April 2013 Arizona Agriculture

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APRIL, 2013 Volume 66 No. 4 Official Publication of the Arizona Farm Bureau

See ENERGY Page 4

By Julie Murphree, Arizona Farm Bureau


New Ag Education Intern – Page 2 Welcome Brooke

Food Donations – Page 5 Made Easier

Survey Says – Page 5 Young Farmers need Land!

A Conversation with an Energy Economist: Oil Boom 2.0!The state of energy in Ag’s future looks good but could come to a screeching halt with over-regulation.

According to Felmy and others, we can now drill in two miles of water and find billions of barrels of oil that we didn’t know existed before.

In the last issue of Arizona Agriculture, we interviewed Howard Buffett about his efforts in Willcox. What we didn’t share in detail is his great desire to see more collaboration between researchers and farmers. While you might not be surprised at the Howard G. Buffet Foundation’s focus on research, you might

be pleasantly surprised to find out how hard they’re working to create a successful synergy between farm-ers and researchers. “As it relates to the transfer of solid research to the field,” says Howard G. Buffett, “we want to see a greater blending of farmers and university researchers together. You do see this but the

greater value is to make it a common practice.”“We’re playing a role in this [The Buffett Foundation] effort,” Buffett

further explains. “In 2013, we’re getting everything set up to make it work. I hope by 2014, we can sit down and talk with ASU and U of A to discuss what we have and what we can absorb.”

Probably no one is more excited to hear this than Shane Burgess, the dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) for the University of Arizona in Tucson. In fact, the dean would say this view is completely consistent with what he’s been saying as he’s traveled the state in the last 18 months since he arrived. “We are Arizona’s land grant uni-versity and we need to be that to everyone in Arizona. All of the U.S. land

Knowledge Transfer from Lab to Land: Making it Happen

See LAB TO LAND Page 2

Chief Economist for American Petroleum Institute (API), John Felmy, Ph.D., recently made a trip to Arizona for a conference and sat down with Arizona Agriculture to discuss the emerging energy boom in America and the benefits

to agriculture, specifically Arizona agriculture. With over 25 years experience in energy, eco-nomic and environmental analysis, Felmy is responsible for overseeing economic, statistical and policy analysis for the Institute.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the United States has dramatically reduced its dependence on oil im-ports over the last seven years. From their peak in 2006, imports have fallen 40% as a result of declining demand and strong growth in domes-tic production of liquid fuels, leading analysts to predict that the U.S. can reach oil self-sufficien-cy within the next 15 to 20 years.

Most oil and gas analysts will tell you that the rapid decline in crude oil imports was unex-pected. With the “oil intensity of GDP” metric going down for decades and dramatically since 2006, natural gas displaced oil in industrial uses and power generation; plus energy demand fell in oil-intensive sectors such as transport, creat-ing the two main reasons for this change.

With a downturn since 2008, we can understand reduced energy demand in con-sumer and industrial uses, but what about the growth in production stateside? Again, according to IISS, rising production of liquid fuels in the U.S. accounts for 60% of the fall in U.S. oil imports since 2006 and nearly 100% since 2010. The fastest growing has been the output of American crude oil, especially in the past two years. Crude oil sup-

ply has grown dramatically with what is known as “tight oil,” the crude oil found in shale deposits. Meanwhile, biofuels and liquids produced in natural gas fields, known as natural gas liquids (NGL’s) has also grown.

But, nothing speaks to the exciting times in oil and gas in America like hydraulic frac-turing, or “fracking.” This technology is re-sponsible for the shale gas revolution; applied to liquid-rich geological formations it allows for the production of tight oil. The injection of water and additives at very high pressure fractures rocks and increases their permeabil-ity to the point that hydrocarbons can flow. Combined with horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing has opened up a vast new resource base. This rapid development is facilitated in the U.S. by the open and competitive nature of the oil industry, the availability of financing, and a favorable legal system in which mineral rights are owned by the surface owner, not the government.

This surface ownership becomes one of the most obvious advantages for farmers and ranchers owning land above rich mineral depos-its such as oil and natural gas and a profitable

lease agreement with the oil and gas companies. Production is taking place mainly in Texas and North Dakota, with various states in the Rocky Mountains making a small but growing contribution. Even in Arizona, we’re producing oil (more on that later).

Not to be overlooked, all this new development means jobs. A recent study by API suggests if these opportunities really open up, the industry could add 1.4 million new jobs by 2030.

