Keith Sutton was among voting delegates representing Farm Bureau members from Daviess County at Missouri Farm Bureau’s 92nd annual meeting Dec. 3-5 at Osage Beach.
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The voting delegates debated resolutions and passed official Farm Bureau policy stating the organization’s position on issues affecting agriculture and rural America for 2007. Among the over 500 new and current policy positions discussed at the annual meeting, voting delegates adopted the following policies:
Implementation of a voluntary national animal identification system that addresses farmers’ concerns about cost, confidentiality and liability;
Support for a national energy initiative that establishes the goal of deriving 25% of our nation’s energy from renewable sources by 2025 (known as 25 x’25);
Extension of the 2002 Farm Bill for at least one year and extending the concepts of the current farm program into the next farm bill when it is written by Congress;
Extension of Presidential Trade Promotion Authority;
Congressional approval of comprehensive disaster assistance for crop and livestock producers due to consecutive years of drought;
Support for state legislation to protect and enhance the ability of farmers and ranchers to continue agricultural production in Missouri;
Creation of state tax credits and incentives for expansion of livestock operations and recycling plant nutrients by processing manure into fertilizer;
Increased funding of tree screens used to control odor from livestock operations;
Limiting the use of professional signature gathering organizations for initiative petition efforts;
Support of a Missouri statewide 10% biodiesel blended fuel standard;
Creation of state tax credits and incentives for the installation of E-85 and biodiesel fuel pumps;
Support for the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s "Missouri Branded Beef Initiative";
Opposition to increased state regulation of agricultural dams;
Opposition to subjecting farmers hauling their own agricultural goods and livestock instate to federal farm vehicle regulations that apply to interstate trucking;
Support for temporarily suspending state restrictions on transporting oversize and overweight loads to ease movement of commodities during harvest.
Selected delegates from Missouri will present Missouri policy of national and international interest to voting delegates during the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 7-10.