W.Va. Farm Bureau expresses beef with state Agriculture Department

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Farm Bureau and the state Department of Agriculture are in a fight over cows and potatoes.

Their argument spans genetics, market economies and state pride.

It also crosses into politics.  In the upcoming Agriculture Commissioner race, the Farm Bureau has endorsed Republican Kent Leonhardt over incumbent Democrat Walt Helmick, just as it did in 2012.

In the current spat, the Farm Bureau claims the Agriculture Department’s purchase of four breeding cows from Oklahoma for $33,000 presents unfair competition for West Virginia’s existing beef cattle farmers.

The bureau also argues that the department’s efforts to promote more potato farmers has resulted in unnecessary expenses and more unfair competition.

The fight emerged last week during a Farm Bureau press conference in Buckhannon and continued Monday in a state legislative hearing on government accountability, transparency and efficiency.

odell
Dwayne O’Dell

“The accusation is, those cows could have been produced in West Virginia,” said Dwayne O’Dell, government liaison for the Farm Bureau.

“We do not believe it’s the job of state government or the Department of Agriculture to take tax money and compete against our own farmers.”

Mike Teets
Mike Teets

Mike Teets, the director of eastern operations for the agriculture department, is also a cattle farmer. Teets is the one who bought the four breeding cows from Oklahoma for an agriculture department program meant to help emerging cattle farmers improve their beef stock.

Teets spoke before the government accountability committee on Monday and said he used his lifelong experience to identify Angus cattle with superior genetics that could be bred in West Virginia. So he went to a sale in Oklahoma and bought them.

“The reason I purchased those cows is they are the top Angus breeders in the world,” Teets told the committee. “We’re not doing anything to compete with farmers in West Virginia. We just want to bring better genetics here.”

Legislators questioned whether the Oklahoma cattle truly had superior bloodlines.

“What did you bring to West Virginia that wasn’t already here?” asked state Sen. Robert Karnes, R-Upshur.

Teets responded, “I’m not going to tell you there are no cattle in West Virginia that don’t have some of this genetic material, but they’re not going to have bloodlines like these.”

Amy Summers
Amy Summers

Delegate Amy Summers , R-Taylor, is also an Angus farmer. She said she researched the matter and found many West Virginia cattle already have plenty of genetic characteristics in common with the cattle from Oklahoma.

“I just don’t see where this purchase is any better than the genetics in our state,” Summers said.

After the meeting, agriculture department spokesman Butch Antolini said Teets’ longtime experience in the cattle industry gives him expertise on breeding matters.

“It’s a matter of professional opinion,” Antolini said. “He knows the business of genetics. He made a professional decision.”

Antolini said the department would not be competing with existing cattle farmers but intended to help new or fledgling farmers improve their stock.

“All we’re trying to do is grow the number of beef cattle in the state,” Antolini said.

The matter of potatoes took a back seat, but the farm bureau has also contended that the agriculture department has overspent on equipment to promote potato growth in West Virginia.

O’Dell argued that West Virginia’s ecosystem already puts it at a competitive disadvantage against other potato-producing states. He said encouraging new potato farmers to get into the market makes it easier for them early on but sets them up for later failure.

“What we have is a government-run program that is artificializing the market of the potato farming business,” O’Dell said.

“When you don’t have any skin in the game, it fails or explodes.”





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