In the shadow of a widespread economic recession, poor returns for livestock producers was the top issue for Nebraska agriculture in 2009, said Keith Olsen, president of Nebraska Farm Bureau.

FREE Mobile Banking NOW AVAILABLE!

“There is no big surprise at what is number one -- the struggles in the livestock industry,” Olsen said.

“Pork producers across the state have lost money 24 out of the last 28 months and mislabeling H1N1 as the ‘swine flu’ definitely hurt the industry," Olson said. "Bovine tuberculosis (TB) was found in a cattle herd in Nebraska, and dairy producers struggled with prices. The year 2009 was a year most livestock farmers would like to forget."

Number two on the list -- the late harvest. Federal forecasters have said that this year’s harvest is at the slowest pace since 1972.

“Despite relatively good harvesting weather in November and much bigger harvesting equipment than was available in 1972, this year’s crop is high in moisture and it is hard for the grain elevators to keep up with drying down the crop,” Olsen said.

Third -- water issues, including:

• Republican River compact compliance issues with Kansas;

• The Lower Platte Basin underground water being at first declared "fully appropriated" but later that status was reversed;

• Development of integrated management plans;

• Implementation of the program on the Platte River to address threatened or endangered wildlife species and related issues.

“Agriculture has a lot of issues related to water that are being dealt with," Olson said.

Fourth -- increasing number of attacks on agriculture, including efforts to ban certain animal management practices, use of production tools and even the existence of animal agriculture itself.

Animal rights groups have been successful in getting accepted animal husbandry practices banned in other states through legislation or constitutional amendments, Olsen said, and Nebraska farmers and ranchers are keeping on top of the issue:

“Many farm and livestock groups are now working together to protect the livestock industry in our state,” Olson said.

Fifth -- the suggestion to use commodity check-off funds to help balance the state’s budget deficit.

“Farm organizations and commodity groups unified during the legislature’s special session (in November) to protect the use of checkoff funds as intended. Checkoffs are Nebraska farmers’ investments in their own commodities. The use of checkoff funds to balance the state’s budget would have set a bad precedent,” Olsen said. Ultimately the legislature agreed and removed checkoff transfers from the budget reduction package.