03/13/08 Farm bill extension

Farm and Ranch March 13, 2008 Claiming progress towards a new farm bill agricultural leaders in Congress agreed to another extension of the 2002 Farm Bill. The first extension was to expire this Saturday, March 15th but now lawmakers will have until April 18th to come to terms on new farm legislation. Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, a member of the Senate conference committee on the farm bill, says there is a more positive attitude that a farm bill can be done this spring, but he also says there are still a lot of areas of disagreement to overcome. Grassley: "There are still disagreements over conservation and probably some disagreement over nutrition and things of that nature. Probably also the issue of taxes. Those of us on the Finance Committee have to reach those agreements. Then the details of the agriculture bill itself, that has to be done. But I still think in those areas there are just a couple areas of major disagreement, but there are still a lot of loose ends that have to be tied up." Senate Ag Committee Chairmen Tom Harkin said progress continues to be made on the farm bill and a new farm bill is within reach but more time was needed. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, who previously opposed another extension, said enough progress had been made to warrant the 30-day extension. Without an extension or a new farm bill in place by Saturday, old permanent farm law from 1949 would be operative. And Congress leaves on a two-week recess this weekend. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.