EPA Disparages Farmers, Hinders Progress,
Farm Bureau Tells Congress
Three Farm Bureau members called on the
federal government to use more carrots and
fewer sticks with farmers who care for land that
has often been in their families for generations.
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Richard
Ebert, former Ohio Farm Bureau President Terry
McClure and Florida Farm Bureau member Kate
English testified before the House Agriculture
Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry.
Ebert (pictured above) told the subcommittee
that the Environmental Protection Agency has
failed to explain its expectations in the ongoing
Chesapeake Bay cleanup.
“Despite my four-year degree in animal science
from a well-known and respected university and
34 years of farming while implementing modern
technologies, I don’t understand EPA’s science,”
Ebert said. “And no farmer can legitimately
8 West Virginia Farm Bureau News
comprehend and respond to the reams of academic
analyses that have been produced through these
meetings and continue to perform the tasks needed
to run his or her farm business.”
Ebert chided EPA for spreading false
information about family farms.
“EPA and its cohorts point fingers and paint
agriculture – farmers just like me – as a villain
that impairs water quality in the Bay,” Ebert said.
“But their accusations are in direct conflict with
U.S. Geological Survey data – which showed
pretty positive gains on water quality in tributaries
throughout the Bay Watershed. These gains are
not because of our revised Bay strategy or EPA’s
model. It merely demonstrates what agriculture
has been doing for decades through increased
knowledge, additional opportunities, technology
and time.”