Rep. Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said today that markups will begin the week of May 21 on at least three titles of the 2007 farm bill.

The current farm law expires this year. Small farmers, agribusinesses, environmentalists, labor organizations and other groups are all ramping up major lobbying campaigns in an effort to influence the shape of the measure.

Peterson reiterated his committee’s primacy in the process. “People are misguided if they think the farm bill will be written on the floor . . . it would be a recipe for chaos,” he said.

Some hallmarks of the 2002 law will remain in his draft of the bill, he said, including planting restrictions for fruit and vegetable growers, as well as the general farm subsidies known as counter-cyclical payments and loan deficiency payments.