2017 Looks to Be Very Busy Says Strain

by Don Molino

During his daily radio address on the Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network, Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain said he will be meeting with Governor John Bel Edwards later today to discuss a possible agenda for the more than likely special session of the legislature next month.

Strain also said he expects work to begin in earnest next month on a new farm bill and he hopes congress will “have something on paper by the end of 2017.”

The commissioner also pointed out GMO labeling remains “a hot topic” and consumers need to be better informed about the benefits of GMO’s:  greater production with fewer inputs.

And Strain says he hopes we’ll know who the new Secretary of Agriculture might be by the end of this week.

Quoting the CEO of the National Wheat Growers Association, Chandler Gould, in Delta Farm Press, Strain said the new administration might be considering stopping the EPA’s “Waters of the US” regulations were they are now and then re-working those regulations.  It’s also possible, said Gould, there could be a relaxation of the new Worker Protection Standards as well as a revision of biotech regulations in consideration of crop protection product labeling issues.