The Voice of Arizona Agriculture325 S. Higley Rd., Suite 210 • Gilbert, AZ 85296 • 480.635.3600 • fax 480.635.3781 • www.azfb.org

OFFICERSPresident • Kevin Rogers, Mesa

1st Vice President • Tim Dunn, Yuma2nd V. P. • Stefanie Smallhouse, Redington

Exec. Secretary • James Klinker, MesaEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Rock Cramer • ParkerDeWayne Justice • Waddell

ARIZONA AGRICULTURE STAFFJulie Murphree, Editor

Peggy Jo Goodfellow, AdvertisingPlease send comments to:

[email protected] advertising, e-mail [email protected], call

480.635.3609 or visit www.azfb.org/publications.htm

Arizona Agricultureis published monthly, except

December, plus three special editions, (ISSN 0274-7014) by the Arizona Farm

Bureau Federation325 S Higley Rd., Suite 210

Gilbert, AZ 85296Periodicals postage paid in Higley,

Arizona and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTERSend address changes to:

Arizona Agriculture325 S Higley Rd., Suite 210

Gilbert, AZ 85296Subscriptions are included in

annual dues.

2 www.azfb.org ARIZONAAGRICULTURE•APRIL,2013

By Katie Aikins, Arizona Farm Bureau

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continued from page 1Lab to Land

John Popp - JanuaryYour Agents of the Month

Richard Wright - February

grant universities are the product of three federal acts – the Morrill Act of 1862; the Hatch Act of 1887; and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. In short, these three acts together say that we must teach everyone, especially those who do not come from wealth and/or privilege; conduct research, and maintain ‘experiment stations’ which should have a direct bearing on, and contribute to, a permanent and effective agricultural industry (as well as any other industries today); and estab-lish an educational outreach arm to ‘extend’ the results of our research programs to all citizens who might benefit from them. Again today this includes agriculture and more.”

Listening to these two voices – the professor/researcher and the farmer/humanitarian – one quickly sees the com-mon goal and the common ground. But lab to land synergy and back again always has challenges, must be planned and typically takes more time than any of us are willing to wait for.

“The reason why ASU and U of A ultimately are so important to us,” says Buffett, “is Arizona.” Buffett went on to discuss the value of proximity and infrastructure issues. In research, time and money are often the biggest obstacles to furthering advances in technology and more.

Adds Burgess, “Just like in other testing times over our 150-year history, we face significant and unprecedented challenges today. Every day our frontline employees comprise the Arizona Cooperative Extension System (CES) and these people – who live and work in every Arizona county – are connecting with our agricultural stakeholders, asking them what we should be doing and developing new initiatives with them in specific ways to meet their unique needs. Not only do our CES employees do this but very often other CALS faculty do as well. Regardless, to help Arizona meet today’s new challenges we need to continually evolve in not only what we do but how we do it – and so we are. Two specific, larger scale, examples for our efforts to partner with agriculture industries in the last twelve months are our public/private partnerships in Sustainable Rangelands Management and our nascent Yuma Center of Excellence in Desert Agriculture.

“Both of these programs do exactly what Mr. Buffet described and we’d be thrilled to work more closely with him. One of the great things about our unique CES, is that we are not constrained by the typical limitations that commonly exist in other areas of the university or in other universities – we don’t need to worry about what outside reviewers that don’t understand our issues think to get financing we need to do regionally responsive work and we don’t have to wait around, we can act immediately. The kinds of things that Mr. Buffet describes are in our DNA, they are part of our tradi-tions and culture and I very much look forward to finding ways that he and we can together with Mr. Buffett to respond to Arizona’s agricultural needs and because of this continue to be highly globally relevant.”

Perhaps an even more robust relationship between farmer and researcher is closer at hand than imagined from the perspective of the Buffett Foundation. “Once we have a good handle on getting everything started, we’ll be ready to go,” says Buffett. “We’re concentrating on the basic infrastructure issues we’re creating [for the Willcox farm].”

And most important to the foundation, “We can’t fund anything that doesn’t ultimately become public,” he adds.Regardless, today we have stakeholders eager to support each other’s efforts. As resources are married to efforts,

we’ll see the agriculture industry in Arizona continue to benefit.

The Arizona Farm Bureau Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) program reached 117,000 Arizona teachers, stu-dents and consumers during the 2011-2012 school year. Through the use of commodity specific curriculum kits, classroom presentations, community events and other curriculum materials, AITC was able to educate the public

not only about agriculture, but specifically Arizona agriculture.The 2012-2013 school year is keeping the AITC program

just as busy. The program continues to gain notoriety and popularity in schools throughout the state and AITC is hus-tling to meet the demand. It is our motto at AITC to never turn a teacher down. We do what we can to accommodate teacher requests for kits and presentations. Even if it means we are in 2 or 3 schools in a day or we have to hire someone to help. And that is just what AITC has done. AITC has a new intern: Brooke Griggeory.

