Department Annual Report Highlights Year of Progress

The 1998 Utah Department of Agriculture and Food's Annual Report and the USDA- National Agricultural Statistics Service report is set for distribution within the next few weeks. This year's edition summarizes the accomplishments made by the varous UDAF divisions and summarizes crop and livestock production throughout Utah.

The Annual Report offers in-depth information about major issues advanced by Commissioner Cary G. Peterson. A greater emphasis on food safety, quicker enforcement action and accelerated work to preserve critical farm and watershed resource land are three of the major accomplishments for 1997 and 1998.

For the first time since Governor Leavitt's 1995 Growth Summit, the Utah Legislature set aside funds to protect critical resource lands and other open spaces.

Commissioner Peterson also took steps to allow for swifter enforcement of the Agricultural Code in the field. Compliance rules were tightened to allow inspectors to immediately cite or stop illegal practices that threaten the agricultural environment and the food supply.

The commissioner defended the Central Utah Water Project from those who would backtrack on the promise to complete it. The project would bring irrigation water to Utah and Juab County farmers and develop another farming resource in Utah.

Utah's conservation interests worked to improve the land through various land management practices including the controversial method of "chaining." Attention was drawn to the positive effects of chaining during a demonstration in May, 1998 where land that was earlier chained and seeded produced taller and fuller growth patterns of grass as opposed to land that was not chained, which produced annual weeds.

The first of its kind Internet chat room helped Commissioner Peterson teach the values of Utah Agriculture to 35 5th and 6th grade students at Salt Lake City's Backman Elementary school during National Agriculture Week. The department's computer specialists developed the chat room which allowed the students to directly asked the commissioner questions about agriculture. A sample of the conversation follows:

Question: What is the biggest crop in Utah?
Answer: Alfalfa.

Question: How do you store water in the mountains?
Answer: Through snow and rain runoff and a good reservoir system.

Question: What happens if we don't have enough land to raise proper crops or animals for the population?
Answer: We won't produce enough food, and the cost of the food that we have becomes very expensive. In Russia, if people don't develop their own gardens and grow food for themselves, they don't eat. Also if your food costs too much then your parents wouldn't have any leftover money to buy you things you like.

The National Association of State Department's of Agriculture (NASDA) elected Commissioner Peterson to the position of President-Elect of the organization. As such, he will become president of the group in the fall of 1998 and become a leading representative for U.S. agriculture through 1999. The UDAF will host the annual NASDA convention in September, 1999 in Southern Utah.

With the Commissioner's support, Governor Leavitt and the Utah Legislature declared 1998 the Year of the Farmer. Various community and agricultural groups held events recognizing the contributions made by Utah farmers and ranchers. A partnership between the UDAF, the Utah Farm Bureau and the Utah Association of Conservation Districts produced radio spots for state-wide airing that remind Utahns of the value of Utah agriculture.

For the Future

Commissioner Peterson will take a proposal to various water, wildlife and transportation groups to add a boatable waterway to the alignment of the Wasatch Front Legacy Highway. The proposal would concentrate sources of water in Western Salt Lake and Davis Counties while adding a recreation and transportation asset to the state. The waterway could be used for travel and recreation, and add to the legacy of the highway.

Posted 1 July, 1998