12/21/05 Listening sessions; another burn lawsuit

What do you want to see in a new Farm Bill? You'll have a chance to tell Senator Mike Crapo during any of the listening sessions he's scheduled around the state beginning early next month. Crapo who chairs a Senate Agriculture Subcommittee says the meetings will cover all of the proposed titles in the Farm Bill including conservation, energy, commodities, research, trade, rural development, and credit issues. The hearings begin January 3rd in Sandpoint, Post Falls and Caldwell. More hearings are scheduled throughout January, with Crapo attending some in person, his staff handling the others. Still another attempt to stop north Idaho bluegrass seed growers from burning their fields. Lead by the environmental activist group SAFE, the suit filed in the US Ninth Circuit Court seeks to rescind the EPA's July approval of field burning. They contend that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by allowing the burning to continue. Farmers say without burning the stubble their production of seed declines. Burning is banned in Washington State where grass seed growers have switched to other methods such as close cutting and bailing the residue to sell as livestock feed. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott