U.S. Farm Bureau is drawing 5,000 to Salt Lake convention

Conservation, innovation, preservation, growth.

Agriculture producers from around the country will be in Salt Lake City next week to debate and discuss the most pressing issues affecting the industry.

For the first time, the American Farm Bureau Federation will hold its annual convention Sunday through Wednesday in Salt Lake City, bringing together about 5,000 delegates from around the country. Key presenters will include U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, AFBF president Bob Stallman and ABC News personality Sam Donaldson.

Top discussions will include biofuels and energy, trade and the controversial 2007 Farm Bill, which is set to expire in September — and which may be a point of vigorous tug-and-pull in the upcoming legislative session.

"More groups than ever want to be a part of writing the next farm bill," Stallman said in a prepared statement released ahead of the convention.

According to Randy Parker, chief executive officer of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, the Farm Bureau "would like an extension of the current Farm Bill with minor changes to it, while others want to start over from the beginning."

And extending the farm bill until new trade and tariff agreements can be reached — which the bureau views as imperative — will allow farmers and agricultural producers to plan and make decisions about their operations.

"Currently, the average world tariff on agricultural products is 62 percent, with many nations exceeding 100 percent, whereas the average U.S. tariff is 12 percent," Parker said. "Additional factors include the EU (European Union) spending in excess of 75 percent of the world's expenditures on domestic export subsidies, putting U.S. farmers at a market disadvantage."

Grazing rights and water and land use issues, contentious and divisive all, also likely will have their time in the spotlight in 2007, Parker said, as states, environmentalists, special interests and producers try to access and manage limited resources.

"Living in the second driest state in the country brings its shares of challenges," he said. "Having to ward off the driest state in the country (Nevada) that is trying to divert groundwater is an added challenge. Competition for water rights and the ability to use water for livestock and crop production will always be critical to agriculture's future."

---

E-mail: jnii@desnews.com