BISMARCK, North Dakota – Two North Dakota state bills involving Canadian agricultural products have been watered down, according to farmers pushing for the legislation.
“Much of the meat of these two bills has been removed through amendments,” said Jerome Anderson, a farmer from Ross, N.D.
Members of two farm groups, Those Guys and McKenzie County Energies and Taxation Association, who felt the proposed legislation would bring about a level playing field, are disappointed with the amendments.
Bill 1252 called for farm chemicals used in Canada to be made available to North Dakota farmers. But the amended bill passed by the Senate says Canadian chemicals can be used as long as they do not violate federal regulations, which is basically the status quo.
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“By making it (the bill) subject to the federal regulations means this bill means very little to farmers. The original would have put us on the same level as Canadian farmers,” said Anderson.
The second bill, 1335, would make the importation of Canadian grains and oilseeds containing chemicals not allowed for use in the United States a misdemeanor crime in North Dakota. That bill was amended so it won’t go into effect until July 1, 2001.
“They didn’t just pick that date from out of the air,” said Marshall Craft, a Stanley, N.D. farmer, who traveled to the state capital last week to lobby for passage of the bills.
He said the bill will now come into force at the same time a federal agreement with Canada to harmonize pesticide registrations comes into effect. It’s too much of a coincidence, said Craft.
Senate agriculture chair, Terry Wanzek, agrees. He said that was the intention of the legislators and the recommendation of the state agriculture committee.
Craft, a member of Those Guys, said American farmers can’t afford to wait for governments to “play catch up.
“They are telling us now that we have to learn to compete and then they make our Roundup cost us $10 to $15 more per acre than for a Canadian farmer. (The government) makes us spend more to seed our canola because Canadians can use Lindane while we spend twice as much on Gaucho. How can we compete?” asks Craft.
Wanzek said that if Bill 1335 had passed in its original form, some North Dakota companies could have been injured by the law. He cited Archer Daniel Midland’s Velva, N.D. oilseed crushing plant as an example. Half of the canola it squeezes comes from Canada.
As Bill 1335 works its way back through the state legislature, Craft said border farmers will lobby their elected representatives to eliminate the amendments to the bill.
“All we want is for Canadian farmers that are exporting products into our country to have to use the same stuff on their crops as we do and for it to cost the same amount of money. That is competition,” he said.
