ISU expert to testify before U-S Senate Ag committee

An Iowa State University professor will speak before a U-S Senate Ag committee today in Washington, D.C. Bruce Babcock is the Director of I-S-U’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. Babcock says he’ll testify at a hearing of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee on the trade portion of the farm bill, and the importance of trade. Babcock says exports have changed in the last decade so we’re exporting grain as meat fed to cattle and pigs.Babcock says the trade outlook is good for most ag products.He says soybeans are the only crop that isn’t seeing price increases due to a continued glut of beans worldwide. Ron Heck, a soybean grower from Perry, Iowa, is also scheduled to talk to the committee today.