Over regulation by the EPA was the topic of last night’s AgChat which I had the pleasure to moderate once again. It was an interesting conversation as always and we had some very different points of view expressed. And that’s what it’s all about. How often do you participate in a conversation where everyone agrees? Nothing wrong with that.

Here’s the list of questions that were posed. You can see the list of responses to each on the AgChat Archives page already.

Q1: What’s the single most disruptive regulation the EPA has imposed on U.S. Farmers and why? via @derekbalsley
Q2: What are the most helpful EPA regs to your operations? via @TruffleMedia
Q3: How can farmers communicate the real-life struggles w/EPA regulations to politicians & consumers? via @amyserves
Q4: How can any farmer make sure they are in full compliance with EPA regs? via @AgriBlogger
Q5: Does there need to be a better system of checks & balances for EPA & their regulations? via multiple sources
Q6: Is this really a problem with EPA or the administration? via @BeltwayBeef
Q7: How could the EPA expect to harness dust the way they’re talking in the Clean Air Act? via @DarrenOlafson
Q8: What are resources available to farmers who are having trouble with EPA regs?
Q9: What if there were no EPA and damage caused to environment was settled in court as property damage? via @derekbalsley
Q10: What will you do after participating in tonight’s convo as it relates to EPA regulations and farming?
Q11: What’s your executable idea?

There were a lot of interesting ideas and answers that came out during the course of our conversation. Some things that stood out for me include:

1. An idea that the topic was not “objective.” Really? Of course that was posed by someone who does not farm and works for an environmental extremist organization. I have never met a farmer of any size or kind who believes EPA regulations are not burdensome and often incomprehensible.

2. There was a suggestion that if you farm “organic” you will somehow not have to deal with EPA (just USDA). However, if you look at the EPA website you’ll find a whole page of information and links dealing with organic. Doesn’t look like being organic exempts you from this problem.

3. Q2 got the most responses of all. The whole idea of finding anything helpful regarding EPA regulations seemed like a foreign concept to most of our active participants. I don’t know about all you lurkers out there.

4. Someone made a point that seemed to get good agreement that it’s not just EPA that’s a problem, but Congress which created the agency and gives it the powers that it has. Of course there is also the issue of how EPA administrators interpret their role and rules as well as judges who make decisions in their courts that impact how regulations are enforced.

There’s a lot more but I won’t take time to point them all out here. Check out the archives and see for yourself and join in next time! Thanks to all who participated.