MonticelloLive

 U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) hosted a District-wide Agriculture Town Hall meeting Friday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, where he welcomed Rep. Collin Peterson (MN-07), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, to share his thoughts with area farmers on current Farm Bill negotiations in Congress.

Ross’ Agriculture Town Hall was organized to provide Arkansas farmers with an update on the status of the current negotiations between the House of Representatives and the Senate on the Farm Bill. Currently, The Farm Bill is headed to a Conference Committee of House and Senate members who will work to combine both Chambers’ bills to form a Conference Report. Upon passage of the Conference Report by the full House and Senate, the final bill will then be sent to the President to be signed into law.

“This new Farm Bill is critical to ensuring Arkansas’s farmers and farm families are equipped with the tools and resources necessary to help them provide our nation with a safe and secure source of food and fiber,” Ross said. “In this Farm Bill, it is crucial that we keep in place the basic structure of current law and continue to provide our farmers with a reliable safety net.

Chairman Peterson will have one of the most important seats at the table when the final details of the Farm Bill are hammered out, and I am honored he has taken me up on my invitation to travel to Arkansas to hear from our local farmers about how any changes in the current law will impact them.”

On July 27, 2007, Ross and Peterson helped pass in the U.S. House of Representatives a Farm Bill that guarantees our farmers and ranchers the basic structure of the 2002 Farm Bill. The legislation aims to create new markets for Arkansas farmers and provide a serious investment in renewable energy initiatives through biofuel research and production incentives for ethanol and biodiesel made from agricultural, forest, and waste plant materials. It also includes the vital safety net to provide farm families within the commodity title through direct payments, counter-cyclical payments and marketing loans.

Ross and Peterson held a town hall last year with Arkansas farmers to address their specific needs in anticipation of the rewrite of our nation’s agriculture policy.