Commodity commissions caught in belt tightening law; planning for the next farm bill

Washington Ag February 27, 2009 Commodity commission’s in Washington could find their ability to function hampered unless the legislature acts quickly to modify legislation the governor signed just last week. Senate bill 5460 puts into law the hiring and spending freezes ordered by the governor last August and adds provisions to increase savings like prohibiting out of state travel, entering into personal or service agreements or contracts, or buying equipment costing more than five-thousand dollars. As part of state government the restrictions apply to commodity commissions even though only commodity producers fund the commissions, not the taxpayers. Bills were quickly introduced this week that would exempt commodity commissions from the new belt-tightening law. Officers of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers are in Grapevine, Texas for the Commodity Classic. WAWG vice president Brett Blankenship is one of them, and while we just got a new farm bill, he says wheat growers are looking ahead. Blankenship: “All the wheat growers in the country are assembling here with all the other commodities. In the National Wheat Grower committee meetings, I was in the Trade and Domestic Policy meeting. It was interesting that we are already trying to formulate a new farm bill, even though the current farm bill is just taking shape. We thought it would be important to be forward thinking and anticipate problem solving for the next farm bill already. So we formed a sub-committee to start studying those issues.� Blankenship says there are concerns budgetary constraints could lead to changes in the 2008 Farm Bill. I’m Bob Hoff at the Commodity Classic in Texas and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.