Agribusiness losing strong advocate with retirement of North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad

North Dakota Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad's retirement could have big implications for agriculture spending. Conrad, right, "is one of the strongest and most influential defenders of farm subsidies in Congress," Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports. Brasher notes "there are few retirements that would be as significant for agribusiness," pointing to Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley as another.

"Part of  Conrad’s influence comes from the fact that he knows the details of farm policy cold," Brasher writes. "But Conrad was also a consummate horse-trader who knows what it takes to enact policies that protect the interests of farmers in his state, and he does." Conrad supported tightening caps on the amount of subsidies a farmer can receive, but he didn't push the issue as some of his colleagues did. Conrad told Brasher years ago, "that he understood that lower caps were unacceptable to southern farmers." Conrad has authored commodity sections of farm bills even without ever being the chairman of the Senate Agriculture committee. (Read more)