Wichita ? Wheat growers say they hope a committee charged with adopting a new farm bill will finish before Easter.

That would be early enough for new farm programs to affect this year’s crop.

But given current growing conditions and the rush that would be necessary to begin new rules at this late date, Kansas wheat growers said waiting until next year might not be so bad.

State directors from the National Association of Wheat Growers are in Washington this week for the group’s annual organizational and lobbying meetings. The gathering comes at a key point in this year’s farm-bill debate. House-Senate conference committee members, including Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., meet face-to-face for the first time today.

The wheat growers association said it wants a bill that:

Backs the House plan for commodity price supports, which would give farmers of crops such as wheat, corn and soybeans $10 billion more over 10 years than the Senate’s plan.

Favors the House bill’s payment limitations over the more stringent Senate limits.

Calls for no update to acreage or yield requirements from the 1996 farm bill, an approach favored by the House. Updating acreage and yields would release more money for crops like soybeans and corn, which have gained more popularity than wheat in the past five years.

Some farm-bill provisions under debate, especially on the Senate side, “are not producer-friendly,” Lincoln County farmer John Thaemert said. “We might be better off this year with a supplemental” disaster-aid package rather than a full-blown bill, he said.