01/26/06 Farm bill, do it now or wait till 2007?

The Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee does not want to write a new farm bill this year despite the Bush administration's push to get the ball rolling. However Ag chairman Bob Goodlatte says hearings will begin early next month. GOODLATTE "It's always been our intention to work on the legislation in 2007 hoping to have it completed by September 30th, 2007. But the first step is to start gathering information regarding what people like about the current farm bill, why they like, what things they have concerns about." Senator Mike Crapo and his staff held 23 different farm bill listening sessions in Idaho this month. Crapo says most producers feel the 2007 Farm Bill should be very similar to the 2002 version. But he expects that some in Congress want to change the bill to conform to international trade negotiations and to expected agreements through the World Trade Organization. CRAPO "But I strongly disagree with that. I believe that the United States should not try to change its farm policy unless and until we have binding commitments from other nations to do the same." Crapo says the Senate work on the Farm Bill could be completed by late summer or early fall but Goodlatte may not let that happen on the House side. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott