The Colorado Farm Bureau has laid out a list of suggestions and priorities for the 155th Congress. U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Yuma asked for the input last month.

“Whether it is regulations or legislation, it is important for the Administration and Congress to understand the impact of their policies, and agriculture is no exception,” he said in a letter to the Farm Bureau.

But if Gardner expected advice on the price of eggs and butter, he underestimated the state’s most influential farming and ranching group. The six-page treatise covers regulatory reform, water, wildlife, federal lands, trade policy labor, taxes, liquefied natural gas and other energy issues, infrastructure, health care and the federal Farm Bill.

The organization called for rolling back “onerous regulations,” including a repeal the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2015 Clean Water Rule and other measures related to water:

The full letter is available by clicking here.

Signed by Colorado Farm Bureau President Don Shawcroft, it states:

First and foremost, we urge you and your colleagues in Congress to work with the new Administration to repeal and/or reform certain overburdensome federal regulations that are driving up the cost of doing business, resulting in unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles and delays, all while providing little to no real benefit for taxpayers. We also request that you and your colleagues work together to bolster international trade, to help identify and access new markets for American agricultural products and commodities. We urge you to help provide American entrepreneurs with the tools to champion smart investments that will rebuild our transportation and communications infrastructure. Improvements to our broken immigration system and access to agricultural labor tax reform, and the permanent elimination of the death tax are also major priorities for CFB.

We implore Congress and the Administration to speed the permitting of liquified natural gas export terminals, pipelines, and new energy development on federal land; limit the practice of sue-and-settle tactics by environmental groups, the Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and speed federal review and approval of large water storage and infrastructure projects. We would also urge you and your colleagues to support continued funding for agriculture research, land grant institutions, and the cooperative extension through upcoming Farm Bill negotiations.

The Colorado Farm Bureau said it solicited feedback from the rural and agricultural communities across the said.

“We had a handful of specific priority areas to provide the senator,” Shawcroft said in a statement. “Folks from around the state were eager to offer specific ideas about the things that were negatively impacting their ability to produce food and stay in business,” he said. “Those ideas are contained in our letter to the Senator and we could not be more pleased that he is seeking our feedback.”

He added, “We covered a broad range of issues to help provide as many good ideas and specific policy changes as we could. Luckily, our organization conducts a yearly policy development process, so our members are always flush with ideas about how to help agriculture prosper.”