[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S10183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        IN HONOR OF RUSS HANSEN

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, we all know that life on a farm is not 
always easy. Few people know that farming is one of this country's most 
hazardous industries. Unforeseen accidents often occur, and try as we 
might to avoid them, they seem to strike when we least expect it.
  In 1993, one tragic incident took place on a farm in my home State. 
Russ Hansen, a 39-year-old farmer from Spink County, was killed in a 
farming accident, leaving behind his wife, Mary, and three children, 
Joshua, Jeff, and Jill.
  Words cannot fully console the mind when tragedies such as these 
happen. We try to pay homage to those who have passed away, but nothing 
will ever replace loved ones we have lost. Tributes remind us of the 
person we once knew so well--and in their own special way help ease the 
pain.
  It was made known recently that the Hansen family will have a living 
memorial in honor of their father and husband. Russ was a true steward 
of the land--a farmer who through his knowledge of the earth sought to 
make the most of it and for it. Before he died, Russ donated some of 
his farmland to South Dakota State University [SDSU]. The school used 
the land to test varieties of wheat. Because of Russ' love of the land 
and devotion to the SDSU research, the school announced this spring 
that the tests on his land have yielded a new hard red spring wheat. It 
is a wheat that is proving to be resistant to disease, pests, and 
shattering. And in a fitting tribute, the wheat will be called 
``Russ.'' It is expected to be on the general market by 1997.
  Mr. President, no single person in this country has consistently been 
the source of more innovation than the American farmer. The ritual of 
farming is not just planting, growing, and harvesting. It is a quest to 
innovate and challenge the land to produce something it has never 
produced before. Russ Hansen was that kind of American farmer. I am 
sure Mary, Joshua, Jeff, and Jill Hansen are proud that Russ' legacy 
will live on in the hearty new brand of wheat that will bear his name. 
I am proud of Russ' lifetime of devotion to the land, and the 
innovators at South Dakota State University who worked with Russ to 
achieve this new high-quality wheat. It is a great achievement for SDSU 
and an ever-lasting tribute to Russ Hansen.
  I ask unanimous consent to have a related article printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                      New Wheat Named After Farmer

                       (By Jennifer DeAnn Olson)

       Frankfort.--Memorials come in unexpected ways.
       Mary Hansen received a phone call this spring saying that 
     scientists at South Dakota State University in Brookings had 
     developed a new variety of hard red spring wheat. They had 
     named the variety Russ after Hansen's husband, a 39-year-old 
     Spink County farmer and feedlot operator who died in a 1993 
     farm accident.
       ``Finding out about it, we were totally surprised,'' Hansen 
     said from her Frankfort farm. ``We were very proud and 
     pleased.''
       Russ Hansen had worked closely with the people from SDSU 
     during his years of farming, donating land to be used as test 
     plots.
       ``You had to know Russ. He could talk to anybody,'' Hansen 
     said, ``I think it was more than a working relationship (with 
     SDSU), it was a friendship.''
       This friendship was obviously worth remembering. It yielded 
     a high-yield wheat, resistant to disease, pests and 
     shattering, once known as SD8073, now named Russ. The 
     variety, now being tested by certified seed growers, should 
     be ready for the general market by 1997.
       Mary Hansen still lives on the farm. She has sold the 
     cattle and rented out her property. And the wheat variety has 
     been especially important to the Hansen's three children--
     Joshua, 13; Jeff, 12; and Jill, 9.
       ``It really says a lot about Russ,'' Hansen said.
       ``Russ has been gone almost two years now, but he'll always 
     be around,'' she added.
     

                          ____________________