Document Story

In the beginning of April, Congress voted down a bill that would have had a tremendous affect on the agriculture community of Whitman County.

The bill, proposed by President Obama, would have put a revenue cap on eligibility for government subsidies for farmers.

Any farmer who received more than $500,000 in revenue would be ineligible for direct payment from the government.

Direct payments are payments that are paid to farmers for their production costs, said Mike Mandere, the county executive director for the Whitman County Farm Service Agency, part of the Department of Agriculture.

With a growing budget deficit in the government, direct payments are becoming more and more controversial, Mandere said.

“There is an argument that we should only pay when crop prices are down,” he said.

There are about $5 billion in direct payments nationwide each year, with about $15 million in Whitman County alone, Mandere said. On any given year, about 95 to 97 percent of the approximately 1,700 farms within Whitman County are receiving some sort of government subsidy.

A report released by the Environmental Working Group stated that Washington State was 22nd nationally in direct payments nationally in 2007, with about $168,436,777 being spent statewide.

Another report by EWG said that direct payment amounts have stayed consistent over the last ten years, varying little.

This would completely change if President Obama had passed the bill.

Some of these farmers are reluctant to take government money.

“We would love not to have subsidies,” said David Weitz, the manager at the Steve and Kevin Mader Farm in Pullman. “We don’t want to have to take a check from the government, we would like to do our own thing.”

“There is such a high input to agriculture, with fuel, fertilizer and everything, that money is extremely useful,” Mandere said. “I would hate to see these payments go away.”

Sometimes subsidies are not needed, but more often than not they are, Weitz said.

“In the good years it makes sense not to have them,” he said. “But the problem is in the bad years they are the only thing that keep a guy farming. The good years don’t always carry over into the bad years. I would say that in a five-year period, three out of five years is bad. Then you have one mediocre year and one good year. Subsidies are highest when sales are at their worst, it goes hand in hand.”

Weitz said that a political world market has created the need for government subsidies.

“If we could have free marketing and take our crops and deal with them as we can, we wouldn’t need the checks,” he said. “But there are limits on where we can and cannot sell and that means we kind of need help out.”

The current test for eligibility is income, rather than revenue, Mandere said.

“Revenue is different than income,” he said. “Revenue is just what the farmer brought in. It doesn’t take into account the fuel, fertilizer and seed cost that can be very expensive. Income is what the farmer made minus the cost, it is the more appropriate test.”

The current test was put in place in June of 2008, Mandere said. There are three portions of the test in place now, one is if the farm income exceeds $750,000, another is if the person makes more than $1 million in non-farm income and one has to do with a conservation project, he said.

The Conservation Reserve Project was started in order to give farmers an option other than farming with their land. Farmers have an opportunity to take their land out of production for 10 to 15 years and let it sit in order to reduce erosion and allow for the growth of wildlife, Mandere said.

“There is a lot of support from both the Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “It is an interesting program and a hot topic among the agricultural community.”

There are about 1 million acres of farmland in Whitman County and about 200,000 of those is engaged in contracts with CRPs. That is approximately 20 percent. There is a law that each county is not permitted to exceed 25 percent of their farmland in CRPs, Mandere said.

The actual portion of the USDA budget that goes to direct payments is very small, about 5 percent, he said. Another 15 or 20 percent goes to conservation payments. The majority of the budget goes towards urban uses like free lunches for kids in school and food stamps.

“The Farm Bill is rapidly losing the farm,” he said.

As for local food prices, a change in subsidy prices would only affect the larger corporations, not local produce providers, said Scott Metzger, the produce manager at the Moscow food co-op.

One report, from the Farm Service Agency, showed a portion of the subsidies that were given out in Whitman County in 2008. Of the portion that had already been counted and filed wheat subsidies were the highest portion of government spending, earning about $772,708 countywide. Barley was second with $139,518. General aid, for deficiencies or farm problems was about $61, 745 and other grains brought in about $28,621.

“Farm subsidies affect farm behavior of local agriculture,” said Steve Kobs, the manager at the Moscow food co-op. “Production decisions would be affected not retail prices.”

Mandere emphasized, however, that not only farmers were benefiting from farm subsidy payments.

“We see the benefits in the grocery store,” he said. “The philosophy is to keep a cheap and plentiful supply. The government provides these programs to keep farms in business to keep the price of food down.”

“This is an interesting topic to delve into,” Mandere said. “It is part of our history back from the New Deal with President Roosevelt.”

Public Records Response

Ms. Alzola,

This responds to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated April 9, 2009 and assigned control number 80-002-2009-000287.

In response to your request, we located and are releasing, in full, “a list of farms in Whitman County, Washington that received payments and the amounts for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.” Please note: You are receiving a list of all producer types. An electronic copy will be sent by Federal Express

The cost of processing your request is $24.69 (A Fee Letter will be included in your Federal Express package). Because this amount is equal to or less than $25.00, your fee has been waived because the cost of collecting this amount would be greater than the amount collected, pursuant to USDA regulations at Title 7, CFR, Appendix A, to Subpart A, § 6(a)(4).

