03/31/05 Wheat growers lobby against cuts

Farm and Ranch March 30 2005 Proposed cuts in agricultural spending were a prime concern of wheat growers from across the nation including the Pacific Northwest, when they visited Washington D.C. earlier this month. Wayne Hurst, vice president of the Idaho Grain Producers Association, says his group urged maintaining current farm programs and support levels agreed upon in the 2002 Farm Bill. Hurst: " I think that most people don't realize that 50% of the Farm Bill goes for folks on assistance, on welfare, for Food Stamps. Only about 40% of the funds goes to the producers in various support programs. And then of course you break that 40% down into various commodities. Wheat is only one of those major commodities that receives funding. So we talked about that. Also, in the big scheme of things the Farm Bill is roughly ½ of 1% of the total federal budget. So it is not a large percentage of the budget but ag has been asked to take a pretty drastic cut in funding and those cuts are really going to affect the farmers more than anyone else affected by the Farm Bill funding." But both the House and Senate have passed budget resolutions calling for differing levels of spending reductions in agriculture. Hurst: "So we will see some cuts but hopefully they won't be as large as the Bush Administration has proposed." That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. "Brought to you by new DuPont Affinity TankMix with TotalSol soluble granules for wheat." I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.