Ross’ Regional Agriculture Town Hall was organized to provide Arkansas farmers a more in depth understanding about how the House passed 2007 Farm Bill will affect them.

“The House passed 2007 Farm Bill is a necessary step to maintaining a critical safety-net for Arkansas farmers,” Ross said. “It is critical to ensure that our local farmers and farm families are aware of all the tools and resources that are available to help them provide our nation with a safe and secure source of food and fiber.”

On July 27, 2007, Ross and Etheridge 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 will create new markets for Arkansas farmers by providing 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.

As Chairman of the House Agriculture’s Subcommittee for General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, Etheridge helped unanimously adopt a five-year extension of the 2002 Farm Bill as the basis for the commodities title of the 2007 farm legislation.

“It is both an honor and a pleasure to be in Arkansas to discuss H.R. 2419, the Farm Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007,” Etheridge said. “This legislation is crucial to the farmers in Arkansas, as well as to the state's economy which is rich in agricultural production and natural resources. Congressman Ross has worked hard to make sure

Arkansas' interests are represented in the Farm Bill, and I am pleased that he has asked me to discuss some of the highlights with his constituents.”

Ross, who was instrumental in helping craft and pass the 2002 Farm Bill, fought hard during the debate in Congress this year to maintain the same basic structure of the 2002 legislation. Specifically, he pointed to the vital safety net it provides farm families within the commodity title through direct payments, counter-cyclical payments and marketing loans.

Key points of the House passed 2007 Farm Bill Ross and Chairman Etheridge will discuss include: the strong and reliable safety-net structure related to commodities; historical investments in renewable energy and fuel production including $2 billion in loan guarantees for biofuel production plants; expanded access to conservation programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQUIP); and fiscally responsible investments in our schools nutrition programs and rural communities.

“I am proud that we have passed a fiscally-responsible Farm Bill based on policy that has proven to be both effective and efficient,” Ross said. “This Farm Bill provides a serious investment in renewable energy initiatives and lays out a blue print that will put this nation on a path towards energy independence.  This crucial focus on the future will ultimately create exciting new markets for Arkansas farmers.”     

The Regional Agriculture Town Hall included members of the Arkansas Farm Bureau and the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association, as well as representatives from Arkansas’s cotton, poultry, rice, soybean, aquaculture, timber and biofuels industries.

Upon passage of the Farm Bill in the Senate, the measure will then go 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.

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