Farm Bureau leaders from the Dakotas met with Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue this week to talk about the backlog and problems with wetland determinations. Those problems are being seen in northeast South Dakota and portions of North Dakota. Brown County Farm Bureau President Mike Elsen’s operation is near Hecla. He says producers need more information on how federal officials make wetland determinations.
He says when the determinations aren’t made properly by NRCS it becomes very costly for farmers.
South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal says Secretary Perdue told them there are some administrative changes that can be made with wetlands requirements to help producers. He says one of the fixes should be to make the program more consistent.
VanderWal says as regulations for wetlands are made the private property rights of farmers and ranchers need to be preserved. He says while some administrative changes can be made to achieve that goal, others have to be done through legislation.
