Crapo Will Host iTownhall Meeting On Farm Bill

Washington, DC - Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who helped craft the 2008 Farm Bill, will host a townhall-style meeting via telephone on August 6th to discuss the new Farm Bill. Crapo will utilize a telephone and Internet program known as the iTownhall to lead the discussion with up to several thousand Idahoans simultaneously.

"The iTownhall is simply a conference call with Idahoans, and all that is needed to participate is a telephone," Crapo said. "Although I have hosted iTownhall meetings before, this is the first time that the meeting will be subject specific, dealing with only questions about the Farm Bill. Signing up is easy. All you need to do is go to my website at http://crapo.senate.gov and sign up to be called on the evening of Wednesday, August 6th."

Crapo will be joined on the call by Don Dixon, State Director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency; Jeff Burwell, State Conservationist with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS); and Mike Field, State Executive Director for USDA Rural Development. The iTownhall meeting on August 6th will begin at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time/6:00 p.m. Pacific Time and run for about 90 minutes. Calls are placed to participants starting about 10 minutes before the scheduled start time of the meeting.

"The iTownhall meeting can get the most current information on the Farm Bill out to many Idahoans at one time," Crapo added. "I am hoping many of Idaho's agricultural producers can join us to discuss the provisions of the new Farm Bill because we can answer their questions directly." Crapo noted some follow-up meetings are planned around Idaho with members of his staff for further discussions about Farm Bill programs. The meetings are planned for September 17th through the 24th, and details will be available at Crapo's website.