The super committee in charge of deficit reduction is expected to provide the Agriculture and other authorizing committees with “parameters” for what it will ask from the committees by Oct. 14, two key farm lobbyists have told The Hagstrom Report.

A group of farm lobbyists met with the staff of Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Pat Roberts, R-Kans., and a group is expected to meet with the staff of Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., by the end of the week, the lobbyists said.

Farm leaders have been meeting individually with House Agriculture Committee staff, one lobbyist said.

The super committee is expected to tell the authorizing committees whether it wants a letter, an outline of legislation, or full scale legislation, the lobbyists said. The super committee is unlikely to provide the authorizing committees with specific dollar goals for cuts, they added.

One lobbyist also said that farm leaders have been discouraged from going public with their views on what should be cut and what should not be cut. But another lobbyist said that farm leaders have been told they should make their views known to committee staff and should try to reach consensus on what the agriculture community wants, or not complain later about the cuts that Congress makes.