Please contact the Management Services Division (MSD) Kansas City FOIA (KC FOIA) Team if you have any questions concerning your FOIA/PA request. You can reach FOIA Specialist Barbara Clark at 816-926-2636, FOIA Specialist Amber Ross at 816-926-6371 or the entire MSD KC FOIA Team at the group email address RA.mokansasc2.fsakcfoia@one.usda.gov.

Sincerely,

John W. Underwood

FSA Privacy Act Officer / FSA PII Officer

Chief, Information Management Section

Questions for Bill Morlin

1. How do you find topics for your investigations?
2. How do you get people to talk to you?
3. What does your new company do?
4. With the decline of newspapers, where do you think investigative journalism is heading?
5. How often do you use public record requests?
6. What has been your favorite story to work on?
7. How do you deal with negative response to your stories or investigations?

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Document Story Proposal

The Obama administration attempted to end direct farm payments to farms that receive over $500,000 in gross sales. I requested public record information on those farms in Whitman county that have received subsidies in the past three years, as well as their reported income for those years. I want to talk about the affect that this bill would have on the economy of Pullman, and the rest of the Palouse.

Public Records Requests Take 3

Ms. Alzola,

Management Services Division (MSD) has received your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated April 9, 2009 and assigned it control number: 80-002-2009-000287. Please use this control number in all future communication involving this request.

You have requested:”a list of farms in Whitman County, Washington that received payments and the amounts for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008.”

Your request is being handled under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 (http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/amended-foia-redlined.pdf).

We process requests on a first-in, first-out basis. The actual processing time will depend upon the complexity of the request and whether or not it involves sensitive or voluminous records, or extensive searches and/or consultations. We also process requests on a multi-track basis. This means that simple requests, requiring minimal effort to respond, are processed in one track, and more voluminous and complex requests are processed in another track. We have placed your request in the Normal track.

If you have questions concerning our process, please contact FOIA/PA Specialist Barbara Clark at 816-926-2636, FOIA/PA Specialist Amber R. Ross at 816-926-6371, or the entire MSD FOIA/PA Team at the group e-mail address RA.mokansasc2.fsakcfoia@one.usda.gov.

Sincerely,

John W. Underwood

FSA Privacy Act Officer / FSA PII Officer

Chief, Information Management Section

Public Records Requests Take 2

April 6, 2009

Mike Mandere

Service Center Office

Whitman County Farm Service Agency

805 S Vista Point Dr

Colfax, WA 99111-9565

Dear Mr. Mandere,

Pursuant to the state open records law, Wash. Rev. Code Ann. secs. 42.56.001 to 42.56.902, I write to request access to and a copy of the list of those farms within Whitman County that received subsidies from the government in 2008, 2007 and 2006. This should include the amount of money given to the farm as well as the income the farms claimed. If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian’s name and address.

I agree to pay any reasonable copying and postage fees of not more than $10. If the cost would be greater than this amount, please notify me. Please provide a receipt indicating the charges for each document.

As provided by the open records law, I would request your response within five (5) business days.

If you choose to deny this request, please provide a written explanation for the denial including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. Also, please provide all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material.

Please be advised that I am prepared to pursue whatever legal remedy necessary to obtain access to the requested records. I would note that violation of the open records law can result in a fine of up to $100 for each day that I am denied access. Litigation costs, including reasonable attorney fees, may also be awarded.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,


Briana J Alzola
1555 NE Merman Dr.
Apt A11B
Pullman, WA 99163

Washington State University

503-724-8002

Hi Briana –

I have forwarded your FOIA request on to our FOIA officer for processing. You will be hearing from somebody on your request. If you have any questions let me know.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,

Thank you so much. I was struggling to find the officer's contact information. I appreciate the help,

Briana Alzola

Briana –

I would be the appropriate point of contact for an initial request. I then take it to the FOIA processing folks for evaluation and/or processing.

Mike

Control number 53-075-2009-000001

Briana J Alzola
1555 NE Merman Dr.
Apt A11B
Pullman, WA 99163

Dear Ms. Briana J Alzola

This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (copy attached) dated April 8, 2009 to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA). FSA received a copy of your request on April 9, 2009 and assigned it control number 53-075-2009-000001. Please reference this number in any future communication with our office about your request.

We have determined that the records you are seeking may be maintained in another FSA office: MSD, Kansas City FOIA Office

Therefore, we are forwarding your request to this office for direct response.

You may expect to hear from this office shortly. If you do not, you may write or call:

MSD, Kansas City FOIA Office

Barbara Clark

9420 Troost – Mail Stop 8368

Kansas City, MO 64131-3055

(816) 926-6371

RA.mokansasc2.fsakcfoia@one.usda.gov

If you have any questions about any of the issues discussed in this letter, you may contact Mike Mandere at 509-397-4301 (phone), by email at mike.mandere@wa.usda.gov or by mail at:

Michael T. Mandere

County Executive Director

Whitman County Farm Service Agency, USDA

805 Vista Point Drive

Colfax, WA 99111

Sincerely,

Michael T. Mandere

County Executive Director

USDA Whitman County Farm Service Agency