The dream of becoming a veterinarian quickly changed as Griggeory began her FFA career. A shy suburban girl enrolled in her first agricultural class at Campo Verde High School, quickly blossomed into a Chapter Officer and now serves as the Arizona FFA State Secretary. “Becoming involved in FFA and participating in the speaking competitions took me out of my comfort zone,” says Griggeory. “I have achieved things and learned new skills that I never thought I would have ac-complished in my lifetime.”

The experiences and knowledge gained through FFA, along with the passion and dedication shown by her FFA Advisors along the way, inspired Griggeory to want to help others as an Agricultural Education Teacher. “I can combine what I love to do in one job; inspire others to be their best while teaching them about agriculture.”

Griggeory is currently enrolled at Central Arizona College where she is working towards her degree in Ag Educa-tion with a minor in Animal Science. While working towards her new goal of becoming an Ag Teacher, Griggeory will spend 14 hours a week sharing her passion and AITC lessons with students across the state.

If you would like to be an AITC Volunteer and work alongside Aikins and Griggeory or would like AITC to visit

your classroom, contact Katie Aikins at [email protected] or 480.635.3608.

Help us Welcome our New Ag Education Intern

Arizona Farm Bureau’s new Ag Education Intern, Brooke Griggeory

John Popp, joined the Arizona Farm Bureau family on April 1, 1988. An agent with the High Country Agency, John works out of his office located in Prescott. Congratulations John!!

Richard Wright joined the Arizona Farm Bureau family on September 1, 2008. An agent with the Scottsdale Agency, Richard works out of his office located in Tempe. Congratulations Richard!!

ARIZONAAGRICULTURE•APRIL,2013 www.azfb.org 3



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EnergyIt’s in this setting that Arizona Agriculture uncovers a gusher of potential in Ameri-

ca’s energy reserves. Following are excerpts from our interview with API’s John Felmy:Arizona Agriculture: Ag runs on energy, just like the rest of the world. What’s next

for this industry and our energy resources?Felmy: It really depends on what decisions we make as a country. We have an

opportunity right now to basically do something that we only dreamed of in the last several decades and that’s develop enough oil and gas and other supplies to make us energy self-sufficient. With the new technology that we’ve seen in three broad areas in the oil and gas industry we’ve now been able to develop resources that were previously uneconomic.

First, deep water drilling is one area of technology advancement. An example would be the Gulf of Mexico. We can now drill in two miles of water and find billions of barrels of oil that we didn’t know existed before.

The second [technology advancement] is the Canadian oil sands that create a vast resource of oil previously not available under old technologies.

And the third technology advancement is the combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. This opens up, first, natural gas resources in areas like Pennsyl-vania where I’m from; but also oil resources in areas like North Dakota and south Texas.

With this combination of technology improvements and potential supply increases in the United States and Canada, plus use our bio-fuel resources, which of course is an important aspect of agriculture; we can become energy self-sufficient.

But we have to have the will to do it; we have to make decisions to open areas that are currently off limits. Then, we’ll also see a real positive impact in terms of jobs, rev-enue for the government and energy security.

Arizona Agriculture: How quickly could we see energy self sufficiency?Felmy: Clearly we have to make some decisions on infrastructure, like for example

the Keystone XL Pipeline, a key component for bringing oil to the United States from Canada; we have to have proper regulations including protections that government doesn’t intervene for no good reason; and we’ve got to basically open these areas. But if you have that type of framework we could do this in a dozen years according to some of the analysis we’ve seen and studied.

This is not just API saying this; we’re seeing real positive outlooks from the U.S. Department of Energy, from the International Energy Agency, from CitiGroup and oth-ers. So virtually everyone is looking at this and saying, “Yes, we can develop these resources.”

Arizona Agriculture: Obviously, with greater supply energy costs for agriculture and other industries should go down; but what else does the current opportunity foretell?

Felmy: This presents a couple of great opportunities for agriculture. The first, as you mentioned, is that energy is a critical component of agriculture production, and any time you can at least level off price increases with available supply then it’s better for an industry. Secondly, since fertilizer is a key ingredient to robust agriculture productivity and natural gas is important to fertilizer production, gains in this area are potentially significant. We have been on the cusp of basically losing our fertilizer industry like our petrochemicals for the past 10 years.

All of this is exciting from a global perspective. We often hear people arguing against the technology of hydraulic fracturing, that somehow developing these natural gas resources is morally wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth because if there is anything that could help world hunger it’s developing these resources both in the U.S. and around the globe and what the potential fertilizer impacts could be for the food supply.

Arizona Agriculture: Imagining everything we’ve talked about is in place, how do you compare North America’s oil and gas reserves to the Middle East? Does it put us on a more level playing field?

