For the second day in a row United States Senator Joni Ernst was in the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area.

Ernst made stops in three counties along with U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and John Boozman (R-Arkansas). The first stop of the day was a Roundtable Event at Iowa State University, before they traveled to Greene County and spoke at Louis Dreyfus in Grand Junction. The topic of ethanol and biofuels was discussed, and Ernst shared where she thought those fuels should fall under for legislation.

“I don’t know that it goes into the Farm Bill. I would love to see more of these farm based energy solutions included in the Farm Bill, but right now it falls under the jurisdiction of EPW. I think that needs to shift, and it needs to come under the jurisdiction of the Ag Committee and be included in the Farm Bill. I think that would be a wise switch for these types of fuel programs.”

The final stop of the day for the three Senators was in Guthrie County, where they talked with AMVC, a group that helps manage and provide veterinary services to swine operations. When asked about the Farm Bill, Grassley told Raccoon Valley Radio about the split between ag related and non-ag related parts of the bill.

“There’s a close relationship between food production and making sure that people have good nutrition, and we want to provide for the people that have need. And that’s the whole purpose of the nutrition program and the Farm Bill. And it’s just a question of how big the nutrition part is compared to the rest of the bill. Right now, it’s 80% to 85% nutrition, and it’ll probably be close to that when we’re done.”

At the stop in Guthrie County, Boozman shared how he felt about coming to Iowa and what he felt the three were doing with their work in the Agriculture Committee.

“I appreciate Senator Ernst and Senator Grassley asking me to come out. As ranking member on the Agriculture Committee, these are two of the leading members of the Agriculture Committee, and they’re going to have a big part in writing the Farm Bill. So the idea of coming and going to different states is I believe, they firmly believe, that the answer to our problems need to come from the ground up. So we’ve been talking to people that are actually working in the fields, all kinds of different people related to agriculture as we go forward, and very importantly, make sure that the farm community has the tools that they need in their toolbox.”

After a short presentation from staff with AMVC, the Senators traveled to a nearby sow farm and took a tour around the facility.