Nation’s Wheat Growers Watch Progress Of Farm Bill

Members of the National Association of Wheat Growers are in Reno this week for their annual meeting, but all bets are off on whether Congress will produce a farm bill in time for spring planting.

Senate Republicans last week were unable to block a threatened filibuster, forcing them to begin work on a compromise with Democrats.

The farm bill is a national blueprint for federal farm programs, which Republicans said will cost taxpayers at least $6 billion a year through 2002. Inland Northwest farmers have annually received more than $100 million a year in subsidies during the past decade.

Democrats balked at the Republicans’ Freedom to Farm Act, which would pay wheat and corn growers a flat fee during a seven-year weaning from farm subsidies. Farmers would be free to plant whatever they want on their land, with some exceptions, to respond to changes in the market.

A compromise offered Friday would make a non-refundable down payment each spring, but guarantee farmers additional assistance should grain prices drop below a targeted price. The plan would last five years or less.

President Clinton vetoed Freedom to Farm last fall when it was attached to the Republican’s balanced-budget plan, leaving farmers wondering what they should plant this spring.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman will speak to the wheat growers association Wednesday as NAWG opens its three-day annual meeting. For more information, call 202-547-7800.

In other events this week:

Today

Tim McGreevy, executive director of the USDA Dry Pea and Lentil Association, speaks at 7 p.m. to the Whitman County Crop Improvement Association annual meeting in the Elks Lodge of Colfax, Wash. Cost: $4. Call 509-397-6290.

President Clinton releases budget for fiscal year 1997.

Tuesday

Spokane County voters go to the polls to consider school and fire district levies and a $7.7 million bond for expansion of the Spokane County Library District.

Washington State Potato Conference & Trade Show opens at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, running through Thursday. Call 509-765-8845.

Washington State University extension agent Dave Bragg speaks at 7 a.m. to the Whitman County Ag Tech Association at Hartley’s Wheel Inn Restaurant in Steptoe, Wash. Call 509-397-6290.

U.S. Department of Labor Department releases fourth-quarter productivity figures.

U.S. Senate debates the farm bill.

Wednesday

U.S. Department of Commerce releases November international trade figures.

Federal Reserve releases December consumer credit.

Thursday

The Small Business Council meets at 7 a.m. in the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, 1020 W. Riverside.

The Spokane chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners meet at 6 p.m. in the Shilo Inn, 923 E. Third at 6 p.m. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Measuring the Economy - Total employment

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ON THE SHELF: Business Week, Feb. 5: Cover story traces the fall of Apple Computer and explores what it must do to regain competitiveness. Forbes, Feb. 12: The magazine asserts that government policy rather than cheap labor is the force driving U.S. paper and timber companies abroad.

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