Felmy: Of course it does. If you look at just how much North Dakota has increased their oil production, for example, this state alone would be as large as some of the OPEC producers. When you add in some of the other potential producing areas it’s very significant. We have over 100 billion barrels of conventional oil that we think we can develop and there’s billions more, if not trillions more, of unconventional oil that can be developed. So it really puts us back in the game in terms of producing a huge amount of oil and gas.

We’ve known this for a very long time. The problem is the current political spin [against new energy development] that is just silly. For example, the worn excuse that we have only 2% of the world’s reserve so we can’t drill our way out of it. It’s a state-ment that’s technically correct but completely irrelevant because we’re not talking about oil we’ve found already, which is reserves, we’re talking about resources that we haven’t developed. Those undeveloped resources are vast.

Today, we have the technology to develop [those energy resources]. Arizona Agriculture: As it relates to fracking, leases on private agriculture lands

can certainly become a source of revenue for the family on that farm. Arizona won’t benefit to the level of other states regarding the discoveries. What’s in it for us?

Felmy: That’s correct. You only have a handful of producing oil wells in Arizona, something like 18 [21 producing wells in 2012, according to Arizona Geological Sur-vey], and only six gas wells [4 in 2012]. You do have a small amount of production, something like 50,000 barrels of oil [51,949 barrels in 2012] a year in Arizona. There may be a prospect for more. The exciting thing about all these new technology devel-opments is that suddenly we’ve found resources we never knew we had before; and certainly never dreamed of. [Most of Arizona’s oil production is occurring in northern Arizona.]

For example, I was just in North Carolina. North Carolina has some history of pro-ducing coal and some oil and gas but certainly not much. But now with this new tech-nology their state is estimating there could be almost two trillion cubic feet of natural gas to be developed. So, perhaps as we go forward, some of the structures that we’ve passed over because they were not considered prime producing areas may become the next prime resource. But, the big story, of course, is the overall impact on gas prices, which affects electricity since we produce about 30% of our electricity from natural gas. So you could see those benefits. The overall economic multipliers can influence Arizona. An IHS study said that even a non- or low-producing state, like Arizona,


Two recent enhanced pieces of tax legislation, one federal and the other state, offer tremendous benefits to large and small business donors in hopes of encouraging increased food and produce donations to food banks and other charitable organi-

zations in times of great need.At the federal level, an enhanced tax deduction for all business taxpayers was includ-

ed in the American Tax Relief Act of 2012 – the “Fiscal Cliff” deal – passed by Congress on January 1, 2013 and signed into law by President Obama. This included an extension

of tax incen-tives to foster increased do-nations of food and grocery products from small busi-nesses to food banks, not just those donated by larger C lev-el corporations.

As a re-sult, the law extended the enhanced tax deduction for food and gro-cery product donations to all business

taxpayers from Jan. 1, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2013, meaning that the law now applies to do-nations from non-C level corporations. The key is that this provision is retroactive for

Enhanced Tax Laws Encourage Businesses to Donate Food and Produce

New state and federal laws make it easier for businesses to donate to Food Banks.

Staff Reports

product donations already made to food banks and other charitable hunger-relief orga-nizations in 2012, as it had previously expired at the end of 2011.

Just seven months earlier in late spring 2012, Arizona passed an enhanced law designed to encourage donations of Arizona-grown produce. Designed with input from the farming community, the Charitable Crop Contribution Law (A.R.S. § 43-1025) al-lows Arizona farmers, growers, producers and others to reduce their tax burden by subtracting 100% of the wholesale market value of the donation from their Arizona ad-justed gross income. It also removes complicated restrictions, making donating easier.

“Food banks are always in need of large donations, especially of fresh, nutritious food,” said Ginny Hildebrand, president and CEO of the Association of Arizona Food Banks. “We’re excited about the potential of these laws and in tandem hope they will foster increased donations at a time when Arizona food banks can really use them.”

By allowing the Federal tax deduction to apply to all sizes of business taxpay-ers, including farmers, retailers, franchisees, ranchers and other small business own-ers, it enables them to take an enhanced tax deduction that is the sum of one-half of the unrealized appreciation (fair market value minus cost equals appreciation) plus the taxpayer’s cost (the deduction cannot exceed two times the cost of the contributed prop-erty as described in IRC Section 170(e)(3) – see http://feedingamerica.org/get-involved/corporate-opportunities/become-a-partner/become-a-product-partner/tax-benefits-for-your-company.aspx).

