After three days of discussion by legislators and ISU faculty at last week’s Agricultural Policy Summit, some agreement on the necessary contents of the 2007 Farm Bill has been reached. Participants at the summit, which began Wednesday, agreed on the importance of addressing the needs of young farmers, and many stressed the necessity of using alternative energy sources in agriculture.

“We had a good representation from various farm organizations and groups, and after looking at some comments we received after the summit, we noticed one main theme — we need to address the next generation and beginning farmers,” said Paul Lasley, professor and chairman of the sociology department.

“There appears to be quite a lot of consensus about the issues regarding the next farm bill.”

Approximately 250 people attended the summit, he said.

On Wednesday, the first day of the summit, Lasley presented the audience and state agricultural leaders with the Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, which was conducted in April.

“In the data that was shared, there was strong support for developing alternative energy markets,” Lasley said. “We need to think about how agriculture can become more central not only in the ethanol movement, but also other ways it can capture sunlight in plants and convert that to automobiles.”

Because the Farm Bill is not planned to be updated until 2007, the U.S. Congress has time to decide how much of the current dialogue should actually be addressed.

Lasley said notes and comments from the summit and conference proceedings will be given to congressional members and key legislators to look over.

Information is also available on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Web site.

“It was a good summit, I received no negative reports,” Lasley said.