“Across the country, the headlines have not been particularly good for farmers and ranchers this year.  Few of our producers will mind seeing this year come to a close.  Drought conditions, heavy rains from hurricanes, high energy and transportation costs and low commodity prices have adversely affected producers from coast to coast.  Here in Southern Missouri, it is more than likely that more than one of these factors has made the year difficult for any given farmer.

 

Here are just a few agricultural headlines from major papers in 2005:

Those are just the headlines; the stories beneath them contain even more dire details.  As harvest begins this year, diesel prices are 50 percent greater than they were in 2004.  The price of natural gas, a key input for the production of nitrogen fertilizer, is up 25 percent.  Across the board, it has been more expensive for farmers to produce commodities than ever before. For example, the input costs of producing an acre of corn are up $14 and the cost of producing an acre of cotton has risen $29 over last year, according to the Food and Agricultural Research Policy Institute. 

 

Low prices are just as great a concern to our producers, since they are unable to recoup their input costs when they bring their goods to market. 

 

These economic conditions in the farm community merit special attention from the federal government.  My colleague from Arkansas, Rep. Marion Berry, and I have communicated this concern to Speaker Dennis Hastert, and we have offered legislation to provide some much-needed emergency relief. 

 

Our bill would identify disaster areas to help farmers and ranchers who have suffered losses from this season’s hurricanes and other disasters and hardships with just-as-severe effects.  Crop-loss and livestock assistance are cornerstones of the proposal, as is additional hurricane relief.  The clear need for disaster relief this year is an example of how federal policy should reflect the possibility that storms, droughts, and input prices can have adverse effects on our producers’ abilities to supply the nation and the world with food.

 

As members of Congress look ahead to the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, I am already starting to meet with producers to find out how we can improve our disaster relief policy for agriculture, in addition to the many other laws that govern ag policy in America.  A major initiative in the effort to make the new Farm Bill commonsense and comprehensive is to bring ag policy leaders of our nation to the farm and ranch country of Southern Missouri.  In the past several months, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Bob Goodlatte have both visited Southern Missouri to learn about our region and the goods we produce.

 

This dialog is vital to the future of the American family farm.  By bringing together people in the fields with people in the federal government, we can produce at least one good headline for America’s farmers and ranchers in the near future.

 

After all, U.S. farmers and ranchers produce the safest, most affordable food supply in the world. We must work together to keep it that way.”