NAWG committees gather at Classic

It was standing-room-only at the National Association of Wheat Growers Domestic & Trade Policy Committee meeting the morning of Feb. 25, at the 2009 Commodity Classic. Most growers were concerned with one thing—NAWG's policy response to President Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress from the previous evening. The president called for cuts in direct payments to farmers, as well as increased spending in research of renewable energy sources. The simple answer, from Cori Wittman, NAWG director of Government Affairs for Environmental Policy, is that the administration doesn't authorize the budget, rather it just proposes and it's up to the appropriations committees to figure out a final budget. Congress just passed the 2008 farm bill, and Wittman wasn't optimistic that any major changes to the Direct Payment would happen in appropriations. (Journal photo by Jennifer M. Latzke.)