The U.S. House Agriculture Committee
The House Committee on Agriculture will take the lead in drafting the next Farm Bill, with the House Committee on the Budget and the House Committee on Appropriations also playing important roles in determining how much can be spent and allocating the funds. The new members of the Agriculture Committee for the 110th Congress are listed after the jump.
| Democrats | Republicans |
| Collin C. Peterson (MN), Chairman | Bob Goodlatte (VA), Ranking Minority Member |
| Tim Holden (PA), Vice Chairman | Terry Everett (AL) |
| Mike McIntyre (NC) | Frank Lucas (OK) |
| Bob Etheridge (NC) | Jerry Moran (KS) |
| Leonard Boswell (IA) | Robin Hayes (NC) |
| Joe Baca (CA) | Timothy Johnson (IL) |
| Dennis Cardoza (CA) | Sam Graves (MO) |
| David Scott (GA) | Jo Bonner (AL) |
| Jim Marshall (GA) | Mike Rogers (AL) |
| Stephanie Herseth (SD) | Steve King (IA) |
| Henry Cuellar (TX) | Marilyn Musgrave (CO) |
| Jim Costa (CA) | Randy Neugebauer (TX) |
| John Salazar (CO) | Charles Boustany (LA) |
| Brad Ellsworth (IN) | Randy Kuhl (NY) |
| Nancy Boyda (KS) | Virginia Foxx (NC) |
| Zack Space (OH) | Michael Conaway (TX) |
| Tim Walz (MN) | Jeff Fortenberry (NE) |
| Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) | Jean Schmidt (OH) |
| Steve Kagen (WI) | Adrian Smith (NE) |
| Earl Pomeroy (ND) | Kevin McCarthy (CA) |
| Lincoln Davis (TN) | Timothy Walberg (MI) |
| John Barrow (GA) | |
| Nick Lampson (TX) | |
| Joe Donnelly (IN) | |
| Tim Mahoney (FL) | |
The national distribution of the committee is shown in the map below. As in my post on the Senate Committee, blue states have one or more Democratic members, red states have one or more Republican members, and purple states have one or more members from each party. A few states have three or more members: Alabama has three members, California has four, Georgia has three, North Carolina has four, and Texas has four. 
The Environmental Working Group’s relatively new Mulch blog is starting a series of profiles of the members of the Agriculture Committees, with the first post about Rep. Dennis Cardoza of California’s 18th Congressional District. The 18th district is a major farming area, with over $2 billion in agriculture production in 2002, the 18th ranked district the U.S. However, because many farmers in the 18th district grow “specialty crops” like melons, berries and vegetables instead of row crops like corn, wheat and soybeans, the district ranks 84th in terms of federal aid received.
Image Credit: The map is from the Map Maker Utility at the Texas Agricultural Extension Service
[…] Rep. Peterson (chairman of the Agriculture Committee) wants to write the bill in the Agriculture Committee and avoid any amendments from the floor. In other words, he wants to maintain tight control of the content to avoid too much input from lawmakers from urban and suburban districts. Thus, if your representative is on the House Agriculture Committee, it is especially important to contact him or her. More commentary from me at Ethicurean, Ken Cook of EWG, and Dan Owens of the Center for Rural Affairs. […]