As for donating Arizona-grown produce, analysis from the food banks shows that less than 1% of fresh produce grown in Arizona was being donated to food banks. The enhanced law now makes these produce donations common sense by allowing farmers and others to deduct the wholesale market price of the produce for tax purposes. The law also gets rid of complicated restrictions that entire crops be harvested on behalf of a charity. That means farmers can immediately donate food when they choose.

Editor’s Note: For more information, to find a food bank or pantry in your area, or to learn more about donation and volunteer opportunities, please visit www.azfood-banks.org.

Securing adequate land to grow crops and raise livestock was the top challenge identified in the latest survey of participants in the American Farm Bureau Fed-eration’s Young Farmers & Ranchers program. That challenge was identified by

20 percent of respondents, followed by burdensome government regulations and “red tape,” which was identified by15 percent of the young farmers and ranchers responding.

“Access to adequate land to begin farming or expand an established operation is

a major concern for today’s young farmers,” said Zach Hunnicutt, AFBF’s national YF&R Committee chair and a crop farmer from Nebraska. “Another major challenge we all face in one form or an-other is the cost of complying with a maze of government regulations.”

Arizona’s YF&R chair understands the adequate land issue all too well. Hav-ing begun farming with no more than five acres, YF&R Chair Jason Perry now farms approximately 1,400 acres all in lease agreements. “Of course, you can’t farm without land. And, in leas-ing land, the dynamics have completely changed. With the market being so competitive you have to really be on your toes. I always advise other beginning farmers to look for opportunities, be creative and don’t ever give up.”

Other issues ranked as top concerns included eco-nomic challenges, particu-larly profitability, 12 percent; water availability, 10 percent; taxes, 9 percent; health care availability and cost, 9 per-cent; availability of farm labor and related regulations, 8 percent; and willingness of parents to turn over the reins of the farm or ranch, 7 percent.

When asked to name the top three steps the federal government should take to help young farmers and ranchers, cutting government spending was the top response, with 24 percent listing this as most important. Twelve percent of those surveyed said main-taining the farm safety net was most important, while financial assistance for beginning farmers and tax reform were each cited by 11 percent as the priority that should be first on the list.

The 21st annual YF&R survey revealed that 90 percent of those surveyed are more optimistic about farming and ranching than they were five years ago. Last year, 94 percent of those surveyed said they were more optimistic about farming than they were five years ago.

The 2013 survey also shows 83 percent of the nation’s young farmers and ranchers say they are better off than they were five years ago. Last year, 94 percent reported be-ing better off.

More than 94 percent considered themselves lifetime farmers, while 90 percent would like to see their children follow in their footsteps. The informal survey reveals that 84 percent believe their children will be able to follow in their footsteps.

The survey points out that 64 percent of YF&R members consider communicating

current Arizona Farm bureau young Farmer & Rancher Chair, Jason Perry, knows all too well the importance of adequate land for farming. He began his farming operation with 5 acres and today farms approximately 1,400.

Adequate Land Ranks as Top Concern of Young FarmersReport from American Farm Bureau Federation

See CONCERN Page 6


continued from page 5Concern

Fill Your Plate !!fillyourplate.org

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

continued from page 4Energy

with consumers a formal part of their jobs. Many use social media platforms as a tool to accomplish this. The popular social media site, Facebook, is used by 82 percent of those surveyed who use the Internet. Thirty percent of respondents said they use the social networking site Twitter, and 18 percent use YouTube to post videos of their farms and ranches.

“Use of technology to improve production practices on the farm and to interact with consumers—our customers—continues to grow,” Hunnicutt said. “Having instant access to information and communication tools is the ‘new normal’ and that’s not going to change,” he said.

Nearly 80 percent of young farmers and ranchers surveyed said they regularly use mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets to communicate. That’s up from 66 percent last year.

Computers and the Internet remain vital tools for the nation’s young farmers and ranchers, with 92 percent surveyed reporting using a computer in their farming opera-tion. Nearly all of those surveyed, 94 percent, have access to the Internet. High-speed Internet is used by 65 percent of those surveyed, with 22 percent relying on a satellite connection and just over 2 percent turning to dialup.

The survey also shows that America’s young farmers and ranchers are committed environmental caretakers, with 64 percent using conservation tillage to protect soil and reduce erosion on their farms.

AFBF President Bob Stallman said the annual YF&R survey underscores his belief that the future of U.S. agriculture is in good hands.

“The future looks bright for American agriculture and our nation as a whole, thanks to the commitment and solid knowledge base held by today’s young farmers and ranchers,” said Stallman.

The informal survey of young farmers and ranchers, ages 18-35, was conducted at AFBF’s 2013 YF&R Leadership Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., in February. The pur-pose of the YF&R program is to help younger members learn more about farming and ranching, network with other farmers and strengthen their leadership skills to assist in the growth of agriculture and Farm Bureau.

could see 12,000 more jobs from producing these unconventional resources. The im-pacts really reach very far.

