count by visiting the FBAct Insider page: http://capwiz.com/afb/issues/alert/?alertid=63192396.

Chris Chinn, of Clarence, Mo., serves on the state board of directors for Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization. She is also a “Faces of Farming and Ranching” spokesperson for the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance.
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Lenexa- EPA Region 7 is announcing nine new collegiate members of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge (FRC), a national initiative aimed at encouraging businesses, organizations and institutions to actively participate in food waste prevention, surplus food donation and food waste recycling activities.

The nine new members from Region 7 include Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Mo.; Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville, Mo.; Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kan.; St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo.; Truman State University, Kirksville, Mo.; University of Iowa-Iowa City; and Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.

“EPA applauds this year’s new members for demonstrating how higher education institutions, large and small, can lead the way to reducing wasted food, saving energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions,” said Karl Brooks, EPA regional administrator. “Food today makes up 21 percent of Americans’ trash, so by participating in the FRC these colleges and universities gain access to tools and assistance they will use to cut food waste, save money, help communities and protect the environment.”

The Food Recovery Challenge encourages organizations to find better alternatives to throwing food away. It helps organizations learn to practice leaner purchasing and divert surplus food away from landfills to hunger-relief organizations and onto the tables of those in need in the community. It also diverts food scraps, suitable for composting or animal consumption, to composting or animal feed.

The nine new collegiate members will join 10 other member organizations already participating in the FRC in Region 7: the Kansas City Chiefs; St. Louis Cardinals; Kansas State University; St. Louis Blues Hockey; University of Kansas; University of Missouri-Columbia; University of Missouri-Kansas City; University of Northern Iowa; Society of St. Andrew; and Harvest Café and Wine Bar.

FRC members will help recycle food waste and keep it out of landfills. Landfills are one of the largest contributors of methane gas, which affects climate change, including warmer temperatures, stronger storms and more droughts.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today announced additional disaster relief on the way for Joplin hospitals to aid in rebuilding efforts from the devastating tornado in May 2011.

“These new federal resources will help further strengthen the community-and its health care system in particular-as Joplin continues to be an example of resilience and recovery through the steady rebuilding process,” McCaskill said.

This award provides more than $23 million in federal funding for Mercy Health of Joplin to demolish and rebuild four facilities that were damaged beyond repair and deemed eligible for demolition and replacement using FEMA Public Assistance funding.

McCaskill recently visited Joplin to lead a roundtable with “comeback businesses” to discuss city revitalization efforts following the 2011 disaster.

McCaskill has championed and helped deliver needed resources in Joplin’s disaster recovery effort. The total amount of federal resources that have been provided for tornado recovery in Joplin now exceeds $350 million.

LOS LIMONES, Guatemala (AP) – U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a firsthand look Friday at the dangers as well as the benefits of the U.S. military’s goodwill-building humanitarian work.

Hagel toured a health clinic and a construction site in a remote mountain village where U.S. Army soldiers, including Missouri Army National Guard, are erecting a new wing on a tiny schoolhouse.

Just three days earlier, 24-year-old Army Spc. Hernaldo Beltran Jr. was killed by a branch that broke off a towering tree a few feet from the school.

With the damaged tree as a backdrop, Hagel thanked a small gathering of soldiers for their work. He did not mention Beltran by name but expressed remorse “for what happened here,” adding, quote, “Our prayers and thoughts are with the families of those who were injured.”

MAE ANDERSON, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Target, Nordstrom and other big chains are literally pinning their hopes of attracting shoppers on social media.

Retailers increasingly are using Pinterest, a social media site that allows users to create collections of photos, articles, recipes, videos and other images that are called “pins,” to draw business to their own sites.

Popular items on Pinterest are being prominently displayed in Nordstrom stores. Target is creating exclusive party-planning collections with top Pinterest users, or “pinners.” And Caribou created a coffee blend that was inspired by the coffee chain’s Pinterest fans.

The interest in Pinterest comes as retailers increasingly realize the power of social media sites to steer business their way. They’ve found while smartphone-toting Americans are spending time opining and posting photos online, they can be encouraged to spend money, too.

KEVIN BEGOS, Associated Press
MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy is welcoming the decision by oil and gas industry supplier Baker Hughes to disclose all chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluid. But Halliburton, a major competitor in the field, isn’t committing to such disclosure.

Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary Paula Gant says Friday that the move by Baker Hughes “is an important step in building public confidence.”

Environmental groups and regulators say a loophole that allows companies to hide some chemicals in frack fluids is a problem.

Houston-based Halliburton says it’s studying the move by Baker Hughes, which is also based in that city. Halliburton says it had an interest in protecting “our intellectual property and the substantial investment it represents” and will examine the new Baker Hughes format for its ability to protect such investments.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Kansas City woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in locking a 9-year-old girl in a basement.

The woman previously pleaded guilty to child endangerment, felonious restraint and abuse or neglect of a child.

The Kansas City Star reported that she was sentenced Friday. The girl’s father, who pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, is to be sentenced in June.

The Associated Press is withholding their names to protect the girl’s identity.

The child told authorities the couple locked her in the basement as punishment for a school suspension. She said she was given little food or water and denied use of the bathroom. A Jackson County sheriff’s detective testified Friday that the basement contained mold and was damp.

Missouri Farm Bureau

China is farming 5 percent of the Ukraine and has farming interests in Australia, the U.S., Tanzania, Senegal, Russia and Zambia. They may own as much as 12 million acres worldwide, and Chinese firms are farming over 20 million acres outside of China. Why? Because China has 20 percent of the world’s population, but only 9 percent of the world’s land suitable for farming. Not only that, but people involved in the rapidly growing U.S. agriculture data industry, who are building databases made up of yield reports and soil surveys from American farms, report that Chinese agricultural firms are the best customers for that data.

They are interested in the data because they’re in the market for some of the best farmland in the world, farmland located in the U.S. Corn Belt. China is experiencing rapid income growth, and the Chinese people are demanding better diets. That food can’t all be produced in China, and it’s clear that the Chinese will not depend solely on purchasing food on the international market.

In the waning days of the legislative session last year, the Missouri legislature ended the long-time ban on foreign ownership of farmland in our state by passing a bill allowing up to 1 percent foreign ownership of Missouri farmland. The best estimates we have show that foreign firms own about .29 percent of Missouri land. The law in place will allow foreign interests to nearly quadruple their ownership of Missouri’s most precious resource, Missouri farmland. That’s an increase in foreign ownership of more than 200,000 acres, or about 400 square miles. If the farms purchased are of average size, then the legislature has passed a bill that would allow nearly 1,000 family farms to be purchased by people who owe their allegiance to countries other than the U.S.

Missouri agriculture depends on exports, and our state has benefited greatly from growing exports to all corners of the world, including China, over the past decade. Missouri farmers are enthusiastic and successful participants in the world market and will benefit in the years to come from increased trade with all nations. China is a valued trading partner and is responsible for much of the growth in sales of Missouri soybeans. But it’s important to our future as a state and a nation that we maintain control of the land that produces enough bounty to feed our citizens as well as much of the rest of the world.

Missouri Farm Bureau is working hard to replace the present 1 percent cap with a total prohibition of further purchases of Missouri farmland, capping ownership at present levels. With less than four weeks left in the legislative session, nothing has been done to stop foreign investment. Much of the overseas investment in agricultural assets has been undertaken by Chinese companies either owned or controlled by the Chinese military. That’s a far cry from an open and fair trading system, and the Missouri legislature should act immediately to stop further purchases of Missouri farmland by any foreign organization.
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