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Congressman John T. Salazar -- Defending Rural Values -- Third District of Colorado
  For immediate release  
  February 7, 2006  
 

CONGRESSMAN SALAZAR ATTENDS FARM BILL FIELD HEARINGS

 
 

Salazar Requests Farm Bill Field Hearing in Rural Colorado


WASHINGTON, DC – As part of an effort to hear from producers around the country, Congressman John T. Salazar (CO-3) this week participated in Farm Bill field hearings in Fayetteville, North Carolina and Auburn, Alabama. Salazar was joined by 15 of his colleagues from the House Committee on Agriculture to discuss ways to improve the Farm Bill for 2007.

“We need policies to help keep farmers and ranchers on the land,” said Salazar. “And if we want to keep providing a safe and affordable food supply, we need to hear directly from our producers. Traveling to different farm communities and getting feedback from producers around the country let’s us know how farm policies are working in practice and what improvements need to be made for the next Farm Bill.”

Before tackling the 2007 Farm Bill, Members of the Agriculture Committee plan to hold field hearings throughout the country to gain feedback from local farmers on their experiences with the 2002 Farm Bill. In both hearings, local farmers clearly stated their support for renewable energy programs.

“It would be a sad day in America if we become dependent on other countries to produce our food as we have become dependent on other countries to produce our energy,” said Salazar. “An alternative energy provision in the Farm Bill is a must, such as incentives for those who dedicate some of their acreage to products the raw materials for bio-diesel and ethanol. We must become energy independent and within agriculture lies the key.”

Congressman Salazar has requested a field hearing in rural Colorado, so his colleagues can understand the nature of agriculture in the Mountain West. In contrast to farmers in the South, producers in the Mountain West deal with irrigated farm land, public lands issues with livestock, and program crops such as alfalfa and oilseeds.

“We farmers have a lot in common – insurance payments, crop prices, worry about the weather – but so much of the impact depends on the geography and the lay of the land,” said Salazar. “Being one of the handful of active farmers in Congress, its important for me to meet with other farmers and then help communicate to my colleagues the real impact changes to the Farm Bill can have on the livelihood of an entire rural community..”

Salazar, a potato seed farmer, sits on the Livestock and Horticulture Subcommittee and the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittees.

 
 

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