The 2007 Farm Bill has turned into the 2008 Farm Bill, and if Congress does not act quickly to appoint members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to a conference committee, America's farmers might find themselves talking about the 2009 Farm Bill.

By any name, this farm bill faces President Bush's veto if Congress does not make some concessions that the White House is demanding - namely lower payment limits and stricter income caps for eligibility for subsidies. While we've agreed previously with President Bush that wealthy farmers don't need healthy taxpayer subsidies, we also realize that South Dakota's farmers and ranchers do need many of the things contained in the still-unsigned farm bill in order to make business plans for the coming year.

No doubt, farm-state Republicans like Sen. John Thune will have their work cut out for them in getting Bush to sign what he sees as a bloated farm bill. Thune is hopeful that the newly- appointed Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, himself a North Dakotan who had supported a permanent disaster title in the bill, will be helpful in that process.

But no one can take the farm bill fight to the White House until Congress produces a final bill in a conference committee.

More than a month into 2008, that has yet to happen. Thune calls it "inexcusable" and blames the Democratic leadership in both houses for the farm bill standstill. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and Sen. Tim Johnson have also expressed frustration at the lack of progress.

Granted, Congress has been preoccupied with the unexpected $150 billion economic stimulus package the president dumped in their laps since they returned to Washington in mid-January. But like most Americans, we just want the gridlock in Washington to end, and it seems reasonable to blame the party that holds the power to appoint and control the committee process when that process moves too slowly. This year, that happens to be the Democrats.

There is no excuse for not having tackled the farm bill conference committee, working out the few differences that exist between the House and Senate versions and, at the very least, giving Secretary Schafer something he can at least try to sell to his new boss.

There is, after all, no chance of convincing President Bush to sign a bill that has not even gotten out of conference committee.