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Show Irrigation Support To Continue Through USDA ' The U.S. Department of Agriculture has informed U.S. Senator Jake Gam that the department will not terminate the Irrigation Support System as previously announced. Gam led a group of western and midwestern senators last week in protesting the plan to do away with the program which was established in 1936 to assist farmers in upgrading their irrigation systems. Garn's letter of protest to Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz, cosigned by 17 of his colleagues, was used during questioning of Department of Agriculture personnel at a meeting of the Senate Appropriation Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture. An Agriculture Department spokesman told the Senator's office that the program will not be terminated, but that the Department will "let Congress fund it as they desire". The freshman Republican says that he is "most pleased" with the decision to not terminate the program, since the benefits of it "accrue not only to the farmer, but also to the entire community". "I say again," Garn continued, "that efficient irrigation systems not only increase crop production, but reduce the waste of water. The world needs everything the farmer can produce. Termination of the Irrigation Support System would have been counterproductive to conservation and a viable agriculture industry." cv.. jOrf v rm |