The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation says the proposed 2007 farm bill is just a starting point for change. Farm Bureau's Thom Theiding says their farm bill task force has spent the last year looking at what needs to be changed in the farm bill. Theiding says Farm Bureau is trying to get away from price support programs paid to farmers based on the exact price of their commodities, and based instead on their actual incomes, and weather problems.
The task force recently returned from Washington D.C., where they met with members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation. Theiding says Democrats, Senator Herb Kohl and Congressman Dave Obey, are key players for Wisconsin farmers, as the 2007 farm bill takes shape, and that newly-elected Democrat Steve Kagen, who's been appointed to the House Agriculture Committee, will also be key for development of a farm bill which has a finite amount of dollars to work with.