Rep. Colin Peterson, D-Minn., told a group of farmers Monday that Congress will pass a new farm bill before the year's end.

"There's no doubt about that," he said. "We're going to pass a new farm bill before we leave this Congress.

"And the reason is because the current farm bill isn't working," said Peterson, a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Peterson, Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., and state Sen. Roger Moe, DFL-Erskine, talked agriculture policy with about 50 farmers at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building in Ada Monday.

Congress has provided $30 billion in emergency aid to farmers for the last three years, but current budget constraints limit that annual spending to $20 billion, he said.

Congressional leaders initially wanted to rewrite the farm bill next year, but have stepped up their timetable, said Dayton, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee with Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

"It's going to be an intensified process over the next several months," Dayton said.

Little is known about what the new farm bill will provide, Peterson said.

In the bill, Congress will try to improve price support mechanisms for farmers and likely will add $2 billion annually for conservation programs, he said.

The Freedom to Farm bill, passed in 1996, provided farmers with Agriculture Market Transition Act payments that decline every year - Congress' attempt to wean farmers off federal subsidies.

But because of a collapse in commodity prices and natural disasters, Congress has passed emergency bailouts every year since 1998.

Dayton called the ad hoc subsidies "unsustainable."

David Haugo, who farms near Waubun, called Freedom to Farm " a failure."

"We found out that we need more of a safety net than Freedom to Farm gave us," he said.

Passing a new farm bill this year is crucial, Conrad said in a telephone interview Monday.

Congress has set aside $80 billion for agriculture spending, including about $67 billion to fund a new farm bill. But the money could be siphoned by projected revenue shortfalls, he said.

"So we are in a race to get the farm bill written before those funds are jeopardized," Conrad said. "The thing we know for certain is the quicker we move the better."

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Zent at (701) 241-5526