By J. READ SMITH

and DENNIS McGINN

For the Capital Press

The future of the government's role in U.S. agriculture is about as uncertain today as it was before the 1933 enactment of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, our nation's first farm bill. Agriculture committees in both the House and Senate are currently working to craft a new farm bill, but this time in the heated forge of a deficit-reduction process that will determine our nation's food, energy, conservation and a variety of other policies for the next five years, if not longer.

Understandably, in writing the next farm bill Congress needs to exercise fiscal responsibility, especially in these tough economic times. We have a serious budget crisis at hand. But we also have another serious crisis hanging just as ominously over our nation -- our unresolved energy challenges that threaten both our security and our ability to thrive. This is a problem that Washington farmers, ranchers and foresters are well positioned to help solve.

Although we know better, and have known better for some time, we continue to operate in "business as usual" mode, remaining a hostage to imported oil from unfriendly foreign regimes. We stay stuck in a stalled economy hungry for a new engine to pull us out of the mire of our dependence on finite fossil resources that compound other problems, such as improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

That's why it is crucial that Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and her colleagues in Congress who represent farm, ranch and forestry interests sustain programs that have made the United States a global leader in the production of food, feed, fiber and clean energy.

Among those initiatives critical to U.S. competitiveness is the Energy Title launched with the 2008 Farm Bill. Its first generation programs, while not perfect, have helped create a rapidly growing renewable energy sector that is providing numerous solutions from the land to our energy needs.

These farm energy programs help provide the feedstocks and build the plants that reduce our dependency on foreign oil and enhance our national security, all while diversifying our rural economy and unlocking hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment that creates jobs and new streams of revenue. And these programs are being put to use right here in Washington state.

Just this summer, Washington, along with California, Montana and Oregon, were approved to use USDA Energy Title program funds to expand the production of nonfood crops, like camelina, for use in the manufacturing of liquid biofuels. Camelina will be grown in large scale to help meet our military's aggressive near-term goals for securing power and fuel from renewable sources of energy.

The Air Force, for instance, has a 2016 deadline for obtaining half its fuel needs from 50-50 conventional-alternative fuel blends. And the Navy is committed to getting 50 percent of the fuel it requires for aircraft and surface ships from renewable and alternative sources by 2020. The work being funded here in Washington through the Energy Title will be instrumental in helping us achieve these ambitious and urgent goals.

As Sen. Murray and the other members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction consider the options for reducing government spending and increasing revenue we remind them that it is in our national interest that the Farm Bill Energy Title be maintained and be properly funded.

J. Read Smith is a wheat, small grains and cattle producer in St. John, Washington and past president of the National Association of Conservation Districts. Dennis McGinn is a retired vice admiral of the Navy, and president of the American Council on Renewable Energy. Both are members of the 25x'25 National Steering Committee.