03/08/07 Union on Farm Bill & Wolf opinions

Union on Farm Bill & Wolf opinions plus Food Forethought. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. National Farmers Union members approved a list of provisions the organization would like to see included in the 2007 Farm Bill. Delegates debated and voted on NFU policy positions. NFU is encouraging Congress to establish farm programs that return profitability and economic opportunity to production agriculture and rural communities. A counter-cyclical safety net, farmer-owned strategic renewable energy reserve and a permanent disaster program are just three of the provisions the group will be advocating. Nearly 300 people filled a room at the Boise Center on the Grove Tuesday night to get the chance to share their opinions with federal wildlife officials on what to do about wolves. Officials shared their proposal for wolf management and then gave people a chance to weigh in. Many referenced Governor Butch Otter's plan to allow 90 percent of the wolves to be hunted and killed, even mentioning Otter`s public statement that he wants to have the first tag. Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says it's important to let the people have their say. BANGS: Well public comment makes all the difference. I've never seen a rule end up as it was proposed. And do this rule will be better through public comment so these kind of public comments on this are taken into account, they're analyzed and they do make a difference. The meeting is just one of six in several Rocky Mountain States. It will take at least a year before a final decision is made. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. We are supposed to have equal rights in America, aren't we? Yet the fact that two border patrolmen are sitting in prison for apprehending an illegal drug smuggler, who in turn is suing the US should shake us to our core, especially if you are a farmer. Increasingly farmers are loosing the right to farm. Last year the Washington State Court of Appeals made a judgment ruling against a couple of tree fruit farmers who opted to replace their apple trees with more profitable cherries. Sally and Sam subdivision couldn't stand the noise of the cherry guns that kept the birds at bay so they took the orchardists to court and won. But Washington State farmers are fighting back and have rallied an impressive grass roots effort by putting forth senate bill 5076 that is designed to protect farmer's right to work their land from nuisance lawsuits and are urging the support of politicians. I'll be watching with baited breath but won't be surprised if the courts and the legislature fail the ones who feed us, after the way they failed the ones who protect us. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.