On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends First,” National Black Farmers Association President John Boyd Jr. criticized new water regulations adopted by the Biden EPA and argued that the rules will cost farmers money and will force them to “seek out consultants and attorneys” in order to comply with the rules.
Boyd stated, “It’s more of the same, where farmers [were] not at the table when the Biden administration continued to put these policies out. They exclude the farmers and do not have them [be] a part of the dialogue and they want us to go by rules and regulations. … Farmers know how to take care of waterways and we don’t need a policy to do that and for attorneys and consultants and all of these things. And it’s more on top of what we are already faced with.”
Later, co-host Todd Piro asked, “Any time you talk about hiring attorneys to figure out water rights, you’re talking about an increase in costs, and then if you need to import water, that’s a further cost. Will these costs caused by the move by the Biden administration force family farms to close?”
Boyd answered, “I think what happens here is the farmers themselves can’t figure out the gray areas in these actual laws, that’s what’s problematic for us, and that’s why we have to seek out consultants and attorneys, and that’s more money that’s leaving our bottom line from our farming operation. The government, in this case, EPA, should be helping us sustain and stay on our farms rather than putting policy in place that’s going to [cost] America’s farmers more grief and more money. Again, farmers know how to respect creeks and waterways.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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