National Farmers Union

LAS VEGAS (March 4, 2008) - Delegates to National Farmers Union’s 106th annual convention today passed a special policy position strongly urging the administration and both bodies of Congress to resolve their differences so a new farm bill can be enacted immediately.

The delegates called for permanent law to take effect, rather than extend the 2002 Farm Bill, if no agreement can be reached.

“This is crunch time,” NFU President Tom Buis said. “Last year the House and Senate have both passed very good farm bills that will benefit all Americans. It is time for the administration to negotiate a bill with the Congress.”

The current farm bill expires March 15. If a new bill is not enacted by that time the non-expiring provisions of the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Agriculture Act of 1949, or permanent law, will take effect.

Buis said that the reason there is broad support in Congress for both versions of the bill is because of the increases in spending for nutrition, conservation, renewable energy, specialty crop and rural development programs. Without these increases, it would be difficult to pass an extension of the 2002 bill.

“Both the House and Senate bills make record investments in rural America while maintaining a strong safety net for producers,” Buis said.

With rapidly climbing input expenses, the NFU delegates reiterated support for a purely counter-cyclical safety net tied to the cost of production.

The delegates also called upon the next President to pledge his or her support for restoring competition into agriculture markets and to select an Attorney General who will enforce current anti-trust laws.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Agriculture Programs, Cooperatives, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Rural America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.