NC Soybean Producers President Looks Ahead

Jimmy Thomas is beginning the second year of his two-year term as president of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association. Friday at their annual meeting in conjunction with the Southern Farm Show, Thomas shared his outlook for 2012:

“I think 2012 is going to be an exciting year, a lot of us have come out of the hurricane, and made some really tough decisions, and maybe tightened our belt a little bit, to get back on track from the plans that we’d put together.”

The North Carolina Soybean Producers Association held their annual meeting in conjunction with the Southern Farm Show Friday at the State Fair grounds in Raleigh. For more of our coverage of the Southern Farm Show visit our website sfntoday.com
 

Green County, NC Hog Thieves Arrested

A Greene County couple has been arrested and charged with stealing more than 100 hogs from a farm and selling them to a stockyard.
The Free Press of Kinston reports that 24-year-old Cherrette Elkins and 26-year-old Kevin Elkins of Snow Hill were arrested last week in Lenoir County. They face charges of obtaining property under false pretenses and larceny of livestock after a six-month investigation by the Greene County Sheriff's Office.

Capt. Daniel Hawkins says the couple stole 103 hogs from Murphy Brown Farms and sold them to a local stockyard for about $5,000. Hawkins says he obtained an arrest warrant for the couple in November, but authorities had not been able to track them down.
 

Labor Department Scrapping Child Labor Proposed Rule

The Labor Department has already gone back to the drawing board on its proposed rule to limit on-farm child labor for kids under 16. But lawmakers and farm interests heaped scorn — even ridicule — on Labor’s efforts at a Congressional hearing.  DOL Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink insisted to a House Small Business Subcommittee her agency’s top priority is the safety of farm kids — whose injury and fatality rate — she claimed – is far higher than in any other industry…
 

“Agriculture is the most hazardous industry that either children or adults work in.  And this regulation is only targeting the very youngest and we’re only targeting those jobs that are the most hazardous.”

For kids 15 and younger, who under the rule the agency is now reworking, could not have worked as hired hands even on relative’s farms or partnerships owned by their parents.  Rural lawmakers bristled at the intrusion in what they called a way of life that gives kids values, a work ethic and a career in farming.
 

NCBA President Addresses On-farm Child Labor
 

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Bill Donald told those attending the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show – your voice – our voices – were heard by the Department of Labor after DOL made the announcement that it intends to reconsider a portion of its proposed rule related to on-farm child labor. Donald commended American farmers and ranchers for making their voices heard on the proposed rule, which could have restricted, and in some cases totally prevented, America’s youth from working on farms and ranches.
 

Lawsuits Fly over Savannah River Channel

Three conservation groups are suing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over a $600 million project to deepen the Savannah River shipping channel.  The suit was filed Friday in state court in Jasper County on the South Carolina side of the river. It alleges the project needs a South Carolina Pollution Control Act permit for putting the dredge spoils on land. It also says that some of the dredged material will be silt containing cadmium.

The suit was brought by the Savannah Riverkeeper, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation.