Regular Legislative Session Considered a Success for Agriculture

By Allie Doise, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation

Louisiana lawmakers continue to wrangle over the state's budget in yet another special session, but Louisiana farmers and ranchers can consider the 2017 regular legislative session a successful one for agriculture.

Jim Monroe, Louisiana Farm Bureau Assistant to the President, said farmers and ranchers maintained all tax exemptions on farm inputs for farmers and ranchers, and HB 629 was passed to restore exemptions that were recently eliminated.

“Two years ago in the special sessions when they added the various sales taxes and changed all the exemptions, poly-roll tubing was left out in haste at the end,” said Monroe. “So we are just putting it back where it was when it was exempt.”

Lawmakers also took the time to update laws in regard to the operation of agricultural cooperatives.

“They’ve been on the books since 1922,” Joe Mapes, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation legislative specialist. “Businesses have changed so we wanted to update how we do business.”

Legislators also worked to remove language on several pieces of legislation that would have hurt or abolished dairy producers’ tax credit program.

“This helps dairy farmers to maintain their businesses through a tax credit provided by the state that offsets the cost of feed,” Monroe said.

The legislature also approved a bill that would put Louisiana in charge of implementing a federal food safety law, instead of waiting on federal agencies to come into the state and implement it.

“That really puts the Louisiana Department of Agriculture in charge of implementing that law here in the state,” Monroe said.

Mike Strain, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry commissioner said federal agents would be the ones inspecting farms and ranches across the state if it weren’t for that bill.

The transportation fuel tax has also been a hot topic in the ag community. It is believed an increase in this tax will help infrastructure efforts by the Department of Transportation.

“We don’t support tax increases,” Mapes said. “That’s not what we’re saying. We do support getting our product to the market with a healthy roads and bridges infrastructure and that is a big part of that.”

While Louisiana legislators haven’t agreed on a budget yet, agriculture was spared from major cuts during the regular session.

“We’re in pretty good shape in the budget,” Strain said. “But we have made marked reductions to our budget over the last nine years,”

Strain said agriculture has had 15 budget cuts over the past decade, surrendering more than $25 million in state funding and approximately half of its workforce.

A new special legislative session began 30 minutes after the end of the regular session in hopes to reach a budget plan for Louisiana.

“A balanced budget in Louisiana is important to ag being successful and moving forward,” Mapes said. “But it is bigger than just ag. It’s the health of the state’s economy.”