New Indiana Farm Bureau Recommendations for 2012

New Farm Bureau Policy Recommendations for 2012

We support:

1. An increase the number of state meat inspectors.
2. If an inspection results from a complaint to the inspecting agency, the identity of the complainant must be revealed to the producer.
3. We encourage the establishment of a market reporting system for small ruminants.
4. All livestock and poultry, and livestock raised as pets including those raised in cities, towns, and urban areas, must adhere to minimum health and vaccination standards that are accepted on livestock production farms.
5. 4-H should use the same Standard RFID tags on all the species at the county and state level.
6. We oppose a mandatory requirement that each student complete an online course to be eligible to graduate from high school.
7. Cursive writing be taught in schools.
8. We support the exemption of sales tax on all required post secondary course material.
9. We oppose any requirements for farm entities to post surety bonds to deal with possible future environmental clean-ups.
10. We support that the same standards of responsibility apply to residential and commercial turf use of fertilizer and chemicals as required for agricultural usage.
11. The development of an eradication program through the DNR working with BOAH to control the feral hop population.
12. The retention of pore space property rights by the surface owner unless expressly transferred as part of a lease or conveyance.
13. The legislature should have the final say on the farmland formula, not the DLGF.
14. Cities and towns should not have jurisdiction beyond their municipal boundaries, including buffer zones, surface and sub-surface water, and minerals.
15. The lowering of the property tax cap for farm land, farm buildings, and farm machinery below their current levels.
16. Accelerating the elimination of the Indiana state inheritance taxes to less than 10 years.
17. We oppose allowing the DLGF to increase the soil productivity influence factor above the current level of 128% of the base assessed farmland value for establishing property taxes on farmland.
18. We support the entire state of Indiana being in the Central time zone.