A coalition of 17 organizations – led by National Farmers Union – recently sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees. The letter states that waiting to complete the next farm bill until 2013 could negatively impact the baseline needed to write a bill that would effectively deliver the programs under its jurisdiction. NFU

President Roger Johnson says many programs enacted by the 2008 Farm Bill have spent less than projected. The commodities program – originally projected to cost 41.6-billion dollars – is now projected to cost a total of 32-billion for the past five years. Johnson says disproportionate cuts to ag spending won’t help balance the national budget – but would be damaging to America’s future.