The following is an excerpt from a letter from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in which she outlines the priorities for the 2007 Farm Bill that she related to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and ranking Republican Saxby Chambliss of Georgia:

The 2002 Farm Bill, officially entitled the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, authorizes programs operated by the United States Department of Agriculture such as the farm price and income support programs and expires with the 2007 crop year.

In addition to outlining my priorities for existing programs, I also urged the Committee to consider a number of pieces of legislation that I have introduced, as well as others I support and co-sponsor, for policy discussion during the farm bill negotiations and inclusion in the final bill.

I called on my Senate colleagues to address a number of issues including:

Dairy
I urged the Committee to continue the Milk Income Loss Contract program as part of a safety-net for dairy farmers and called for enhancements to the program.

Country of Origin Labeling
I called for action to force the USDA to properly implement COOL. I also called for oversight hearings to ensure that the true letter of the law is expressed in its final implementation.

Commodities
I emphasized the need to continue the commodity title with a strong counter-cyclical safety net, factoring cost of production, for producers to mitigate periods of low prices.

Credit and crop insurance
I called on my colleagues to address the serious lack of credit opportunities that is making it almost impossible in some cases for coming generations to make a career in agriculture.

Food safety
I urged the Committee to consider language to push the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration into implementing better programs to protect our food supply, including the possibilities of increased food inspectors and a reorganization of the food safety structure between agencies.

Nutrition
I called for Congress to strengthen and enforce USDA’s purchasing of local products in many of the department’s feeding and nutritional programs. I am a lead sponsor with Sen. Brown of the Food Outreach and Opportunity Development for a Healthy America Act to expand the access to healthy food and increase markets for producers and have also introduced the “School Food Fresh Act” which would better connect schools with more fresh foods produced by local farmers.

Specialty crops
I called for the inclusion of language aimed at strengthening the Value-Added Grant Program, the Foreign Market Access program, and efforts to stem the tide of invasive species that are threatening many producers. I am a co-sponsor of the Specialty Crops Competition Act which would enhance programs to help specialty crop farmers. The most important piece from that legislation is ensuring the expansion of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.