Action Needed on Iowa Senate Ag. Bill

By the IFU

Urgent action is needed to influence members of the Senate Ag Committee to get three bills out of committee and onto the Senate floor where they can be debated and voted on. There is a Senate Ag Committee meeting this afternoon.

Please contact your Senator on the Ag Committee TODAY or as many as you like (include Gronstal) to let them know that you support these bills, which not only will protect the independent hog producer but also work to return the rights of rural families and farmers in Iowa.

THE SENATE SWITCHBOARD NUMBER IS (515) 281-3371. If you can't get through, please leave a short message.

Also contact GOVERNOR CULVER'S OFFICE:  (515) 281-5211.

Bills:
1.) SF 10 (Bio-Security Bill): If passed, this bill will establish firm separation distances between farrowing units and other animal confinements. This bill is important because it will help return an important $1 billion industry to Iowa. Due to the increased number of confinements being built across the state and thus the increased concentration, Iowa has become an epicenter of disease in the livestock (especially hog) industry.

In a recent interview, the newly elected President of the Iowa Pork Producers Association openly admitted that it is hard to establish farrow hogs in Iowa because of the density of nearby large confinements that spread disease. Now their lobbyists are actively
working against a bill that would protect farrowing units and help young farmers get started in raising hogs. We wonder where their true loyalties are?

2.) SSB 1140 (Master Matrix Bill):  This study bill tightens the requirements on confinement operators to fill out all portions of the matrix and also attain a passing score in each of the following three areas: air quality, water quality, and communities.

Tightening the matrix is an important first step to returning clean air, clean water and healthy rural communities back to Iowa, currently those with a D - can get a passing grade (440 out of 880).

3.) SSB 1165 (Supervisor Committee Bill):  This study bill calls for the county board of supervisors to appoint a five-person committee with staggered five-year terms that will review the all applications for the construction of new confinements. The committee is to be made up of the county's environmental health officer, a commissioner of soil and water conservation, a real estate broker, a city/town resident, a farmer engaged in livestock operations.

The board shall make its decision to accept or reject the proposed operation based on the results of the master matrix.

While none of these are perfect bills, we believe that they are a reasonable compromise that can be achieved between the livestock industry and the health and property concerns of rural residents and all Iowans during this legislative session.

We urge you to contact the following Senators who sit on the Senate Ag Committee and help influence them to make the right decision on these important matters. (If you don't a Farm Bureau and Pork Producer lobbyist gladly will.)
 
 Democrats
 Senator:  Tom Rielly (Vice Chair of Agriculture Committee)
 Home Town:  Oskaloosa
 Counties:  Iowa, Keokuk, Mahaska, Poweshiek, Tama
 
 Senator: Dennis Black
 Home Town:  Grinnell
 Counties:  Jasper, Polk
 Senator: Thomas Courtney
 Home Town:  Burlington
 Counties:  Des Moines, Louisa, Muscatine

 Senator: Tom Hancock
 Home Town:  Epworth
 Counties:  Delaware, Dubuque, Jones

 Senator: Rich Olive
 Home Town:  Story City
 Counties:  Hamilton, Story, Webster, Wright
 
 Senator: Dr. Joes Seng
 Home Town:  Davenport
 Counties:  Scott

 Senator: Staci Appel
 Home Town:  Ackworth
 Counties:  Dallas, Madison, Warren
 
 Republicans
 Senator:  David Johnson (Ranking Member)
 Occupation:  Hired Hand on a Dairy Farm
 Home Town:  Ocheyedan
 Counties:  Clay, Dickinson, O'Brien, Osceola, Sioux
 
 Senator: Nancy Boettger
 Home Town:  Harlan
 Counties:  Adair, Audubon, Cass, Guthrie, Pottawattamie, Shelby
 
 Senator: Thurman Gaskill
 Home Town:  Corwith
 Counties:  Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth
 
 Senator: Hubert Houser
  Home Town:  Carson
 Counties:  Fremont, Mills, Paige, Pottawattamie
 
 Senator: Dave Mulder
 Home Town:  Sioux Center
 Counties:  Sioux, Lyon

 Senator: John Putney
 Home Town:  Gladbrook
 Counties:  Emmet, Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Webster