A team of Oklahoma Farm Bureau leaders is in Washington, D.C. this week asking Congress to pass the new energy bill and fund important agriculture programs in the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
“We need an energy policy in this country that focuses on renewable fuels to reduce our dependency on foreign oil,” said Steve Kouplen, Oklahoma Farm Bureau president.
The Beggs rancher believes failure to pass a comprehensive energy bill is forcing farmers and ranchers to dig deeper in their depleted wallets to keep tractors and harvesting equipment in the field during the busy fall harvest and winter wheat planting season.
“Higher energy prices have cost farmers an estimated additional $6.2 billion during the 2003 and 2004 growing seasons,” Kouplen said. “Increases in natural gas, diesel and gasoline prices have severely eroded our already thin profit margins.”
An energy bill emphasizing renewable fuels could displace as much as 1.4 billion barrels of imported crude oil and lower the U.S. trade deficit by $34 billion.
In an unfortunate juxtaposition, action on the energy bill is being delayed as Congress works on last minute appropriation funding, including agriculture.
The $16 billion agriculture appropriation bill includes funds for expanded BSE prevention and detection, $825 million for the Food Safety and Inspection Service and $814 million for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
