Johanns is expected to lay out the Bush administration’s position on the House-passed Farm Bill and what it would like to see in the Senate bill, which may be taken up as early as next week, and to discuss free trade agreements now pending congressional action.

Pork producers from 17 states, attending a National Pork Producers Council two-day legislative conference, will visit their respective congressional delegations Wednesday and Thursday to urge lawmakers to:

• Make moderate and balanced reforms to U.S. farm policy yet maintain a safety net for farmers and livestock producers.
• Expand investments in nutrition, renewable energy and conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
• Provide a boost to US pork exports by increasing funds for the Market Access Program.
• Make much-needed fixes to the Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling law.
• Oppose so-called competition provisions, such as a ban on packer ownership of hogs and a requirement that 25 percent of pigs be bought on the spot market.
• Fund a national trichinae certification program.
• Reauthorize the Pseudorabies Eradication Program.
• Authorize Regional Centers of Excellence that will conduct research on agricultural commodities, including swine.
• Oppose a ban on the use in livestock of certain antibiotics.
• Oppose efforts to keep fatigued hogs out of the food supply.
• Support free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, Peru and South Korea.