RUGBY, N.D. -- Sen. Byron Dorgan held a farm meeting Sunday outside Rugby to discuss the price of fuel and fertilizer and other agricultural issues with local producers.
Dorgan said at the meeting that the new farm bill, which was enacted with supermajority support despite the objections of President Bush, will give a boost to North Dakota farmers and ranchers by strengthening the farm safety net, implementing country-of-origin labeling, and restoring a permanent disaster aid program.
"This is a strong farm bill that will provide some significant benefits for our family farm-ers and ranchers," Dorgan said. "This bill followed a long and tortured trail, but at the end of the day I think that we've made some big strides in farm policy that will give a boost to rural America."
Dorgan said the next challenge for agriculture policy is to find a way to blunt the effect of the skyrocketing price of fuel and other farm inputs. Dorgan updated attendees on his efforts to wring the speculation out of the oil futures market.
He also discussed the dramatic effect of rising fertilizer prices. While some of the increase comes from more expensive petroleum prices, Dorgan said higher energy costs alone do not fully justify the increase in fertilizer costs.
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"The price of fertilizer has risen in a dramatic way that does not make sense to me or to our family farmers in North Dakota," Dorgan said. "When we're talking about prices that in many cases have doubled, family farmers deserve an explanation. I've requested an investi-gation by the Federal Trade Commission, and I've also requested a Department of Agricul-ture investigation along with Senator Conrad and Congressman Pomeroy. We need to get to the bottom of this."
