VETO SEALS N.D. AS A PIONEER FOR HEMP

In The Hemp-Growing World, Hip, Countercultural California Is Eating
North Dakota's Dust.

For the second year in a row, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
has vetoed a bill that would have created state guidelines for
farmers wishing to grow hemp. North Dakota passed a similar hemp
guidelines law during the 2007 session with bipartisan support from
lawmakers, Republican Gov. John Hoeven and Democratic Agriculture
Commissioner Roger Johnson.

The law outlines a state permitting process for hemp, which is
extensively regulated by the federal government because of its
relation to marijuana. Hemp, a coarse fibrous plant with much lower
THC levels than its intoxicating cousin, is used to make everything
from soap to clothes.

North Dakota has gained the spotlight from hemp advocacy groups such
as Vote Hemp as the national leader on pushing to let U.S. farmers
grow the crop. David Monson, a farmer and Republican state legislator
from Osnabrock who's suing the federal government for not letting him
grow hemp under North Dakota's new law, was recently profiled in the
New York Times.

The spotlight could have shone on California.

In 2006, California legislators approved a similar law but could not
get it past Schwarzenegger. In his veto message this year - which was
issued last week -Schwarzenegger said he's worried that the bill
would tax law enforcement resources and create murkiness in the face
of the federal government's disapproval.

"Unfortunately, I am very concerned that this bill would give
legitimate growers a false sense of security and a belief that
production of 'industrial hemp' is somehow a legal activity under
federal law," he wrote to legislators.

Conrad touts deal

Fresh off behind-the-scenes negotiations on the farm bill, Sen. Kent
Conrad, D-N.D., touted a deal Wednesday that he said will secure
permanent disaster aid and more favorable price supports for Midwestern crops.

Conrad, as Senate budget chairman, was part of a small circle of
negotiators that also included Agriculture Committee Chairman Sen.
Tom Harkin, D-Iowa and the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Saxby
Chambliss of Georgia.

"I believe (the deal) will get an overwhelming bipartisan majority,"
Conrad said in an interview Wednesday. "I think we're well positioned
to get the farm bill done this year."

The farm bill, which is up for renewal every five years, is the
nation's main statement of agriculture policy. It deals with
everything from crop subsidies to land conservation, nutrition
programs and the promotion of biofuels.

This year's bill must still officially pass though the Senate
committee process, be voted on by the full Senate, and be reconciled
with a House version that passed this summer. Conrad said he expects
the process to go smoothly because the Democratic majority included
Republicans in the negotiation process that concluded this week.

The inclusion of permanent disaster aid in that process can be viewed
as a victory for states such as North Dakota and Montana. The aid
would pre-empt the need for a separate bill when there's a drought or
other disaster.

Harkin and other senators from less drought-prone parts of the
Midwest had initially opposed the idea, calling it too expensive and
too geographically concentrated in its benefits. Conrad said he and
colleagues made "a powerful case" that earthquakes, hurricanes and
tornadoes have an effect on crop outcomes even in areas without many droughts.

The deal also unwinds some of the crop subsidy favoritism toward
cotton and rice enacted in past congressional sessions that were
controlled by Southern lawmakers. It improves the support payment
levels for crops like wheat, barley, oats and soybeans.

It proposes to spend $2.8 billion on energy development, $4.5 billion
for conservation and $4.2 billion on nutrition programs such as food stamps.