Conner talking farm bill

Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner visited with a few Vance editors Wednesday on his trip to address the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Kansas City. (By the way, it was good to see Bill O'Neill, former Vance executive and publisher of The Packer, at the NAFB. Bill nows runs the NAFB.)

Conner was gracious to make time, coming straight to the Westin after touching down at KCI only 30 minutes before. It is remarkable the number of public appearances and speeches that Conner - like Johanns before him - takes on.

I asked Conner about what he tells his brother Mike, an Indiana farmer, about the progress of the farm bill and what the chances are for completion of the legislation this year. I got the idea from Conner - perhaps we should ask Mike, too - that he and his brother see pretty much eye to eye on farm policy. Conner stressed the need to change the Senate farm bill, particularly the need to strip out the tax increases and reform payment limits. With all that has gone on since Wednesday, it is hard to say if Conner is still optimistic that Congress will deliver a farm bill President Bush can sign by the end of the year.

One Washington source I talked to the other day said Conner is a "purist," a conservative product of Purdue who thinks he has got all the answers. I didn't necessarily get that feeling from our brief conversation; Conner, a veteran of many farm bills, seems eager for Congress to make the minimum changes necessary for this bill to advance. More about what Conner said about WIC, Florida citrus and trade deals in other coverage for The Packer.