Shop talk

Lawmakers Kent Conrad and Collin Peterson meet with RRV farmers at Hillsboro farm

By NEIL O. NELSON
With a pitchfork hanging from the machine shed wall behind him and a crowd of North Dakota and Minnesota farmers sharing concerns across a shared river and border and breaking from their farm operations for the afternoon, U.S. Senator Kent Conrad talked shop Tuesday at the Lynn Kritzberger farm west of Hillsboro.
Sharing the shop talk dialogue Tuesday with the Senator from North Dakota were Roger Johnson, state agricultural commissioner, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee in Washington.
More than 100 farmers, from both sides of the Red River, were given an update on the 2007 farm bill under consideration by the U.S. Congress.
The Senate is expected to begin the debate on the farm bill this fall.
Conrad expects the farm bill will be in committee meetings this month and in conference hearings by the end of the year.
The farm bill, recently passed by the House of Representatives, thanks in large part by the work of Peterson, Conrad noted, remains a “tough challenge,” added the North Dakota lawmaker.
Conrad described Peterson as a “tenacious fighter” for the family farmer.
“It was almost a miracle that he got the farm bill through the House,” Conrad explained.
“It was no small potatoes what Collin Peterson did.”
Downplaying his part, Peterson said the process was helped greatly by a team effort on behalf of the family farmer.
Common sense factored in the farm bill passed by the House, the Minnesota senator intimated.
Conrad insisted the fight for the farm bill is continually hindered by urban interests, the East Coast media and the Bush administration.
We don’t tell them how to run their businesses, they shouldn’t be telling us how to farm, said Peterson.
This is a critical time in writing the farm bill, hinted Conrad.
“The stakes are high.”
Meanwhile, he said, farm country lawmakers like Collin Peterson and the North Dakota delegation in Washington remind people in the Nation’s Capitol “how important” agriculture is to America.
Farmers today, Peterson said, “produce food, fiber and fuel for America. They deserve our support.”
He’s doing what he can to insure that there’s a safety net provided, “no matter what size the farm.”
So they can farm again next year.
“First and foremost,” Peterson continued, “we need to be sure that farm policy works for producers and meets their needs.”
Senator Conrad said he hopes to build on the work done by chairman Peterson.
In his outline for the Senate, Conrad intends to work on enacting permanent disaster assistance and reforming crop insurance; strengthening the energy program to ensure that more ethanol and biodiesel are produced from North Dakota crops: enhancing conservation of the land; and, maintaining and improving the farm safety net.
What we have now, Conrad explained, “is a good base to the farm bill and one that we can begin writing from the Senate’s side.”
Agriculture is the largest sector of the state’s economy, according to Conrad. It’s a $4 billion a year industry that employs about one in every five North Dakotans.