12/05/07 USDA's Knight says don't extend current farm bill

He was only in Idaho for a few hours but the message that USDA Undersecretary for Marketing Bruce Knight delivered was the need for Senate passage of a farm bill, one the President will sign and one that's not riddled with what he calls 'budget gimmicks and tax increases.' KNIGHT "Can they? The answer is definitely yes. The opportunity abounds for it." Knight says all that is needed is Senate leadership to allow free and open debate to get the issue moving before the end of this year. Speaking to the Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts Knight said his biggest worry is that inaction will lead to an extension of the existing farm bill. KNIGHT "Specialty crop producers would lose big time if there is an extension of the farm bill because they've got so many gains in both the House and Senate. Livestock producers need to have a better balancing of our farm policies such that we have a better balancing of the renewable fuels portfolio that starts tapping into biomass as opposed to grain based renewables." Knight says the Senate farm bill does offer conservation improvements but doesn't have the funding requested by the White House. He feels it could be more streamlined and more focused on working lands. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott