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Sen. Conrad,

I am writing to you today with an eye toward the 2007 Farm Bill and the influence you will have in crafting it due to your position as one of the most senior members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Although I have lived in Fargo for nearly 30 years, my heart still resides in Westhope, my hometown, near which I still own the family farm.

Like most rural communities, Westhope has been suffering ever since the double-whammy of the 1980s when commodity and oil prices both went south, along with a lot of the residents. As one of the original organizing sponsors of Marketplace for entrepreneurs, you understand that the new farm bill should invest in rural small business, entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise development. Most new jobs in rural towns are created by small businesses. Locally owned small businesses keep profits at home and control of the rural economy in the hands of people with a stake in their communities' future.

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In addition, the new farm bill should increase grants for farmers to pursue value added agricultural markets focusing on small, moderate size and beginning farmers. The best family farm opportunities are in value added agriculture—that is, new high-value markets for special products such as organic crops and natural livestock, not in animal factories that foul the air, pollute the groundwater and tear the community fabric.

Rural North Dakota is poised to take advantage of renewable energy development such as wind power and cellulosic ethanol production. In addition, there’s agri-tourism. For example, Westhope has a nine-hole grass-green golf course; furthermore, it lies six miles from the Canadian border, about 30 miles from Lake Metigoshe and about 60 miles from the International Peace Garden. As you draft and negotiate the provisions of the 2007 Farm Bill, please work to ensure that North Dakota’s rural communities such as Westhope are able to capitalize on each town’s unique sense of place.

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