Arizona Agriculture: What kind of game changer is this based on what you’re tell-ing us?

Felmy: The price of gasoline and diesel track the price of crude oil. So the question is will adding more supply affect the price of crude? Of course, there is a lot that goes into considering this issue and I’m not in the business of forecasting but it’s clear that all things being equal as an economist that if you add more supply this helps all consumers of gas and oil. Even if it doesn’t affect price the key thing is that we’re paying ourselves.

Last year, we imported $400 billion worth of oil. This has a big negative impact on the economy because we’re shipping dollars overseas. So if we spend that money here the positive impacts could be significant irrespective of the price issue.

If you look at refined products we have a positive story. Products such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil we actually export more than we import and that’s because we pro-duce more of these refined products than we use. On the crude side, we import more than we export.

For every billion dollars you improve the trade deficit it generates something like 5,000 to 6,000 jobs because you’re spending the money in the U.S. If it’s a billion dol-lars in agriculture or a billion dollars in oil, it creates the same positive impact on our nation’s economy.

Arizona Agriculture: Explain how in the next five years growth will be attributable to upstream technological advances. What does this mean?

Felmy: Oil and gas production is upstream. Downstream is basically refining, mar-keting and distribution. Midstream is basically transportation, pipelines and such. So when we talk upstream advances, we’re basically talking about the technological im-provements in oil and gas production.

The devil’s in the details in how great our opportunities will ultimately be. Policy discussions are going on about how the federal government is ultimately going to regu-late hydraulic fracturing, will they open up federal lands for more production, and those are key questions that need to be answered before we can state with absolute certainty that we have an oil boom on our hands. According to current policy, yes, we’ll see tre-mendous growth in the next several years.

Of course that can change. We’re appealing directly to the government to do the right thing.

Arizona Agriculture: Can we truly become energy independent in five to seven years despite governmental roadblocks including regulations?

Felmy: We can certainly get a long ways toward it. Certainly within a dozen years. A variety of groups support these development advances including unions. We’ve worked closely with the building trades and unions that are in the business of develop-ing pipeline capacity.

The challenge mainly comes from the environmental community which is strong-ly opposed to developing fossil fuels. You might have seen recent demonstrations in Washington D.C. that are fundamentally just silly. The notion that somehow they’re

going to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and that will stop development of the Canadian oil sands is just simply silly. The oil sands are worth 10 times what the Canadian GDP is. So the notion that Canada is not going to develop the oil sands is just absurd. If you really are an environmentalist you’ll support developing and sending the oil to the U.S. because it will reduce emissions for shipping, processing and use.

Arizona Agriculture: In an environment of energy independence – what does this mean for agriculture?

Felmy: For agriculture – like all industries – it means a stable source of secure sup-plies. More supplies with all things being equal generally helps the market price. It also means more revenue that can certainly affect agriculture in a number of ways. Finally, government taxes would be lower because of this new revenue source. It’s really a win-ning situation across the board.

A positive economy including reduced cost of operation and security are big – all attributable positives to agriculture.

If we get real specific to the agriculture arena, fertilizer costs can be addressed in a better setting with energy self-sufficiency. Natural gas is certainly a component of fer-tilizer development. When you have prices of $3 a cubic foot, rather than $14, it means the cost of producing everything, petrochemicals and other things including fertilizer is significantly less. Certainly for petrochemicals we’re the second lowest-cost producer in the world.

At API, we always encourage everyone to read up on what the new development technologies are and the positive economic impact instead of the media parroting back the anti-fossil fuel folks. For example, hydraulic fracturing has actually been used safe-ly for 60 years and it’s properly regulated by the states.

The fracturing technique itself has never been demonstrated to cause problems with water supplies, which of course farmers are concerned about, as they should be. In-dustry improvements in development and refining continue to advance. As an industry, we’re compelled to improve to protect the environment, add jobs, lower costs of produc-tion and more – the very same strategies farmers focus on to advance agriculture.

Arizona Agriculture: Would there ever be a day when agriculture is competing with oil and gas for water resources?

Felmy: Overall, the gas and oil industry is a fairly low water user. Plus, the industry is working very hard to maximize our opportunities to recycle water in the production process. I believe we’ll be able to co-exist on this issue in the future. It’s a cost consid-eration for us too since the more water you use the more expensive the process.

***Regardless of America’s oil and gas future, from this interview we discover North

America is sitting on more resources than we could have ever imagined. The bigger question is, “What will we do with the opportunity? I’m betting on America to do the right thing and usher in the Oil Boom 2.0.

