Calm Before the Storm

Producers and others often lament the burdens of complying with environmental laws, rules and regulations. The scope of government's oversight of our industry is almost unimaginable. When we first started using CyberRegsTM in late July 2006, we anticipated a pretty active experience with lots of “traffic” in regulatory information of interest to producers. By mid-December, the CyberRegs project was 90-days old. After a 90-day trial of CyberRegs^TM, preliminary findings indicate that a change in laws relevant to production agriculture occurs approximately once every ten days. This seems like a lot. But, wait! During the 90-day trial, it became evident that the Fall 2006 election season impacted new rule making and reduced the frequency of publication of laws and regulations. In fact, we witnessed a decline in the frequency of notifications as Congress adjourned and headed to the fields and towns for the biennial campaign season.

With the 2007 Farm Bill looming on the post-election agenda, it is plausible to suggest that in the last four months of 2006 most rule-making for agriculture was delayed until the 110th Congress was seated. Looking forward to 2007, Iowa corn and soybean producers and animal feeding operations can expect more legislative action that directly impacts production and marketing of Iowa farm products. As key elements of the Farm Bill are negotiated and new policies, laws, and regulations are published, CyberRegs^TM Early Warning System provides ISA with daily notification of changes in the regulatory climate. Many of these will allow for public comment by you or ISA staff. In the coming months, this column will provide a summary of the most significant regulatory changes so that producer members can stay abreast of rapid changes as the Farm Bill makes its way through Congress. In the meantime, if you have a need to know a law that is on the books in Iowa or at the Federal level, send Heath Ellison a note, and he will sic the bird dog to fetch it.