The head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture says lots of work remains to be done before a new five-year farm bill can escape President Bush's veto pen and become law.Chuck Conner, acting secretary of the USDA, told South Dakota Corn Growers Association members that versions that have passed the House and Senate are unacceptable because they include raising taxes and increasing the size of some programs. The House farm bill passed 231-191 and the Senate version passed 79-14. A conference committee is the next step.

"Raising taxes to pay for farm programs ... is something we have not done since 1933," Conner told association members at their annual meeting over the weekend.

People who earn more than $200,000 a year averaged over three years should not be getting farm program payments, he said. He employed a graphic to show farm bill beneficiaries who live in New York City.



Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., who also spoke at the Corn Growers banquet over the weekend, said the energy bill passed in December is as important to South Dakota corn producers as the farm bill. A minimum of 9 billion gallons of ethanol will be produced this year, and work is needed to break down the barriers to ethanol use, he said.

Conner said meeting the energy requirements the new energy bill places on agriculture will be a big challenge, calling it a "great opportunity." People would rather depend on the American farmer for fuel than on foreign interests, he said.

The energy bill requires a massive increase in the production of ethanol for motor fuels, from the roughly 6 billion gallons this year to 36 billion gallons by 2022. After 2015, the emphasis would be on expanded use of cellulosic ethanol, made from such feedstock as switchgrass and wood chips, with two-thirds of the ethanol — 21 billion gallons a year — from such non-corn sources.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said the higher standard means the U.S. is on its way toward energy independence, and not a moment too soon, given that oil traded at more than $100 a barrel on the first day of trading in 2008.

———

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — An expanding ride-share program for unlicensed and uninsured farmworkers is being criticized by opponents who say the van system benefits illegal immigrants.

Ventura and Santa Barbara county officials said they plan to pattern their farmworker transit systems on a 5-year-old program serving five counties in the southern San Joachim Valley.

Ventura and Santa Barbara were granted $3 million in state funds to purchase vans and cover operating expenses for three years.

But critics said the state should not subsidize a program that appears to benefit workers who can't get insurance and licenses because they are in the country illegally.

"The reason we have the large-scale illegal immigration is that we keep coming up with ways to accommodate people who are breaking the law rather than enforcing it," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation of American Immigration Reform.

Officials, however, said the program would make roads safer by getting uninsured and unlicensed drivers off the street, and local growers said it would help ensure a stable and reliable work force.

"From a transportation policy standpoint, this is a good program," said Keith Millhouse, a Ventura County transportation commissioner.

Ventura County's transportation commission is set to vote next week on whether to contract with a private company to operate its program.

Santa Barbara County already has contracted with a nonprofit group to run its program.