President George Bush touched on several agricultural issues during his half-day visit to South Dakota. He traveled to the small town of Wentworth, north of Sioux Falls, to visit an ethanol fuel plant. Dakota Ethanol turns about $14 million bushels of corn into some fourty million gallons of fuel annually. Most of that ethanol will be blended with gasoline.

	President Bush expressed support for production of ethanol during a visit to an ethanol plant in South Dakota Wednesday. He also pleased the farm crowd by calling for a repeal of the inheritance tax. Listen to his speech. (MPR Photo/Mark Steil)

Critics say ethanol is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Ethanol producers receive a federal tax break. But farmers love the corn-based fuel. Ethanol production uses a lot of corn. That boosts the price of the grain. Farmers in the crowd at Wentworth were happy to hear the president renew his support for ethanol.

"It's good public policy for America. It's good for your air, it's good for our economy and it's good for our national security," President Bush said. "Thank goodness we're self-sufficient in food. But we're not self-sufficient in energy. The less reliant we are on foreign sources of crude oil, the better off we are in America."

John Fiegen was one of the farmers who came to listen to the president in Wentworth. Fiegen's a stockholder in the Dakota Ethanol plant. He appreciated the president's strong support of ethanol. But he was disappointed Bush didn't come out in favor of expanded ethanol production. There is a bill in the senate which could triple ethanol output over the next decade. Fiegen says the agricultural economy is so poor farmers need all the federal help they can get.

"He (the president) wants more money for defense... So, I want more money for ethanol, I want more money for livestock, I want more money for the farmer's.... a grain price," Fiegen said.

	This ethanol plant in Wentworth, S.D., was one location visited by President Bush on Wednesday. Bush spoke with local farmers in a roundtable discussion before his speech. (MPR Photo/Mark Steil)

Congress is working on a new Farm Bill which will determine how big a federal subsidy farmers will receive in the coming years. Last year on some Minnesota farms, federal dollars made up nearly all of the farmers profit. During his South Dakota visit, President Bush urged Congress to finish work on the legislation.

"The farm bill needs to get done, quickly," Bush said. "So that the farmers who are out there fixing to plant know what the rules of the game is. And we can do it. We need to put aside all the posturing, all the noise and for the good of american agriculture get a trade bill to my desk and get a farm bill to my desk."

That comment may have been aimed at Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. The South Dakota senator was in the audience as Bush spoke in Wentworth. Daschle later said the farm bill could be finished soon.

"Right now I would say that there is an outside possibility we could complete our negotiations this week. I think that we've made good progress in the last couple of days. In fact when I get back tonight we're going to go back into negotiations," said Daschle.

Daschle says there are several key areas still to be addressed. One is what's called "country of origin labeling". That would tell consumers where they food they buy, is produced. Many U.S. farmers believe shopper will choose to buy American. Another is a proposal to ban meatpackers from owning livestock. Crop support subsidies are another sticking point.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and President Bush didn't make any progress on their personal differences over those issues yesterday in South Dakota. Daschle says the two didn't have time to do much more than say "hello".

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