09/17/07 Some northwest wheat growers head to D.C.

Farm and Ranch September 17, 2007 Three representatives of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers will be in Washington D.C. this week to work farm bill issues. The Oregon Wheat Growers League had planned to be in D.C. this week too, but postponed its trip due to the delay in a Senate Ag Committee farm bill markup. The House of course passed a farm bill but the Senate hasn't made much progress. Washington's National Legislation chairman Jerry Snyder didn't make this trip to the nation's capitol but he's kept abreast of what's happening, or not happening, in the Senate. Snyder: "The last I heard they would actually starting to debate this in October as opposed to September. There are several factions on the Senate Ag Committee that want their own pet programs. And the chairman has gotten several people upset with him so no one is coming together on this issue. They support the idea of some kind of income assurance, or insurance if you will. They all support some form of support for commodities. They have great thoughts concerning conservation, CSP, CRP, EQIP. They all like those ideas, but as far as actually getting together right now. There are x number of people on the committee and there are x number of different ideas." The current farm bill expires at the end of September and Congress could extend it but Snyder says the administration is opposed to that so an extension could face a veto. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.