Hat Chat

The Indianapolis Star has never been a friend of ethanol. Despite the growth of the ethanol industry in the state and all the investments and jobs it has created, The Star continues to take every chance it can to disparage corn based ethanol. In a front page story Indiana’s ethanol industry is no longer a sure bet the Star paints the industry as one on the verge of economic collapse.

“Bankruptcy. Red ink. Painful shakeout. Those terms, normally associated with old-line manufacturing, now are popping up to describe what was seen just three years ago as a sure bet for Indiana: high-tech ethanol plants. “

While it is a fact that the ethanol industry is experiencing some consolidation, it is far from dead. Read my commentary, Don’t Put on the Black Dress The Patient Isn’t Dead

The Star article was mostly balanced and used some reputable sources. But it was one sided in that it focused just on the short term negative and did not explore the long term future of ethanol. At the end of the piece there were some statements that were unsubstantiated and not attributed.

“Some experts say the industry is suffering from a frenzy of overbuilding, a sudden downturn in the markets and a weak economy that is clobbering many sectors.”

The Indiana Corn Marketing Council refused to comment on the article, a big mistake in my opinion. People will read this and write off ethanol as a failed technology. When will the Indiana ag community stand up and force The Star to stop this attack on ethanol?

You don’t see The Star writing this kind of stuff about the Indiana auto industry and the labor unions that are causing their demise.

The annual gathering of farm broadcasters in Kansas City is part trade association meeting, part PR event, part family reunion, and part three day eating and drinking contest. I have been attending this meeting every year for the past 27 years. During all of that time it has been held at the same hotel, the Westin Crown Center. So walking into the Westin is like slipping on an old pair of shoes, it just fells comfortable. The doorman, even knows most of us by our first names.

Two things all farm broadcasters share is a passion for agriculture and a love to talk. So put over 100 of us together in the same place and we talk and talk and talk about agriculture. Add to that some of the top leaders in agriculture and agri-business, and you get a lot of hot air. All that talking works up an appetite and there are plenty of big meal functions to satisfy. All that talking makes one thirsty and there is plenty of free beer to be had.

There is plenty of news too. Top ag officials from the government, farm organizations, and ag companies are on hand to talk on the air and on the record. News from this event is spread all over the country as networks and radio stations broadcast live from the news center.

HAT found several Hoosiers and former Hoosiers at the meeting. Karen Fear an Indiana farmer on the USB was on hand to promote soy products and checkoff programs. Jim Bower from Bower Trading in Lafayette was there to talk about the markets. Chris Novak from NPPC, (formerly of Indiana Soybean), was there. Julie Douglas from Purdue Ag Communications was also in attendance.

You have already heard and read some of the news material Andy Eubank and I gathered at the meeting, and over the next few weeks there will be more.

P.S.
I promised to let you know how the Verizon phone worked. It did fine, handling the riggers of travel and working in airports and hotel banquette rooms. The battery lasted the whole trip with no re-charge. The Vcast feature allowed me to catch up on news while sitting at the airport. It also provided an alternative from Operah, who was on the TV in the gate area.

Hoosier Ag Today will be on the road much of this week. It is that time of year when all major farm broadcast media travel to Kansas City for the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) meeting. It is this genetic code that is built into all farm radio people, each November we all must return to KC.

It is a very news worthy event, a chance to catch up with old friends, and even a chance to learn a few new things. This includes learning about some of the newest and coolest technology. My friend Todd Gleason, who works for the University of IL, always has some great gadgets to show off. Evan Slack, who is well into his 70s, will have something new from Apple. He knows more about Apple products than the geeks who work in the Apple stores.

I am taking my new cool gadget from Verizon. My new best friend, Kyle, who lets me try out some of their new stuff, sent over this LG phone. It has a keyboard for old guys like me who are not good at texting, plus a touch screen that is very easy to operate. I can also check e-mail, visit competitor web sites to see what news they have, and watch television with the V-cast service. It also has a still and video camera.

It has been great to use around town but this will be the first time I have traveled with it. We will see how it works with the new security process at the new Indianapolis airport. It also has the Verizon GPS service so I can find my way around the new airport.

Listen for reports from NAFB on our HAT stations and www.hoosieragtaoday.com. I will also try to take some photos to post here. Perhaps I can get a photo of the Secretary of Agriculture falling asleep at this own press conference.

Indiana Lt. Governor Becky Skillman is also the Indiana Secretary of Agriculture, and she is ready and eager to begin her second term in office. Skillman told HAT that continuing the growth in the Hoosier farm economy will be one of her top priorities for the next 4 years.

Here is the complete and unedited interview.

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On Monday, Indiana Farm Bureau will announce their new Director of Communications. Andrew Dietrick, long time Director of Communication for the Indiana Statewide Association of Rural Electric Coops and most recently with the Dept of Transportation, will assume the post recently vacated by Lew Middleton.

