Members of Lucas’ House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development and Research will travel to Weatherford to hear testimony from the perspective of those affected by conservation laws, in anticipation of the writing of the next farm bill. The current farm bill, which sets U.S. agriculture policy, will expire at the end of 2002.

Testifying before the subcommittee will be: Ray Wulf, President, Oklahoma Farmers Union; Steve Kouplen, President, Oklahoma Farm Bureau; Scott Dewald, Executive Director, Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association; Eddie Bowman, President, Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association; Billy R. Wilson, Member of the Steering Committee, National Watershed Coalition; Dan Lowrance, Vice President, Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts; Bob Drake, Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative; Richard Conner, Professor of Range Economics, Texas A & M University; Dan Limmer, Director, South Dakota Audubon Society; and Alfred Miller, President, Oklahoma Association of Resource Conservation & Development Councils.

“We will have a strong voice from representatives of Oklahoma agriculture and conservation groups,” Lucas said, “so that the committee can hear testimony from the local level on how the current farm bill has worked, and how the next farm bill could work better.” 

The Congressional subcommittee will meet at the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Memorial Student Union Ballroom at 9:30 a.m. The public is invited to attend. 

The hearing will be the third of three that Lucas' subcommittee will conduct to review the current conservation programs and determine the direction of the conservation title of the farm bill. The House Agriculture Committee will replace the 1996 farm bill with a new bill, including possible changes to conservation programs, this year. 

As well as conservation hearings, the Agriculture Committee has held several other hearings dealing with the farm bill. The committee has heard from agriculture groups from each industry segment, from agriculture trade groups, and from representatives of the livestock industry. The committee also conducted 10 field hearings in the Midwest to meet directly with agriculture producers. More opportunities for interested parties to voice their opinion on the farm bill will continue throughout the year. 

Lucas will preside over the meeting as chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development, and Research.  He was named the Chairman of the subcommittee in January. Lucas currently operates a farm and cattle ranch in Roger Mills County in western Oklahoma.