2021 Spring Farm

Page 10 2021 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 18, 2021 administration, WOTUS was more or less phased out and replaced with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR.) The NWPR was well received by producers for a few reasons, the most important being that it was more clearly written and outlined the dos and don’ts in real words and not legalese. Quoted in another article published in Farm Progress, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said “The Navigable Waters Protection Rule provided much needed clarity and allows farmers to understand water regulations without having to hire teams of consultants and lawyers.” The question for the future is, can Biden take the best parts of each of these rules and create a modified version that will meet the needs of the environment and the American farmer. Ranking right at the top of the list for the Biden administration is climate change. While the term is all sweeping and Biden intends to address climate change from many angles, agriculture is one of the cornerstone industries for implementing those changes. Agriculture and food practice group leader at Invariant, Anne MacMillian, who also served on Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack’s staff during the Obama administration noted during a recent webinar that the attitude toward the agricultural producer regarding climate change has changed. Saying that farmers were once considered the “bad actors and a problem that needed to be regulated.” The attitude has changed and the administration now recognizes producers and the ag industry as “a part of the solution and a willing partner.” In an article published by Farm Progress, ‘Biden administration: Tide shifting on climate change discussion,’ American Farm Bureau Federation’s Director of Congressional Relations Andrew Walmsley noted that the farming communities will need to become more communicative of what they are doing and how they are working to protect the environment and influence climate change. “The agricultural sector will need to communicate gains the industry has made and impacts of any proposals that arise. There’s a fine line of policy proposals out there that would be harmful,” he says. In an article published in the Greenville Sun, journalist Steve Goff perhaps explained the situation as well as anyone can. “Biden hails Continue 4