INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The economic impact of Indiana’s rainy growing season, and the status of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, were the leading topics for Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly and a panel of farm experts during a public discussion last week at the Indiana State Fair.

“We are looking at negative margins this year, and it’s going to be a challenge for some producers here in Indiana, especially the soaked regions,” said panelist Jason Henderson, associate dean and Purdue Extension director regarding the weather conditions. “You can see the worst fields out there and the best fields, all in the same field. There’s just a tremendous amount of variability.”

He said vast differences in crop conditions are found in each region of Indiana.

“Since we had a lot of rain early in the season, roots did not go very deep,” Henderson said. “So while many of us here running around the state fair are not praying for rain during the next couple of days, our producers in other areas had very dry fields in the last couple of weeks, and we’re starting to see some stress. They need some rain.”

Henderson said there could be a loss of $400 million for soybean farmers. He said the weather is causing a bleak outlook in many areas of the agricultural economy.

“Our latest report from the Department of Agricultural Economics is that farmland values are down 4 to 5 percent,” Henderson said. “We are also seeing from bankers that payment rates are starting to deteriorate and decline. This fall, there’s going to be the expectation of more renewal and extensions as farmers go into their banks and ask to roll loans.”

He said this has affected farm debt, especially in new farms or those that have recently expanded. “So in contrast to what has happened in the past three years, farm debt is now starting to rise, farm debt is up to 9 or 10 percent above normal levels on the operating loan side,” he said.

Ellspermann said promising export markets could help offset the financial stress.

“This is such an exciting time for agriculture in Indiana – even with the tough spring weather, even with the avian flu, even with WOTUS,” she said. “We have now scoured Asia – South Korea, Taiwan and China. We know the opportunities that are there from corn to soybeans, from swine genetics to popcorn. We are finding that demand. We know that all those opportunities are coming back to us from Asia, and we want to be there at the forefront.”

Ellspermann promised to continue advocating for farmers as Indiana Secretary of Agriculture. “We will continue to be your advocate to opening up agriculture and food opportunities,” she said. “I’m really enthused about some of the other new initiatives as well, including our recent effort to attract dairy processing plants to the state.”

WOTUS debate

Donnelly told farmers that they have his support on the WOTUS, which was finalized on June 29.

“Nobody has a bigger interest in clean water than a farm and the family who lives there,” he said. “We’re going to do the things in Indiana that we do best; the things we’ve always done like taking care of our land and water. I’ll be there every step of the way to back you up, to fight with you, so we can do what we do best, which is to feed the world.”

Justin Schneider, senior policy advisor at the Indiana Farm Bureau, advised farmers on what may be done to avoid the enforcement of WOTUS.

“The fact is, the rules aren’t clear,” he said. “The first rule was bad, the final rule was bad. A one size fits all regulation when you’re talking about roadside ditches in agricultural practices or something someone is doing in the yard, does not work.”

Schneider said many question the rule’s point. “The rule’s not about clean water,” he said. “If it was about clean water, we could figure out a strategy to deal with that. You heard some comments about things going on in the (USDA), the Division of Soils, all the work that is being done in the state with the ag organizations and the ag federal agencies. We know that you have to have a lot of options for farmers looking at best farm management practices that are going to work.”

Schneider said leaked emails show how much the Corps of Engineers worked with the EPA on the rule. “This was something that probably was not supposed to be leaked, but it made its way to Congress, and is now on the internet,” he said.

“These are not emails from low-level staffers, these are from the joint counsels’ office, some from the deputy commanding general, that analyze what is going on with the rule. It said that the Corps of Engineers was largely excluded from the conversation, and the EPA did it on its own. Shocker, there.”

Schneider said the emails show that the Corps had limited access to the rule’s final draft, and the input they offered was largely ignored or misinterpreted.

“So there’s a lot of challenges, I think it shows that the rule is flawed, and a flawed rule should not be a final rule,” he said. “There are at least four different lawsuits that have been going on to try to stop this in numerous states. They are largely focused on the federal government stepping on state power, as well as ignoring the states when they were trying to figure out what was going on in the process. Those suits are focused on the failure to get comment on the scientific reports on which they relied, and failure to get comment on the major changes in the rule.”