The Farm Post eNews

Friday eNews from the Pike and Scott County Farm Bureaus
 

MAY 20, 2016
NO vote on SB 2237
Don't let telecommunications companies take your property rights! Call Representative Davidsmeyer at 217-782-1840 and ask him to vote NO on SB 2237.

SB 2237 would allow telecommunications companies to install their cable and equipment in road rights-of-way when the underlying land is privately owned if the landowner has not paid property taxes for the previous two years. Most landowners do not pay property taxes on the road right-of-way because it is not considered productive agricultural land.

However, Illinois courts have held that easements for road rights-of-way are exclusively for road purposes. An easement from landowners is currently required to be sought by telecommunications companies prior to installing cable or equipment in these road rights-of-way.

Allowing telecommunications companies to install their equipment in the non-public road right-of-way when the land underlying it is privately owned without requiring an easement for the use of the land is an unconstitutional taking of the landowner's property.

Other utility companies, such as pipeline and electric transmission line companies, negotiate easement agreements with landowners prior to construction and installation of their projects. Telecommunications companies are currently required to negotiate an easement as well, but in many cases do not.

SB 2237 passed the Senate and may be called in the House soon.
GMO crops ok, again
The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released a report earlier this week on GMO crops that reaffirmed what thousands of other studies have found, and what farmers, scientists and educated consumers have known all along: genetically engineered crops are safe and beneficial to agriculture, human health and the environment. In a statement issued Thursday, AFBF President Zippy Duvall thanked the academies for doing a thorough, scientific review of GMOs.

Duvall also pointed out that the Academies found that a label is not needed for food made from genetically engineered crops because those foods are as safe to consume as any other.

"This finding is timely, as the Senate has yet to pass legislation to pre-empt state-by-state labeling mandates-mandates that are not based on science or food safety issues and would be misleading and costly for consumers," Duvall said. "The study gives senators all the evidence they need to support a national, voluntary labeling standard and we urge them to do so soon-before it is too late to halt the non-science-based labeling mandate in Vermont."

Report (free PDF)
TPP will add $4.4 billion to farm income
The U.S. International Trade Commission's report on the value of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership drives home the benefits the agreement would bring to America's farms and ranches.

Farm Bureau's analysis indicated farmers and ranchers would stand to gain $4.4 billion a year in added farm income with U.S. agricultural exports growing by $5.3 billion a year upon implementation of TPP.

The ITC report suggests things could be even better, showing farm income up by $10 billion a year driven by net agricultural exports growing by $4.5 billion a year by 2032.

U.S. agriculture depends on agreements like TPP to break down trade barriers and level the playing field in markets around the world. Farm Bureau will continue to urge Congress and the administration to get this deal done.

ITC news release
TODAY IN HISTORY
MAY 20, 1927
Lindbergh Flight

At 7:52 A.M., May 20, 1927 Charles Lindbergh gunned the engine of the "Spirit of St Louis" and aimed her down the dirt runway of Roosevelt Field, Long Island. Heavily laden with fuel, the plane bounced down the muddy field, gradually became airborne and barely cleared the telephone wires at the field's edge.

The crowd of 500 thought they had witnessed a miracle.

Thirty-three and one half-hours and 3,500 miles later he landed in Paris, the first to fly the Atlantic alone.

Read more on the historic flight.
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