Farm Bureau leadership is seeking a new direction for the organizations communications programs. Dietrick will chart this new direction and bring a number of new technologies to Farm Bureau’s efforts.

All of us at Hoosier Ag Today look forward to working with Andy and helping his staff to tell the story of Indiana agriculture and Indiana Farm Bureau.

It was quick and decisive. Just three minutes after the polls closed, the media called the race for Indiana Governor. The Mitch Daniels/Becky Skillman team will be returning to the Statehouse. Four years ago, it was the farm and rural vote that made the difference. This time the Daniels win was a much broader based win. Even the primarily democratic Marion County went to Mitch Daniels.

During this campaign, the agricultural issues were different than 4 years ago. Taxes were the issue that concerned farmers the most. While most supported the growth in the Hoosier agriculture economy, many saw their property tax bills skyrocket and felt the Governor’s reform of the property tax system was unfair to agriculture. Even Indiana Farm Bureau refused to endorse Daniels for re-election.

The second term of Governor Daniels may be less friendly to agriculture than his first term. While there will still be strong support for growth in the livestock, hardwood, and renewable energy sectors, the property tax issue will continue to divide Daniels and the farm community.

The Governor’s property tax measure, which passed the General Assembly last session, calls for a change in the Indiana constitution. That measure will be up for ratification before the legislature this session. Indiana Farm Bureau has serious reservations about this plan and may launch a campaign to defeat the proposal.

On Tuesday, we are all supposed to go and vote. By all accounts we will have to stand in line to do that this year. But why bother, according to the media the election has already been decided. After watching report after report this evening on all major networks and local news coverage, it is unanimous Barack Obama is gong to win.

Not only is he going to win but the Democrats will sweep the Senate and achieve an overwhelming majority. The predictors and the pundits speak with such conviction of this outcome that it sounds like facts. They look at the camera with smug certainty and tell us what is going to happen.

The media love affair with Senator Obama has been so obvious during the campaign that even Saturday Night Live in the Election Bash satirized the media and their coverage of Obama.

So why should we go and vote? To prove them wrong, to show them that the American electorate can not be brainwashed by media manipulation.

GO VOTE!

As John McCain prepares to visit the Hoosier state Monday afternoon, the reaction from the ag community continues to pour in from the statement made last week by Barack Obama about agriculture.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty on ABC’s Good Morning America: Obama Not Offering “Positive Vision” for Iowa Farmers. BILL WEIR: “People want to follow hopeful, optimistic, civil, decent leaders. Are those qualities what has him so far ahead in the polls, do you think? And how would you relate those qualities to the McCain campaign?” GOV. TIM PAWLENTY: “Well, I think whether its Barack Obama or anyone else, people want to see a hopeful, positive vision for the future of the country, but that’s not what Barack Obama’s been offering. For example, here in Iowa, he said recently to Joel Klein of Time magazine, that agriculture is to blame for the nation’s health problems partly, including diabetes and heart disease and others. You can imagine what Iowa farmers are going to think of that.” WEIR: “Well, I think he was talking about corn syrup in soda and fast food. That’s a little bit out of context. I won’t ask –” GOV. PAWLENTY: “But Bill, farmers don’t grow soda, they grow corn.” (ABC’s “Good Morning America,” 11/1/08)

Commentary Magazine’s Jennifer Rubin: Obama’s Rural “Condescension” Slips Out. “In loose moments, Obama’s lack of understanding of and condescension toward rural and small-town America always slips out. And really, is his point that if farmers grew less food, Americans would be thinner? The mind reels.” (Jennifer Rubin, “Obama to Farmers: Stop Growing Food,” Commentary Magazine Contentions blog,” http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/40941, 11/1/08)

Bemidji (MN) Pioneer: Sen. Grassley: “It Is Ludicrous to Blame Farmers for Obesity.” “‘It is ludicrous to blame farmers for obesity and pollution,’ Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters during a Friday conference call. ‘I think he really doesn’t understand agriculture.’” (Don Davis and Scott Wente, “CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK: Obama comments upset GOP farmers,” Bemidji Pioneer, 11/1/08)

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Sen. Grassley: Obama “Doesn’t Have a Very Good Foundation.” “In a conference call arranged by the McCain campaign, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, called it ‘ludicrous to blame farmers for obesity and pollution.’ Said Grassley: ‘It shows that Sen. Obama doesn’t have a very good foundation in American agriculture.’” (Tom Webb, “McCain faults Obama’s comments on farming,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/1/08)

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Sen. Grassley: Obama Gets Ag Ideas From “Professor At Cal-Berkeley.” “(P)eople in agriculture need to know that if Sen. Obama is going to get his ideas on agriculture from a professor at Cal-Berkeley, they should think twice about what they are voting for.” (Tom Webb, “McCain faults Obama’s comments on farming,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/1/08)

