By RFD Radio

BLOOMINGTON – The U.S. House Agriculture Committee concluded a round of hearings examining the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.

What once was known as the food stamp program traditionally has been bundled with crop insurance, conservation and other programs targeted at farmers. Illinois farm and commodity organizations want to know if this makes sense in the future, and the next input session is scheduled for Tuesday in Normal.

Rich Guebert farms near Ellis Grove and attended the first of three statewide farm bill sessions.

“Farmers and our members who are there responding to those questions electronically, tabulating the responses and then following up with a Q and A,” Guebert said. “I thought we had some interesting discussion and comments being made by our members on what’s important to them in the next farm bill.”

Guebert serves as president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, one of the groups sponsoring the farm bill member input sessions.

The next meeting takes place Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Marriott in Normal. The final statewide session will occur Nov. 29 in Sycamore.

You can go to FarmWeekNow.com for more information and to register.