WASHINGTON – Farmers represented at a hearing Thursday were not happy about proposed regulations to be implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency.

At a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade, both farmers and congressmen spoke out against new measures that would affect the way crops are grown and distributed.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, chairman of the subcommittee, said President Barack Obama’s administration “continues to contemplate and propose new regulations that would place increased burdens on American agriculture and make production more costly.”

The hearing examined two proposed regulations: an expansion in pesticide permit requirements and one that Tipton said would place tougher air-quality standards on farm dust.

Leonard Felix, president of Olathe Spray Service in Olathe, testified on behalf of the National Agricultural Aviation Association. Felix said his job is hard enough as it is, and adding a new set of obligations would hinder his business’ and his clients’ success.

“While my sons and I are working to properly apply the pesticide products for our clients, dodge power lines and other obstacles, and keep track of the wind and weather, we now must also worry about taking notes for completing the (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit records later that evening,” Felix said.

Ray Vester, who was representing the USA Rice Federation, agreed, saying he is “very much opposed” to these new regulations.

“The EPA is regulating something they don’t know anything about,” Vester said. He also said the EPA regulations would cause delays when responding to pests because pest control often is limited by time and weather.

Some issues come with the use of pesticides in aquatic crops. However, Vester said that the water rarely makes it out of the farm because it goes to reservoirs and then is reused.

Carl T. Shaffer, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, expressed concern about younger generations of farmers being frustrated with EPA regulations.

“Where is the next generation of agriculture going to come from if they’re discouraged from even entering into it? And where is the next food providers in this country going to come from if that frustration is carried into the younger generation?” Shaffer asked.

Shaffer added that the agency lacks common sense, especially when it comes to regulating dust, because farmers in the Southwest could not meet regulation standards because of naturally occurring dust.

“Something that we cannot ever fail to underscore for the American public is that the farmer, the rancher, doesn’t set their price,” Tipton said. “They pay the price.”

Rocío González is an intern for The Durango Herald and a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.