Barack Obama Blames Farming For Some of The Nation’s Leading Health Problems, Including Obesity And Heart Disease, In A Recent Interview. “Obama - citing an article by Michael Pollan, an author and outspoken critic of U.S. farm policy - told Time magazine that agriculture is partly responsible for the explosion in our health care costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in health care costs.’” (Philip Brasher, “Obama links health issues to farming, then backs off,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama Attacks Farmers for “Contributing More Greenhouse Gases Than Our Transportation Sector.” “Obama also said in the Time interview that farming, enabled by cheap energy, “actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector.” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama’s Remarks “In Conflict” With Previous Remarks “But Ron Litterer, a Greene farmer who is chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, said Obama’s comments in the Time interview were ‘in conflict with what he’s been saying about agriculture, no question about it.’” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

John McCain Has Proposed To Exempt Farms From The Emissions Caps In His Cap And Trade Proposal. “McCain would exempt farms from emission limits, a crucial issue for livestock producers.” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama Has Not Proposed Exempting Agriculture From His Emissions Caps. “Obama hasn’t taken a position yet. A spokeswoman said Obama Enhanced Coverage would take into account political considerations as well as the impact on the economy and agriculture.” (Philip Brasher, “Candidates’ plans on energy may cost Iowans; sum varies,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Barack Obama Quotes Radical Berkeley Professor Who Advocates Restructuring. “Pollan, who teaches journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, has long criticized the wide-scale cultivation of corn for use as livestock feed. He contends that it would be better for the environment and human health to fatten livestock on grass.” (Philip Brasher, “Obama links health issues to farming, then backs off,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Pollan Says Higher Meat Prices A Good Thing. “Pollan acknowledged that his ideas would raise meat prices: ‘You will need to make the case that paying the real cost of meat, and therefore eating less of it, is a good thing for our health, for the environment, for our dwindling reserves of fresh water and for the welfare of the animals,’ he wrote.” (Philip Brasher, “Obama links health issues to farming, then backs off,” Des Moines Register, 10/31/08)

Just days before farmers will be going to vote, Democratic candidate Barack Obama made a major slip when he criticized American agriculture. In an interview with Time Magazine he said, “I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollan about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the meantime, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our health care costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in health care costs. That’s just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.”
US farm leaders were quick to respond. Ron Litterer, a farmer who is chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, said Obama’s comments in the Time interview were “in conflict with what he’s been saying about agriculture, no question about it.”

A Friday afternoon teleconference was held featuring a number of prominent ag leaders, all responding to the Obama statement They included, Governor Matt Blunt, Missouri, State Representative Randy Demmer, R-Hayfield, Minnesota, McCain-Palin Minnesota Farm & Ranch Team, Steering Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, Iowa, Doug Holtz-Eakin, Policy Adviser, McCain Campaign, Charlie Kruse, fourth generation Missouri farmer and President of the Missouri Farm Bureau, and Mike Yoder, Chair of Indiana Farm and Ranch Coalition.

Listen to this teleconference.

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Obama’s comments came in response to a question about his energy plan. A transcript of the interview was posted on the Time Web site last week. Pollan, who teaches journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, has long criticized the wide-scale cultivation of corn for use as livestock feed. He contends that it would be better for the environment and human health to fatten livestock on grass. In an Oct. 9 New York Times article, styled as a letter to the next president, Pollan called for changing the way livestock are fed and proposed overhauling farm programs.

Obama’s campaign said his “strong record of standing up for farmers and America’s rural communities speaks for itself.” The statement also said Obama would “bring the change rural America needs by increasing investments in renewable energy and giving family farmers the support they need by allowing them to diversify their crops and increase revenue.”

Early in the campaign John McCain was criticized by the ag community, and this blog, for his comments on the ethanol subsidy. Unlike Obama, McCain stuck to his position and explained he was against all subsidies and had nothing against ethanol. Obama, however, has made a major blunder by quoting Pollan, an outspoken critic of agriculture and an environmental radical.

Until now, neither candidate had won the support of much of American agriculture. In my view this incident reveals a true anti-farming slant to the Obama campaign and demonstrates a fundamental lack of support for farmers.

Renewable energy is on the ballot this election. In several states voters will be able to cast a vote for renewable energy. According to USA Today:

Three states — California, Colorado and Missouri — have measures on their ballots that deal with alternative energy sources, including wind and solar power. “This is a fairly new issue to the ballot,” says Jennie Drage Bowser, who has been tracking ballot measures for more than a decade at the National Conference of State Legislatures. “It’s a direct response to the demand for energy independence and the rising cost of energy.”

If these measurers pass it will be a sign the public is in support of moving this nation toward renewable energy. If they do not big oil will be quick to say the renewable era is over. Instead of just red and blue states we have green states to watch on election night.