Zinke tours NARC with House ag chair

Rep Ryan Zinke and the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, were in Havre Tuesday for a tour of Montana State University's Northern Agricultural Research Center.

The visit was the third on a three-stop tour by Zinke, a Republican and Montana's only member in the U.S House of Representatives, and Conaway of several agricultural sites in eastern and central Montana. On Monday the lawmakers visited Malteurop, a malting facility in Great Falls and the Bos Terra, a feedlot in Hobson managed by former Montana Senate President Jim Peterson.

Zinke said he invited Conaway to Montana to get an up-close look at the state's agriculture producers.

"It's different than seeing it on paper and actually getting out there and visiting with the guy behind the tractor, the person behind the lab and talking about Montana issues in ag that are different than the states around us and certainly in Texas," he said.

After a $100-per-plate private breakfast fundraiser at the Havre Inn and Suites attended by local Republicans, Zinke, Conaway and representatives from the agriculture industry visited Northern Montana Agricultural Research Center for a tour of its facilities and grounds led by NARC Superintendent Darrin Boss.

NARC is one of one of seven off-campus sites of Montana State University's College of Agriculture and Montana Agricultural Experimentation Stations. The centers conduct research and educate students about how to increase the yield and quality of crops and livestock, while addressing challenges particular to the needs of Montana agriculture.

Zinke said Montana agriculture is unique with its abundance of wheat and pulse crops, beef industry and efforts by producers across the state to add value to those products and increase crop yield.

However, he said, agriculture faces obstacles created by federal regulations such as the Clean Waters Rule, which expands the definition of waters subject to the Clean Water Act to include streams and wetlands. The Environmental Protection Agency, Zinke said, has expanded its regulatory reach into new areas, becoming an impediment to producers.

Conaway said efforts to mandate the labeling of genetically modified foods, which scientific studies say does not present a risk to the public, are "misguided efforts to scare people."

He said the research done by NARC and agriculture companies such as Cargill, a Minnesota-based agriculture company which had a representative on the tour, would help feed a growing global population.

Conaway said that such efforts by advocates of GMO labeling might be good-hearted but are "misguided anti-scientists" who try to stop such research that could increase crop yield and quality.

He said anti-GMO efforts and trade deals in Europe have prevented products from being sold in those countries.

Zinke agreed.

"To a degree, GMOs have been demonized," he said, adding that GMO critics seem to have the bully pulpit and the narrative. He said it is a challenge to get agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and others to base their judgments on sound science and not pressures from outside groups.

Zinke recently voted for a bill passed by both houses of Congress that sets a uniform national standard for GMO labeled foods and supercedes stricter labeling laws in states such as Vermont.

The federal bill signed by President Barack Obama last week, requires all food packages have affixed to them a symbol or barcode that, when scanned using a smart phone, will reveal the ingredients in genetically modified foods and a toll-free number people can call to receive the same information.

Agriculture industry groups have largely supported the legislation to prevent a patchwork of different standards across states. GMO advocates say that consumers who either don't have smart phones to scan the barcode or who are shopping in a hurry would not be able to find out what ingredients are in their foods.

Proponents of labeling GMO foods, such as Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, say consumers have a right to see what is in the food products they purchase.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has become a hot issue in this year's presidential campaign. While Obama supports the proposed agreement between the U.S and 11 other Pacific rim countries, both presidential candidates Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have come out in opposition to it.

"My position is that trade is important and we need to make sure that we negotiate good deals that are good for America," Zinke said.

Zinke said the deal is mostly favorable to agriculture, though he said he does have some concerns about labor standards and issues of sovereignty. He did say that given the current political environment, it is unlikely the deal will be brought up in Congress before November's elections.