Peterson supports farm bill

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal
Published Thursday, May 24, 2007

Collin Peterson grew up on a farm near Baker northwest of Barnesville. Little did he know that one day he would chair, as a member of the U.S. Congress, the House Committee on Agriculture. He assumed that role Dec. 7, 2006, after Democrats regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
"I’m honored to have this opportunity to serve the great agricultural producers of our country," Peterson said. "There’s a lot of work to be done, and I join my dedicated colleagues on the committee to give agriculture producers and all rural Americans a voice in Congress."
One of the major responsibilities that the Agriculture Committee is addressing in 2007 is the Farm Bill that authorizes commodity support, agricultural trade, marketing, food assistance and rural development policies.
The current farm bill was written in 2002, and many of the provisions in that bill will expire in September 2007.
Congressman Peterson, who now resides in Detroit Lakes when he is not in the nation’s capital, represents the Seventh Congressional District of Minnesota. His district is a primarily rural and agricultural district reaching from the Canadian border almost to the Iowa state line along Minnesota's border with North and South Dakota.
Before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990, Peterson was a Certified Public Accountant and small business owner in Detroit Lakes. He also served 10 years in the Minnesota State Senate.
The editorial board of the Washington Post and other publications know that Peterson has a powerful job on Capitol Hill in Washington.
“The contours of the Farm Bill debate are beginning to emerge,” said a Post reporter the other day. “Rep Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, says that subcommittees will begin marking up a draft farm bill this week.”
So far, the Washington Post said, it appears that the draft will not include a transfer of money from subsidy programs into conservation projects.
Peterson told the Post that fundamental reform of the subsidy system will not happen.
On the issue of ethanol, Chairman Peterson and his committee said that preliminary discussion drafts have been prepared in anticipation of business meetings that will be held by the Subcommittees of the Agriculture Committee to consider the 2007 Farm Bill.
The U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit and Energy is debating the energy portion of an agriculture bill that would direct federal dollars and tax breaks toward research and development into biofuels.
Congressman Peterson is on record in support of funding research into converting cellulose into ethanol and encouraging renewable electricity production. The bill currently does not set a target for biofuels production.
A Senate version of the measure is likely to shoot for 60 billion gallons of
annual biofuels production by 2030.