Editor’s note: For more information on the oil and gas industry and the new tech-nologies spurring a renewal in American energy go to www.api.org, The Groundwater Protection Council and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.


Mark your calendar for the seventeenth annual Women in Agriculture Confer-ence to be held at the Doubletree by Hilton in Gilbert. The Conference is hosted by the Arizona Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee, the

University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arizona Cattlewom-en, Arizona Beef Council, Arizona Milk Producers and the Arizona Department of Ag. This annual conference is open to anyone interested in improving leadership, profes-sional and personal skills.

The conference theme is “Leaders: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” Cheryl Goar, Executive Director of the Arizona Nursery Association and President

of the Project CENTRL board, will open the conference on Thursday, June 6 with “True Colors,” an interactive workshop with an artful blending of education and en-

tertainment into edu-training that com-bines interaction, insightful information to surface participants’ strengths and best of all…it’s not a lecture! This ses-sion begins at 5 p.m. with a light dinner followed by the “True Colors” workshop.

Our keynote speaker is Sherry Say-lor, vice-chair of the American Farm Bu-reau Women’s Leadership Committee, Arizona Farm Bureau Ex-Officio Board Member, and cotton, wheat and alfalfa farmer in Buckeye. In this interactive session, Sherry will motivate us with de-lightful stories about great leaders, share her knowledge and challenge each of us to become leaders today and forever!

You can’t miss, “Sticks and Stones can Break my Bones but Words WILL Define Me,” a thought provoking session by Lauren Scheller, Arizona Beef Council Director of Consumer Marketing and Public Relations. Or the engaging presentation, “Getting to Know and Feeling Comfortable with The Leader in You,” by Bryan Chadd, 4-H Exten-sion Agent, UA CALS Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County.

During the luncheon we will hold a special tribute to the 4-H Centennial while recognizing outstanding past and present 4-H leaders in Arizona.

In the afternoon, a panel of leaders will tell us about their style of leadership and how they managed to balance the right amount of management and leadership skills to move to the next level to reach their goals in life. Janice Bryson, member of the Ari-zona Cowbelles and historian, will moderate, “Don’t Dream in Secret: How Leaders Cast Their Vision.” The panel includes Bobbie Kerr, Dairyman, Buckeye; Anna Aja, Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association Director of Communications, Phoenix; Stefanie Smallhouse, second vice-president of the Arizona Farm Bureau and rancher, Benson; Ariana Scott, AAEC student, member of both 4-H and FFA, Prescott Valley.

thursday, June 6 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. True Colors (includes dinner)

Friday, June 77:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast8:00 a.m. Welcome from Sharla Mortimer, Women’s Leadership Committee Chair9:00 a.m. Keynote presentation11:30 a.m. 4-H Recognition Awards Luncheon. 1:00 p.m. Afternoon session and the “Don’t Dream in Secret” panel. 4:30 p.m. Tour of Van Rijn Dairy (an optional activity)Location: Doubletree by Hilton, 1800 S. San Tan Village Parkway, Gilbert, AZ 85295. Hotel cost is $89 (single and double occupancy). Hotel reservations: Deadline is May 14. Hotel cost is $89 per night, single &double. To guarantee this special conference rate, call for reservations at480.809.4100 or 888.695.3423 and refer to the 2013 Women in Ag conference.Early Bird Registration by May 6, 2012: $60Postmarked after May 6, registration fee: $70The conference registration form is also available on the azfb.org website. Look for the top story on azfb.org. For more information, contact Peggy Jo Goodfellow at 480.635.3609 or emailher at [email protected] .

A Tribute to LeadersBy Peggy Jo Goodfellow, Arizona Farm Bureau

Supercharge your leadership abilities… register today!

registrAtion FormEarly Bird registration by May 6, 2013 $60 Postmarked after May 6, 2013 $70 I will attend True Colors (Thursday’s session includes dinner) $15

Total enclosed $ ----------- I will attend the farm tour Yes q No q

Name: _____________________________First time attendee? Yes q No q Business/Organization:__________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________________ Email:_____________________Phone:_____________ Fax: ___________ Make checks payable and mail to Arizona Farm Bureau WLC, Attn. Peggy Jo Goodfellow, 325 S. Higley Rd., Suite 210, Gilbert, AZ 85296. For more information, call 480.635.3609.

Breakout of the Agenda



We Need Your VoiceFence Line, an agriculturalist Speakers’ Bureau,

needs Farmers and Ranchers willing to share their story and their passion for agriculture.

As a speaker, you can:

• Give a face-to-face presentation to local groups in your area. • Tell consumers about agriculture and dispel any misconceptions they may have about food safety.• Talk about the things you do everyday giving consumers firsthand knowledge of various agricultural topics you choose.

