FARGO
U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., will co-host an agricultural policy conference in Fargo Holiday Inn, Nov. 7-8, titled, "2012 Farm Bill: Issues and Challenges."
Won Koo, director of North Dakota State University's Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies, who organizes the conference with Conrad, says this year's program will examine the impact of federal deficit reduction policy recommendations could have on farmers and ranchers in North Dakota and the across the state.
Topics will include the political environment for U.S. agricultural policy, fundamentals of the new farm bill, emerging issues in U.S. agriculture, as well as agricultural competitiveness and risk management under increasing uncertainty.
"The new farm bill will be a whole different ballgame than anything we've seen in the past," says Conrad, who is a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, as well as chairing the Senate Budget Committee. "With the congressional 'super committee' weighing cuts to national ag programs it is more important than ever for producers to understand the policy changes now being debated in Washington."
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Speakers for the event include Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., as well as a lineup of top level U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, including: Michael Scuse, Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service; Bill Murphy, administrator of the Risk Management Agency; Suzanne Heinen, administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service.
Several agricultural economists will speak: Daryll Ray from the University of Tennessee; Joe Outlaw, Texas A&M University; David Schwiekhardt, Michigan State University; Pat Westhoff, the University of Missouri, and Terry Roe from the University of Minnesota.
For information details on the conference, go to www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/capts/ and click on the CAPTS Conferences" button. Pre-registration is $150 if registered/postmarked by Oct. 17, and $180 after that. That includes some meals.
