WASHINGTON, D.C. — The coming years will be filled with regulation changes, technological improvements and environmental lawsuits as Trump administration changes go into effect.

 

“The Role of Rural America in U.S. Security” was the focus of this month’s 24th annual American Agri-Women (AAW) Presidents’ Council Symposium. The meeting was part of the annual fly-in to Washington, D.C., where members met with Congressional legislators, learned about issues of concern for agriculture and toured a variety of local farms.

Beef farmer and Colorado state House Rep. Kimmi Lewis (R-District 64) said there are not enough people with agricultural backgrounds in elected positions.

She finds herself educating other representatives about agriculture issues.

“In Canada, they didn’t want us to have country of origin labeling, but they do,” she said. She took photos the last time she was in Canada of large placards in the grocery store over certain sections of beef claiming the meat on the shelf below was from Canada – but said the United States isn’t allowed to stamp any of its products.

Lewis is proud of the cattle from her farm, her state and the country. The U.S. is known as a safe and reliable source of food, which might make it preferable to another country’s product. But she said just because there is a sticker with “USDA” on it doesn’t mean it’s from the U.S. – even products labeled “product of the U.S.” may have been imported and repacked here.

“When you go to the grocery store, you can ask them, ‘Is it really from the United States of America?’ and they’ll say yes, but they don’t really know ... There’s marketing done,” she said.

Lawrence Kogan, with the Kogan Law Group of New York and president of the nonprofit Institute for Trade, Standards and Sustainable Development, said most farmers want to be good stewards of the land, but they also want to be able to use it. Wetlands, Waters of the U.S. and other regulations and policies can keep farmers from working the land.

He wants to see good, peer-reviewed science to back up regulations rather than a mixture of foreign information and unreliable science.

Native American reservations are not subject to federal jurisdiction, he added, until after a crime has been committed. He is concerned that foreigners may be hiding on reservations and no one from the government can check on the rumors because they have no right to be there.

Kathleen Sgamma spoke about energy security, specifically oil and natural gas. Small-scale oil producers have been going out of business because of regulations while large producers can afford topay fees and for the science to be completed.

Still, the oil industry in the United States has grown, becoming the largest producer of petroleum in the world in 2013 and the largest producer of natural gas in 2012.

The increased production is a result of new technologies, drilling techniques and hydraulic “fracking.”

The oil produced from fracking usually can’t be refined in the U.S. because it is light crude, while the oil produced from typical means is heavy crude. Permits for new refineries have been stalled and so the oil has to be sent overseas to be refined, she said.

Still, about 9 million jobs nationally are a result of the oil industry and Sgamma said if more could be refined here, more jobs would be created, energy independence would be closer to a reality and foreign allied nations that rely on Russia now for their oil could get the product from the U.S.