Leaders in Iowa agriculture have will an opportunity to discuss issues that could impact the 2007 national Farm bill during the agricultural policy summit at Iowa State on Wednesday.

“The national Farm bill will focus on what farmers are being paid for growing certain things and broader issues will be addressed at the summit, such as tax policy, rural development, conservation of resources,” said Brian Meyer, program director for agriculture communications.

“This summit is a good opportunity to get a very wide and diverse group of people together to discuss important issues to farmers, communities and other people impacted by agriculture.”

He said different agricultural organizations will be given perspective on what people are thinking in regards to national policy issues.

There are three main goals of the summit, according to the ISU Web site — to identify and provide an overview of the key issues and trends in Midwestern agriculture and rural communities and solicit input on what participants would like to see included in the 2007 Farm bill.

Another objective will be to contribute to the national dialogue on needed provisions to the bill.

Meyer said it is important to talk about these issues because the national discussion is already underway.

“It offers a diverse group of people from many different areas from land values to taxes, to environmental issues to rural developments,” he said.

“We’ll have experts in these areas here to present information and to open it up for discussion.”

Gov. Tom Vilsackis scheduled to attend the summit Wednesday and give a speech on federal farm policy issues.

“He’ll explain in part about why Iowa is emerging as the national leader in agriculture,” said Vilsack spokesman Matt Paul.

“It is a tremendous economic and social opportunity for Iowa through the life in sciences and agricultural heritage.”

The national Farm bill comes up every five years, Meyer said.

“The last national Farm bill was in 2002, and a lot of it deals with what big policy issues are important in agriculture today, farmers themselves, impacts on rural communities,” he said.

The summit is scheduled to be held at the Scheman Center beginning at 2 p.m. Wednesday through 1:15 p.m. Friday.