Washington (Nov. 13, 2007)—In a letter sent today to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, key farming groups expressed their disappointment in “the lack of progress made” last week on the 2007 farm bill.
The National Farmers Union, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture joined organizations representing soybean, wheat, sugar, barley, cotton, rice, and peanut farmers and others noting:
As you know, important provisions of current farm law have recently expired. Farmers and ranchers need to have policy in place in order to make well-informed financing, cropping and marketing decisions. And, it is important to farmers and ranchers, rural communities and other stakeholders to have conservation, nutrition, energy, risk management, trade, research and other policies in place as soon as possible.While each of our organizations may have differing opinions on policy provisions in the legislation, we agree it is critically important for the full Senate to approve a bill expeditiously so a conference committee can be appointed and a final bill approved before the end of the year.
A full copy of the letter can be seen here [see letter]. The U.S. Senate is slated to adjourn Friday, November 16, leaving precious few days for the legislative body to make significant progress on the farm bill this year.