2007 Farm Bill Field Hearing

VIP Room, Farm Show Complex

2300 North Cameron Street

Harrisburg, PA

July 21, 2006

1 p.m.

 

You are invited to attend the Northeast Regional Farm Bill Field Hearing in Harrisburg, PA.  Come show your support for Pennsylvania Agriculture, meet national farm policy leaders including Senator Saxby Chambliss, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee and hear how farmers think U.S. Farm Policy could be improved.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry is responsible for writing the Farm Bill, the law underlying much of U.S. farm policy.  The committee will hold a field hearing in Harrisburg, PA at the Farm Show Complex on July 21.  The hearing will begin at 1 p.m.  Light refreshments will be served prior to the hearing.  This event is open to the public. 

The Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has begun the process of rewriting the multiple programs which make up the Farm Bill.  The Harrisburg hearing will be the third of several hearings that the committee will hold to hear the opinions of constituents in the farm community prior to drafting a bill.  Selected producers will share their sense of how well the present agricultural programs serve their respective commodities and agricultural interests and make recommendations about future programs.

Farm bills generally are written to cover five years.  Most programs governing commodity policy in the existing law, the “Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002”, will expire in September of 2007.  The Senate committee and its counterpart in the U.S. House of Representatives have begun the process to have the new legislation in place by October 2007 as the present Farm Bill expires.

Witnesses have already been selected by the committee.  They will represent the various agricultural commodities in the region and affiliated agribusinesses.  Presiding at the hearing will be Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Committee Chairman, and Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition, and General Legislation.  The Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation has been invited as well as members of the Pennsylvania Legislature responsible for agriculture.  Secretary Wolff from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has also been invited. 

Time is limited and witnesses have been chosen by the Committee, but all interested parties are encouraged to submit written comments.

To submit formal comments for the Official Record of an individual field hearing, please include your name, city and state with the hearing's location and date. 
Limit to 3 single-spaced pages, one-inch margins mailed within 5 business days after the hearing to:
Robert Sturm, Chief Clerk
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Room 328-A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-6000