MFU Members Travel to Washington, DC for Fly-In

GREAT FALLS, MT (September 7, 2006) – Montana Farmers Union (MFU) members will join MFU President Brooks Dailey, and more than 250 other Farmers Union members in Washington, D.C. September 10 – 13, 2006, to meet with Congress and explain the pressing needs facing family farmers and ranchers across the country.

“The subjects of concern are not new to Montana,” said MFU President Dailey. “We continue to live with the economic realities of high costs, low prices and natural disasters.

Consequently, the Fly-In participants will focus on four areas of concern in their meetings with Congress: emergency disaster assistance, an extension of the 2002 Farm Bill, measures relating to renewable energy – fuels from the farm – and fair trade issues.

Throughout the month of August National Farmers Union (NFU) held nationwide listening sessions on the subject of the Farm Bill. “The consensus was that the best course for now is a two-year extension of the 2002 Farm Bill,” said Dailey. “It is believed that farmers would get considerably less with the current budget deficit and the Administration’s priorities.”

The farmers and ranchers attending the Fly-In will also ask Congress to increase efforts to encourage the use and production of fuels from the farm. “For most of us here in Montana,” said Dailey, the bottom line is how do we keep the agriculture sector healthy.” Among the expectations of an energized emphasis on fuels from the farm are increased farm income; added value uses for crops, livestock and by products; alternative agriculture and rural enterprises; resolution of air, water and soil quality problems; lower energy input costs; enhanced rural economies, and increased public support and respect.

Joining Dailey at the Fly-In are MFU Vice President Diana Adamson, Shelby; MFU board member Tom Siderius, Kalispell; Eric Doheny, Dutton; and Katie Kassmier, MFU staff.

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