[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 82 (Monday, June 22, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4951-H4952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            DISASTER FACING AGRICULTURE BASE OF NORTH DAKOTA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, a year ago Grand Forks, North Dakota, was 
ravaged by flooding waters from the Red River. The eyes of the Nation 
watched with horror as this city of 50,000 suffered not just a 
devastating flooding event, but, in the middle of all else, fires began 
in the downtown that ravaged 11 of the major buildings in downtown 
Grand Forks as well. The attention of this body was focused on that 
event, and the assistance resulting in the disaster supplemental 
appropriations bill really played a very critical role in our ability 
to begin the rebuilding process, a process that continues even today.
  Today I take the floor to tell you of another disaster, a disaster 
that, at least as far as North Dakota is concerned, is every bit as 
threatening, every bit as devastating, every bit as disastrous as the 
Grand Forks flood. But this disaster, chances are you will have never 
heard of, not seen a second of television footage, and be utterly 
unaware it is occurring. This is a stealth disaster, and it is a 
disaster facing the agriculture base of the State of North Dakota.
  This chart tells the story, just as clearly as this story can be 
told. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that in 1996, the net 
farm income in North Dakota totaled $764 million. One year later, that 
total had fallen to $15 million net farm income for the entire State, a 
drop of 98 percent.
  The average North Dakota producer lost $23,000 last year, and the 
average North Dakota producer is, by the way, a family farm, relatively 
modest in income levels, even in the best of years; a loss of $23,000 
last year. Across the State, those making loans available to farmers 
report that 80 of the borrowers lost money last year.
  This disaster is the stealth disaster. Hopefully the remarks of my 
colleague, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Minge), the remarks I am 
making, and our ongoing effort will make it less of a stealth disaster 
in the weeks to come, but its depth and its consequences are as serious 
as I could possibly begin to tell you.
  One of the consequences inevitably of the kind of economic results I 
have

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just spoken of is revealed in this kind of cryptic gallows humor 
cartoon. It says ``'tis spring, 'tis spring,'' and it has got the 
vultures flying over the farm auction postings, a very apt 
characterization of precisely what is reflected in the newspapers 
advertising farm auctions. Pages and pages and pages of auction sales 
reflecting the end of a multi-generation of family farming operations.
  Typically each and every auction revealed in these many pages will be 
a family farm, initially homesteaded, perhaps a century ago, and then 
farmed successfully now for several generations, until the devastation 
we have now seen has made continuation of that family farming entity 
impossible.
  Why is this happening? What could possibly be bringing this about? 
Well, first of all, it is a combination of disastrous production 
conditions, coupled with disastrous prices, and all occurring in the 
backdrop of a new farm policy, a farm policy of this country that 
essentially has substantially reduced in meaningful ways the types of 
support and assistance the Federal Government had previously maintained 
for decades to family farmers when they get into trouble.
  I think it is important for us to look at the changes in farm policy 
and draw conclusions in terms of what we must do in the future to 
react. Clearly, the results shown in North Dakota show the existing 
safety net is not meeting the challenge facing the farmers in our area 
and across the country.

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