Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, cq and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns cq came to Ames Tuesday showcasing their ideas for a new farm bill.

The town hall meeting gave residents a chance to voice their opinion on the proposed bill.

“We have a tremendous action ahead in writing a new farm bill,” Latham said.

The farm bill will include funding for everything from research to conservation.

Johanns said there will be a $7.8 billion increase in conservation funding in the next 10 years. This will include conserving swamp land as well as farm land.

The current farm bill has been in effect since 2002, and both speakers felt like a change was needed.

“We are satisfied with the pace of things, 2007 is the year we needed to write a new farm bill,” Johanns said.

Increased funding for research grants was a big selling point to the Ames crowd. Latham talked about Iowa State University being a leader in agriculture research.

“This Iowa State facility is becoming a first class facility around the world,” Latham said.

Most of the funding from the proposed bill that will be going towards ethanol research will focus on cellulosic ethanol instead of corn based ethanol.

Johanns said there would be an additional $4.2 billion spent in water treatment over the next 10 years.

The new bill proposal will also help out farmers with specialty crops. The current bill gives five crops 93 percent of funds. The new proposal will help out farmers who grow fruit and more exotic vegetables.

“We wrote the farm bill for farmers, not for the WTO (World Trade Organization),” said Johanns.

Latham said he was disappointed in the agriculture committee for making no changes in the price of corn. He had hoped there would be a markup in prices.

A question was raised on whether or not the upkeep of county roads would be included in the farm bill.

“Infrastructure and transportation will not be addressed in the farm bill,” Latham said.

Some residents were concerned that mapping out spending for agriculture over the next ten years was a bad idea.

Johanns said the bill’s most controversal ideas were the payment limits that were set.

“We’ve been building support for rural development and conservation,” Johanns said.

Both Latham and Johanns said the new farm bill will be written by the end of the month. Both speakers were adamant that the bill be enacted by the end of the year.

“The goal has always been to get the proposal to the floor before they recess,” Johanns said.