IFB Weekly: Most Recent Talking Points

Note: Illinois Farm Bureau will be posting its latest talking points within IFB Weekly. The document will include the most recent talking points on two to five issues. For our full comprehensive talking points document, please contact your local county Farm Bureau.

AFBF-John Deere Sign MOU

Overview:

This MOU ensures farmers’ right to repair their own farm equipment and is a culmination of several years of discussions between AFBF and John Deere.
Illinois Farm Bureau appreciates the work AFBF and John Deere did to get us to this point.
Farmers deserve the right to repair their own equipment, or the freedom to choose where their equipment is repaired, to help control costs.
This MOU ensures farmers have access to the necessary tools, information and resources to repair their own equipment.
The MOU also protects John Deere’s intellectual property rights and ensures equipment safety.
Farmers take pride in finding creative solutions for their farms.
This MOU commits John Deere to safeguarding famers and independent repair facilities access to the tool and software needed to keep America’s food supply strong.
John Deere has demonstrated to AFBF throughout negotiations that they want to be a leader in the industry.
The MOU creates an official agreement that clearly sets parameters and creates a mechanism to resolve issues as they arise.
This MOU isn’t an end point. AFBF and Deere will meet twice per year moving forward to evaluate progress.
AFBF and IFB believe this MOU has the potential to serve as a model for other manufacturers. AFBF has already begun similar discussions with several other manufacturers.
Farmers are more dependent on technology than ever before.
When a piece of equipment breaks down it can cause major disruptions on the farm, which is why it is so important that they have access to error codes, specialty tools and information on how to fix the problem.

Avian Flu, Egg Prices Talking Points

Overview:

A strain of H5N1 (avian influenza) highly capable of causing disease in birds was identified in wild and domestic birds in Illinois in 2022.
Pressured by tighter-than-usual shell egg inventories, robust demand stemming from the holiday baking season, and from export, wholesale egg prices have skyrocketed
Midwest egg prices reached record high prices in December with an average wholesale price of nearly $4.50
(Dec. 20, 2022 – next report to come Jan. 20ish) United States egg production totaled 8.87 billion (7.62 billion table eggs & 1.25 billion hatching eggs) during November 2022, down 5 percent from last year.
The average size of the table-egg flock supporting this production was estimated at 308.3 million, 5.1% down from last year.
HPAI has had a significant impact on the supply of turkey available in the United States in 2022.
Turkey production is below this time last year and is forecast to be lower yet in 2023.
Fewer turkeys raised combined with strong demand, inflation and growing demands on food systems have led to record high prices for turkey and other poultry products such as table eggs.
Inflation running at 7% to 9% in recent months is robbing consumers (and farmers) of their buying power.
Food price inflation is even higher, and other factors include supply chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine, with other countries pulling back on exports to protect domestic supplies.

Supporting Messages

The current strain is different than previous outbreaks and so far does not seem to infect people easily or cause severe illness in people.
The CDC assessment for this strain of avian influenza is considered low risk for the general public but continues to monitor individuals exposed to virus-infected birds for illness.

Statistics (Current as of Jan. 11, 2023):

USDA has confirmed 729 flocks have tested positive for HPAI – 307 Commercial and 422 Backyard; affected 57.83 million birds (turkeys, chickens, anything avian)
There are currently 47 states with at least one confirmed infected flock
HPAI hasn’t been detected in any commercial flocks in Illinois

New EPA Waters of the United States Rule

Background: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers on Dec. 30 issued a new rule defining Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. Under the new rule, large waterways, like interstate rivers and streams and adjacent wetlands, would have federal protection. Wetlands would be considered adjacent if they are connected to larger waterways with “relatively permanent” surface water connections, or if they have a “significant” hydrologic or ecological “nexus” to those protected tributaries.

Headline Messages:

Illinois Farm Bureau is extremely disappointed in EPA’s new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule.
Farmers care about clean water and preserving the land. They shouldn’t need teams of lawyers and consultants to farm their land.
EPA’s new rule creates overly complex regulations for what is considered “navigable waters” on their land.
Continuation of the old “significant nexus test” will create more regulatory uncertainty on large areas of private farmland miles from the nearest navigable water.
The timing of this new rule, while the U.S. Supreme Court is nearing a decision on the scope of the Clean Water Act, is equally confusing.
A ruling in this case could send WOTUS back to the drawing board, so it makes no sense for EPA to issue a rule that will only cause more disruption and uncertainty.
We call on EPA to recognize the burden overreaching regulations place on farmers, to respect the statute and not write the term “navigable” out of Clean Water Act regulations.

General Inflation Talking Points

Headline Messages:

Inflation remains at the top of American’s minds heading into the new year.
Farmers aren’t alone in facing a tough economy, but many family farms are struggling to hang on in the face of skyrocketing input costs.
Like consumers, farmers are price-takers not price-makers.
General inflation is a long-term problem, which we expect to put pressure on our wallets and create price uncertainty for the next few years.
The ripple effects of the war in Ukraine, and general supply and supply chain issues add to the challenges of ensuring the security of the global food supply.
The impacts of inflation and global disputes on our food supply create added pressure to make sure we get it right when it comes to the 2023 farm bill.