The protection of one's private property rights is a fundamental principle of farmers and ranchers throughout the nation and particularly in Colorado. All who are involved in the growing of livestock and crops apply practices on their operations that maximize opportunities and profits while paying attention to being good stewards of that land and livestock they are raising.

We´re getting close to the end of the 2006 Colorado legislative session, and I think we say it every year, but it's hard to believe another session is almost over. A number of difficult issues have come before the legislature this year, many of which we have written about in previous columns, and a few are still on the table for discussion.

Many times over the past years, we have written about a number of topics relating to the increased pressures on agricultural operations as the urban-rural interface in Colorado has come closer and closer. As the boundaries between our cities and farms and ranches have faded, more and more onerous laws have been contemplated making it often difficult to remain in the business of agriculture.

In 1998, the voters passed Amendment 14 that dealt with House Commercial Swine Feeding Operations, commonly referred to as HCSFO. The measure directed the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to adopt rules to regulate water quality and odor at commercial hog farms. It came about from a group of citizens voicing complaints and concerns over the smell from hog farms and fears that crop applications of manure used as fertilizer would eventually leak into the groundwater.

A significant part of Amendment 14 directed that rules be adopted requiring storage lagoons at hog farms be covered to minimize odor to the "greatest extent practicable." The specifics surrounding the covers were to be addressed by the CDPHE in its rulemaking. Many have felt that the rulemaking was ambiguous, while others stipulate that the cover language does not allow hog producers enough flexibility to address odor. That brings us to 2006 and SB 06-114.

SB 06-114 was introduced early in the session by Senator Ken Kester (R-Las Animas) and Representative Cory Gardner (R-Yuma). The bill was brought forward by swine feeding operations due to the changes in technology related to lagoon covers. Many hog farms have found that there are better methods than physical covers to minimize odors and as technology evolves, these producers want the flexibility to be able to adapt and still minimize odor to the "greatest extent practicable." The bill does not alter the odor regulations that HCSFOs must meet, just the mechanism by which such regulations are met. The bill has been supported by a number of agricultural groups including the Colorado Livestock Association and Colorado Farm Bureau.

The opponents of the bill argue that any changes to the constitutional provision are violating the "will of the people" who passed Amendment 14 by a 2-1 margin. They argue that it was the intention of the measure to require physical covers and that a number of hog farms have not come into compliance since the measure passed in 1998.

An additional concern that has arisen from the odor discussion is its relation to the air quality discussions that have also been happening during the legislative session. HB 06-1309 sponsored by Representative Anne McGihon (D-Denver) and Senator Dan Grossman (D-Denver) deals with air quality standards in Colorado. The bill is opposed by a coalition including most of the state's agricultural groups as well as the mining, oil and gas, and general business industries.

HB 06-1309 would allow the state of Colorado's air quality regulations and implementation plans to be more stringent than federal law in preventing air pollution if those state laws were in place before a federal law was weakened. In its current form, the bill exempts agricultural, horticultural and floricultural emissions. Even with the exemption, though, there is nothing to prevent a future legislature from striking these exemptions, and that is something of great concern.

A number of lessons can be learned from these issues by those of us involved in agriculture. First, and we have said this before, legislating and adopting laws from the ballot box is very dangerous and often detrimental to agriculture and rural Colorado. We elect 100 citizens to represent the communities in which we reside, and we should trust them to do the job we send them to Denver to accomplish. Once a proposal like Amendment 14 or other constitutional measures are adopted, it is very difficult to amend or change them, as we are seeing this year.

Second, there are significant differences between the issues of "odor control" and "air quality," and the issues easily become confused by legislators when they come about in discussions like the above mentioned bills. Air quality is affected by many different factors including industrial emissions, weather, burning of fuels, and others. Odor control deals specifically with issues surrounding smell. Odor is not a consideration in air quality discussions.

Lastly, the agricultural industry in Colorado should pay close attention to these types of issues and the increase strain brought about by regulations passed that make business incredibly hard to continue because of strict and often unnecessary laws. Today it is hog farm regulations and tomorrow it might be feedlots, dairies, or horse farms. Dust from tractors, animals moving from one pasture to another or feed mills might soon be the targeted blame for decreases in air quality.

It is important for the agriculturalists of Colorado to continue to be good neighbors, good stewards of the land, and good business people. Telling our story to the people of Colorado is more important each day as the urban population increases and the rural population unfortunately declines. We need to protect the rights and freedoms we have worked so hard to obtain, and it will be the responsibility of each of us to help prevent ourselves from being regulated out of business.

It has been our pleasure writing for you during the 2006 legislative session, and we look forward to visiting again in 2007. Here's to a happy, prosperous summer full of sunshine, rain, and profits!

Dan Williams and Laura Behrends lobby for the Colorado Horse Council.