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Show December1975 Utah Farm Bureau News Page 2 UFBF policy group screens issues POSTMASTER: Please Lake City, Utah 84107. send Form 3579 to Utah Farm Bureau, 5300 South 360 West, Salt Utah. Editorial Published each month by the Utah Farm Bureau Federation at Salt Lake City, 84107. Utah Lake Subscription.price City, and Business Office, 5300 South 360 West, Salt subscription of fifty cents per year to members is included in membership fee. dollar One per year. price: Non-memb- er Second Class postage paid at Salt Lake City, Utah UTAH FARM BUREAU FEDERATION OFFICIALS Elmo W. Hamilton, Riverton Jerold N. Johnson T. C. Booth Wallentine . .President Vice President Executive Vice President Editor wood Shaffer Frank Nishiguchi, Garland; William Holmes, Ogden; Jack Brown, Grants-villEdward Boyer, Springville; John Lewis, Monticello; Stuart Johnson, Aurora; Kenneth R. Ashby, Delta; Mrs. Paul Turner, Morgan; Robert Johnson, Randolph. DIRECTORS: e; Jerold Johnson (right), chairman of the UFBF resolutions committee, meets with that group on the first day of the November UFBF convention to review policy proposals made later in the week to voting delegates. The meeting took place in the new Farm Bureau Center. Federal foot in pork prices Water issues top policy voting Utah Farm Bureau Federation policy for the coming year has been established by 134 voting delegates from Utahs 28 county Farm Bureaus in meetings during the November annual convention. A full text of those resolutions will appear in the January 1976 Utah Farm Bureau News. Following are summaries of some of the key new and strengthened policies. Corps of Engineers: Farm Bureau reaffirmed its stand opposing an at- tempted takeover of control of waterways and their tributaries. It recommends that those waterways stay under the jurisdiction of state and local governments. (If the Corps of Engineers were to gain control, a farmer might conceivably have to get a permit to plow any fields adjacent to even a small stream or irrigation canal.) Regional Government: The new policy guide opposes any regional form of government such as a multiple-county, unit that sets up a new of layer government. Real Estate Transfer Act: Farm Bureau opposes a real estate transfer act that would automatically feed de non-navigab- le Latest move by the U. S. government to interfere with agricultural marketing is the Treasury Departments refusal to place countervailing (subsidy-offsettinduties on hams imported from the European Common Market at a subsidized price, in unfair competition with American farmers. Farm Bureau policy and U. S. law call for import duties on products that are sold here by a foreign nation at a price lower than the market price in the producing country. We only ask to compete with overseas farm products on a tails of every transfer of property into a county assessors office for possible annual reassessment. Overweight Permits: In light of a recent effort by the State of Utah to eliminate any overweight permits for single axle trucks, including farm trucks, Farm Bureau is on record as favoring a 10 percent overweight permit for single axle farm trucks and the same allowance on tandem axle trucks. The state also has proposed reducing the allowance on tandem axle trucks. The state also has proposed reducing the allowance on tandems to 5 percent overweight. Regulatory Agencies: Regulations proposed by government agencies often overstep the intended limits of the legislation that established the agency. Farm Bureau proposes the Congress keep close watch on proposed regulations to be sure that legislative intent in making the law if followed. Price Support Programs: Farm Bureau policy has opposed government subsidies since 1948, and the 1976 Utah resolution reaffirms that opposition, including the current farm bills target price concept. It also opposes renewal of the e program. g) fair basis. But David McDonald, assistant Treasury secretary, said the other day that the Treasury department has waived the levying of countervailing duties on European canned hams because imports have been declining for the past two years and because hog prices in the United States remain relatively high. Every livestock producer understands that hell have lean years and good years. Hog producers have just gotten over a lean year. Now that theyre in the offsetting good year, the Treasury is wielding its power to set a price control. This meddling is just as as the recent temporary halt placed on the sale of U. S. grain to Russia. And just as short-sighteUnder the delusion that they are helping hold consumer prices down, the politicians are putting another squeeze on U. S. farmers and ranchers thats bound to cut production and, in the long run, raise consumer prices here. As further evidence that the Treasury department intends to regulate pork prices, McDonald added that the impact of imported canned hams on the U. S. from time to time. If import penetration of the U. S. industry will be market increases or profitability of the U. S. industry declines, countervailing duties could be imposed. It would be repulsive if Congress passed laws restricting profit levels of farmers, in view of their risks in producing food. For appointed officials of an administrative department to regulate those profits is intolerable. high-hand- ed d. ted Farm Bureau set-asid- Reflections By El Shaffer, Editor OSHA and EPA always funny topics to cry about youre scratching around for something humorous to write about and feel an itch, think of EPA and OSHA (the Environmental Protection Agendont cy and Occupational Safety and Health Administration). Theyll always cause you to break out in a rash. Unlike the punch line for the old joke, though, thinking about those subjects hurts even when you laugh. Here are a few recent antics performed at taxpayer expense. When OSHA agents ordered that trucks at a construction site install alarms to sound off when vehicles are backing up. Then it ordered workers to wear ear plugs to protect them from excessive noise! Voting delegates at the 1975 UFBF convention adopted policy for the organization for 1976 in this session, conducted by prexy Elmo Hamilton (right). Olsen sounds tax alert December is an important month for Farm Bureau watchdogs over public funds, Jack Olsen, executive secretary of the Utah Taxpayers Association, cautions. County budget hearings take place this month, with spending proposals for the coming year up for review. Although counties in Utah operate on a calendar year, with taxes collected in November 1975 going for spending adopted in December 1974, some counties open their budgets in midyear for new spending approval. These special openings escape taxpayer scrutiny, Olsen points out. What recourse does that taxpayer have? Get to know your commission ers. Go to the budget hearings and articulate your views. Tell them how you feel about programs, spending increases, and higher taxes. Budget hearings are usually packed with special interest groups spenders wanting a bigger slice and public employee unions demanding higher salaries. Olsen admits that the property tax is not all bad it provides money to run government that is closest to the people. But he charges that the part of the tax that is bad news is that part which supports waste, inefficiency and careless spending. Taxpayers have an obligation to speak out these abuses, he adds. nst Then there was the power company built on a large coal field in West Virginia. After the plant was completed, EPA said it could only burn low sulfur coal, rather than the coal at the plant. So now coal is being delivered from the Western United States by land, rail and water. Coal coming into West Virginia for the power plant passes coal going out of the state on barges to be sold to foreign countires. (Could this be more of the longshoremens work? ) And for a final example of how EPA cures are worse than the problem, consider EPAs orders to electrical plants to install scrubbers on their smokestacks. If used, theyll produce a toothpaste-lik- e sludge several square miles in diameter, nearly a foot deep, each year. coal-burnin- g Budgets must, by law, be available for public inspection. Olsen cautions Farm Bureau leaders and others to be alert for hidden cash balances which, if used, would permit tax reductions. The ballot box is where it all starts, Olsen concludes. If you elect spenders, you are voting for higher property taxes. Responsible officials must be elected if we are to avoid the dilemma which faces New York City. NEXT MONTH: COMPLETE RESOLUTIONS This issue contains a summary of some of the key resolutions adopted by the voting delegates at the Nov. 1975, state convention for 1976 Utah Farm Bureau Federation policy. A complete listing of all state resolutions will be printed in the January 1976 issue of the Utah Farm Bureau News. 19-2- 0, |