Fence Line, an agriculturalist Speakers’ Bureau, is a non-profit program aimed at educating consumers about Arizona’s safe locally grown food.

This is a free service. Groups are asked to feed our speakers if they meet during breakfast, lunch or dinner.

To sign up as a speaker, contact Peggy Jo Goodfel-low at 480.635.3609.

Staff Reports

Farm Credit Joins Lawsuit to Protect Continued Federal Land Grazing in Arizona

In a successful ruling that will allow continued livestock grazing in the Western Region of the U.S. through 2017, Federal District Court Judge Lynn Winmill sided and agreed with the Farm Credit System’s brief in favor of pro-tecting federal lands allocated to farmers and ranchers for livestock grazing purposes.Last fall’s decision by Judge Winmill will allow livestock grazing to continue while the court considers allega-

tions of procedural and other violations by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in automatically renewing grazing permits. Judge Winmill stated in his decision, “To vacate the grazing decisions and enjoin grazing for the next 5 years while this [BLM] review is completed would be a substantial hardship on the permit holders.”

According to Farm Credit Services Southwest CEO Gary Dyer, the WWP’s (Western Watersheds Project) attempt to shut down grazing throughout the Western U.S. is based on a misrepresentation of the value of agricultural usage. “Farm Credit understands more than anybody the value of grazing on federal land and the tremendous benefit that it provides to both the environment and affected wildlife. We are confident that once all the facts are presented, the benefits of allowing ranchers access to BLM lands to maintain viable ranching operations will be upheld.”

Overall, the involved Farm Credit organizations serve approximately 27,700 borrowers in the Intermountain West, and have outstanding loans in excess of $15.3 billion. Of those borrowers financed with these Farm Credit organiza-tions, approximately 980 are dependent upon Federal land grazing permits administered by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service and would be directly affected by the management plan revisions -- with outstanding loans totaling more than $313.4 million. Cattle and sheep producers who are reliant on public lands to graze their livestock would have a much more difficult time renewing their grazing permits, which could then result in those impacted ranchers losing their livelihoods altogether. In Arizona alone, it was estimated there were 766 grazing permittees that could be impacted by this litigation.

Additionally, if WWP were successful in this litigation, then the collateral and security interests that the Farm Credit organizations held on grazing permits in the various states would most certainly be negatively impacted. “Graz-ing restrictions not only impact the rancher’s financial position, but also affects cash flow and repayment ability,” Dyer added. “Permits and values that we count as collateral in securing agricultural loans would be greatly reduced or completely eliminated. This potentially puts the health of the livestock loans -- and the health of the Farm Credit organizations as a whole – at risk.”

In a series of good talks on leadership last month at American Farm Bureau’s Joint National Leadership Con-ference. I was struck by one speaker’s comment: “You’ll always remember a bad leader.” It’s true. I can rattle off all my bad/tough leaders and bosses over the last 20+plus years of my career. I am pleading the 5th … but I can remember them.

And, just because someone holds a position of lead-ership, it doesn’t mean that they should. But there are ways to look for good leaders. In fact, those that lead don’t have to be great; but they should be good.

Some things I look for in a leader (and a few others I learned from AFBF’s latest Joint National Leadership Conference in Scottsdale).

1. Passion, not position, is what gives great lead-ers courage. So look for passion in someone. Do they have the potential to lead?

2. Communicate regularly with your team or group; but don’t be the crazy person that puts events to memory and later throws up the bad stuff as a condem-nation.

3. Be honest with yourself, be honest in life be honest with your team members. This is so lacking in so many leaders today, especially in the political arena.

4. Do you have a vision? The Bible tells us that we’ll perish without one. So true. Sometimes people just want the top spot for the glory of it and the fringe benefits. But if they can’t offer a vision for the team and organization, no course for their tomorrows will be set.

5. What’s your character and integrity meter reading? Yes, you’re intelligent, affable, persuasive, and savvy. People are drawn to you. You’ve got it all. But if you’re prone to rationalizing unethical behavior based upon current and long-term plans, you’ll implode and the gig will be found out. Think Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods (sure he’s still got a great golf swing, but it broke up a marriage) and others.

6. Is it all about you? Then you won’t be a good (and certainly not great) leader.

7. Show a little love. Well, okay, maybe grace is a better word. I believe empathy, humility and kindness are signs of leadership strength, not weakness and what I’ve always noted in great leaders.

These are my top 7 of what I look for in a great lead-ers. There are other attributes; but these truly shine and make a leader good, if not great.

7 Strategies for Leadership

Documents

April 2013 Arizona Agriculture