02/27/07 Congresswoman still working on safety net

Farm and Ranch February 27, 2007 Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers plans on re- introducing the Wheat Counter Cyclical Payments Enhancement Act in the current Congress. That bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine counter-cyclical payments for wheat by class instead of national averages. Wheat growers in Washington in particular have been pushing for such legislation to give them a better safety net. What does McMorris Rodgers think of her bills chances this year? McMorris Rodgers: "I am cautiously optimistic. It is not a slam dunk by any means. We went round and round with USDA for a year. But Senator Murray is taking the lead in the Senate. Through these months we have increased awareness. And I am hopeful we will be able to draft language that the National Wheat Growers can support, which will be critical, and then get it inserted into the Farm Bill." McMorris Rodgers says she has learned more about what it is going to take to build the broader coalition to get support. She told a farm bill listening session last week that it didn't help when then National Association of Wheat Growers president Sherman Reese told a Congressional Committee the safety net issue for soft white should first be studied. The Congresswoman said she's been told growers in Oregon's big wheat county Umatilla, aren't that interested in the safety net issue because they got into the Conservation Security Program and get payments from that. And southern Idaho has a lot of red wheat growers who fear they will lose if soft white gets a better deal. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.