Hageman: Federal regulations choke agricultural success

TORRINGTON – States rights, limited government and personal responsibility were among the issues addressed by Harriett Hageman during the Goshen County Farm Bureau’s 2017 annual meeting last week at Torrington.
Hageman, a Goshen County native and nationally recognized expert on regulatory burdens in the United States, told the ranchers, farmers and city dwellers present, “The federal government will never be as effective at fostering the American dream for our citizens, as are the leaders of Wyoming.”
Any number of the nation’s leaders ought to take lessons from Wyoming, where state’s rights are valued, for the good of all, and must be protected from federal infringement, she said.
“Regulatory burdens imposed by the federal government not only infringe on our liberties and freedoms, but also have a direct economical impact on our communities,” she said. “Federal regulations cost agriculture $2.1 trillion a year.”

Production agriculture is hit particularly hard by what Hageman called intrusive government regulation. Rather than suffering under the federal yoke, Hageman said, Wyoming should lead the nation in championing state’s rights and local control over the heavy hand of the federal government.
“It’s imperative that we stop the bureaucrats from making law,” she said.
In a conversation prior to the meeting, Eldon Baldwin, Prairie Center rancher and president of the Goshen County Farm Bureau, said it is difficult for rural communities to generate enough influence to make changes in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve been on the local board since 1983, and it’s a constant battle,” Baldwin said. “Water has always been an issue, and we have fewer and fewer producers to fight the battle over agriculture.”
The future doesn’t appear much better because it continues to get more difficult to pass operations on to the younger generations, he said.
“It has to be in your blood,” Baldwin said. “You’re not going to get rich instantly. In fact you’re going to be cash poor and all the regulation changes make it more difficult to pass along what you do have.”