Farm bill does not end federal ag work

REDWOOD FALLS, Minn. — Despite a newly enacted federal farm policy that is supposed to last for five years, more agriculture-related work remains to be done in Washington, farm experts told a FarmFest audience in southwestern Minnesota Wednesday.

Most important is to make sure the Bush administration and its successor implements what Congress passed, they said.

National Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman and Farmers Union President Tom Buis said other issues also remain unresolved.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the primary immediate issue is whether the Bush administration and Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, a former North Dakota governor, will implement a country-of-origin labeling provision.

It requires labels on meat and other agriculture products designating where the product originated. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is supposed to implement that by the end of September.

Klobuchar, a Senate Agriculture Committee member, said she will watch the administration "to make sure that nothing goes wrong with any rule makings in the next few months."

She said some farm belt lawmakers were concerned when the Bush administration said some farm programs need to be cut. Bush issued two farm bill vetoes earlier this year, with Congress overriding him each time.

Stallman said there is not enough money in the farm bill to fully implement all of its provisions, so farm groups must make sure Congress approves that money.

Buis said farm opponents like to say farmers got $300 billion in the farm bill, but that is twisting the facts. More than 70 percent of that money goes to nutrition programs such as food stamps, he said, and not to farmers.

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