The 2002 farm bill expires today. New legislation to renew it is in process, and it's anyone's guess what its final content will be. One thing is sure: Significant changes are on the way.

The 2007 farm bill should reflect the need for American agriculture to grow into 21st century realities. Markets for products including commodities increasingly will create opportunities for carefully managed operations, relying less on direct subsidies that formerly provided a safety net for some farmers and ranchers and led to inequities among recipients.

A combination of needed provisions would help the transition:

n A well-thought-through structure of countercyclical financial support and loan programs. These provisions would help see producers through hard times due to market downturns.

n Affordable crop insurance that is not as restrictive as it has been, allowing coverage for crops that will play a large part in North Dakota's future, corn and canola, for example, plus extending insurance coverage to livestock raising operations. The opportunity for producers to purchase insurance for particular crops should be tied into a realistic assessment of the fittingness of an operation and its location to sustain production. Perhaps its track record should be taken into account.

n Meaningful conservation incentives. This could be the area for a powerful struggle in the U.S. Senate. There will be pressure to enhance conservation programs to make it worthwhile to landowners to keep grassland and other real estate that's marginal for crop growing out of cultivation. Maybe what will result is a strong, new version of the conservation reserve program, including a "sod saver" provision to inhibit the conversion of grassland to cropland.

An illustration of this being a new era for farm legislation is that fruit and vegetable production is taken as a full-membership participant in the House of Representatives-passed version. The specific inclusion of organic agriculture is another indicator of the winds of change.

In the final version of the new legislation there should be honest acknowledgment that a farm bill exists for consumers as well as ag producers. Producers should be able to make a good living while the prices of food and fiber remain affordable for consumers in the United States and promote exports that are competitive in foreign markets.

Now more than ever, American agriculture is a serious drama set on a global stage. Agribusiness is ubiquitous, often multinational. And how countries subsidize their ag producers and industries is a critical issue for the farm bill to have as constant background to nearly every provision of its reams of pages, and not only in the title dealing directly with commodities.

It's reported that a temporary extension of the 2002 Farm Bill is forthcoming. That's needed, because it's likely that getting a new package through the Senate and to President Bush will take weeks, perhaps even into 2008. It's worth the time to get it right.