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COTTONWOOD - As a congressional conference committee prepares to hammer out a new federal farm bill, its terms were the topic of conversation between Sen. Mark Dayton and area residents at Bob and Janet Bossuyt's farm in Vallers Township.

About 60 people took part in a forum at the farm's machine shed. Dayton updated the group on differences between House and Senate versions of the farm bill, then listened to comments about what the new farm bill should contain.

Several speakers said more crop price protection is needed than what's available under the current program. The main source of price help is the Loan Deficiency Payment system, used when prices fall to extremely low levels as a way to at least bring farm financial returns closer to break-even.

John Nuytten, who farms between Marshall and Tracy, said some kind of a set-aside system would help to balance the grain supply and could lead to better market prices.

"I'd like to know why there's no set-aside provision," Nuytten said. "If we all set aside a percentage of land, some of the other problems would go away."

Several participants advocated a return to a nine-month Commodity Credit loan program, a marketing tool that was available until 1996.

Tyler area farmer Alan Benz, also president of the Lyon County Farmers Union, said farm income levels are having a strong effect on the future of many rural communities.

He described the potential school consolidation of up to six schools near the Buffalo Ridge in the Tyler area. It would be the largest school consolidation in Minnesota.

"Farmers can't live with a price that's just the federal loan rate," Benz said. "We're losing more people every year."

Part of Thursday's discussion focused on how consumers in the United States have recently had a balance between low food prices and tax dollars spent for government assistance that's prevented higher amounts of farm liquidations. At the same time, the economic return for average-sized farms remains limited.

Bossuyt said he and many farmers have to try for bumper crops just to boost profits to slightly better levels.

"We have to work to get the big crop every time," Bossuyt said. "People have had to play that game. It's the only game in town." Brian Kletscher, a Redwood County commissioner and a Vesta area farmer, said price safety levels could work effectively alongside wider uses of farm products, particularly in renewable fuels.

"It's important that we go as far as we can with things like ethanol," Kletscher said. "With slightly larger fuel percentages for now, we'd be on the right track. I think all farmers would agree with that. Anything would be helpful that makes more use of our products."

Dayton told the group that key points of the Senate's farm bill would begin to address concerns they expressed.

He listed better countercyclical price support, a ban on packer ownership of livestock, more farm-based conservation incentives and support for renewable energy as some of the best examples.

He disagrees with some predictions that House farm bill terms will make up the majority of the final product.

"I'm expecting something that's middle of the road," Dayton said. "There's plenty of pressure on the conferees to come up with something. That's not likely to happen without some kind of a compromise."

He compared today's farm economic issues with other cost of living concerns.

Parts of the discussion covered concerns such as double-digit yearly increases in health insurance premiums and the lack of a level playing field in world trade, in which the United States pays five times the import tariffs it charges to other countries.

"Many times individual people are willing to accept a lot more than the large special interest groups accept," Dayton said. "With some issues, I used to think maybe we disagreed on the strategy for solving problems but that we all wanted the same goal. It just isn't so. There's getting to be more of an awareness of the biggest economic issues, and that's bringing us closer to a critical mass."

He said public input at Thursday's meeting at the Bossuyt farm and another morning meeting in the Willmar area led to comments that he can consider as the farm bill conference committee starts its work.

"The farm bill is getting a lot of public interest," he said. "I heard more good ideas today. They are ideas that I'll take with me."

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