Washington, D.C. -- A public hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture this afternoon served as the forum for Sixth District Congressman Frank Lucas' pointed questions for U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. The Secretary testified at this hearing, designed to discuss the state of the nation's farm economy. Lucas is a member of the Agriculture Committee.

"As a cow/calf operator and farmer from western Oklahoma, I can tell you firsthand that the crisis in the country is real," Lucas said to those present at the hearing. "Our producers are plagued by weak grain prices, drought, bugs, wildfire and dwindling forage and hay supplies."

"Good farmers are losing equity and millions of dollars are being taken out of our economy," Lucas continued speaking to the Secretary.

Lucas presented the Secretary with detailed questions on the loan deficiency payments program, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and the 'Emergency Farm Financial Relief Act' introduced last week and of which Lucas is an original cosponsor. Lucas had these things to say following the hearing.

"When I asked, the Secretary admitted that he thought that the USDA could have done a better job of explaining the loan deficiency payment process to producers in a more timely fashion that would have better enabled them to make educated marketing decisions," Lucas said.

"I also strongly stressed to Secretary Glickman the importance of using CRP to its fullest, especially during these rough times," Lucas continued.

Another topic was the 'Emergency Farm Financial Relief Act' which will likely be passed by the House next week. This bill will give farmers the option of taking their entire market transition payment for fiscal year 1999 all at once on October 1, 1998 instead of in two payments.

The bill makes available over $127 million in market transition payments for the state of Oklahoma for those ag producers who signed up for the program. The Sixth District of Oklahoma will see $88.4 million released into the district. And these payments are in addition to the second half of farmers' FY98 payments that are due them on September 30, 1998. Overall, approximately just over $8 billion will be available to American farmers nationwide.

"I'm pleased that my colleagues and I will shortly take up this much-needed first step in helping producers make it through these trying times," Lucas said. "But there is definitely more we should do."

Other topics of discussion were: the ability to open foreign markets for our farm commodities; the details of a $500 million indemnity program that passed as part of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations measure; and whether the crop insurance program can be refined to do its intended job.

"I do believe this hearing has given the Secretary and others a proper assessment of where our producers stand," Lucas said. "They were able to get a better gauge of the depth of the ag crisis in America and maybe now they can get busy helping Congress construct swift, decisive strategies to aid our producers in need."

"I pledge to work with the Chairman [of the Agriculture Committee], Mr. Stenholm [the ranking member of the committee], Secretary Glickman and everyone else who expresses an interest in helping America's farmers get through this crisis."

"It is imperative that we shed the shackles of partisanship that tend to creep into our proceedings in even-numbered years and get to work for our nation's producers."