ROLLING PRAIRIE -A U.S. Congressman told local farmers Sunday that he wasn't a fan of hobbyist farmers.

"We're getting back to what the real farmers are," said Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn,, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

The statement was referring to funding cuts for farmers with less than 10 acres of land, a provision of the Farm

Bill passed on June 18 overriding a presidential veto. He said 90 percent of the country's agriculture production

came from larger farms.

"They applied the Farm Bill to production farmers not hobby farmers," said Charlie Houin, a corn and bean farmer from Bremen. "In all reality a two acre patch isn't growing much corn."

Peterson joined Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly, a fellow member of the Agriculture Committee, in explaining the legislation to area farmers and fielding questions about the recently passed law. The meeting was held at the Paarlberg Farm in Rolling Prairie and was attended by several dozen people from all over La Porte County.

"We were here when they were planting and now we're back for the harvest," Donnelly said.

Peterson did most of the talking and spoke heavily about the bill's focus on biofuels and the struggles to get the bill passed against an unwilling executive branch and a Senate filled with lawmakers who consider themselves "kings."

Despite the insight into the legislative process attendees were most concerned with what the bill was funding. One audience member asked if the funding could face obstacles, to which Peterson said the it wouldn't because the money was guaranteed by a formula and didn't need to be appropriated.

Another person asked if money would be going to land-grant universities, which he viewed as an unbiased source of research.

Peterson said they didn't put mandatory money into research out of fear the Senate would take the funds but that

some of it will still be filtered down to school.

"It's not our fault we didn't get all that money into research," Peterson said. "It's the Senate's."

Some took issue with Peterson's stance.

"We need to be thinking about the future," said Vern Schafer, a LaCrosse resident. He said research was a long-term investment but was disappointed to see it was only a small part of the Farm Bill.

Others were concern about the cost of biotechnology from agriculture company Monsanto.

"I think the competition will come now that there's money to be made," Peterson said. "We'll keep an eye on them. They've done some good things, too."