Federal Spending Forecast, New Farm Bill and Legalizing Hemp. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.
The Congressional Budget Office has released its forecast of federal spending and receipts - and the outlook isn`t good for agriculture. As a result of record high prices for corn and other crops - the CBO is projected a 31-billion dollar decrease in spending on farm program subsidies over the next decade which some think will make writing the next farm bill even more difficult but AG Secretary Mike Johanns is committed to bringing a workable Farm Bill to U.S. farmers and says we are getting close.
JOHANNS: We are really in a stage where I can say we're doing finishing touches and that's an important piece of what we're doing. We want to make sure that everything works and everything balances but we're not very far off. I've said all along that sometime in the next couple of weeks we should be in a position to get an announcement out there and talk very specifically about what we are proposing for the next farm bill.
Idaho Rep. Tom Trail is preparing to ask state lawmakers, for the third time in six years, to support a resolution that would ask the U.S. Congress to legalize hemp as a farm crop. Trail says his hopes are high this year though: his proposal comes on the heels of newly issued state rules in North Dakota that regulate hemp farming in the state. Other lawmakers are concerned that legalizing hemp farming could make it easier for marijuana farmers to sneak their crops past law enforcement. He says the regulations could provide Idaho lawmakers with a picture of what hemp farming might look like in the real world.
Now here's today's Washington Grange Report.
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That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.