[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4216-S4217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              AGRICULTURE

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise to speak today about the continuing 
crisis in agriculture. Last night I was watching CNN. They had the 
first of a series of programs on the crisis in agriculture. They 
interviewed a cotton farmer from the Deep South who has a 2,500-acre 
farm, which is not a small farm but certainly not one of the largest. 
He was telling the interviewer that he lost $500,000 last year.
  I tell that story because that was a farmer from the Deep South. I 
represent North Dakota, the opposite end of the country. We are having 
exactly the same experience in our part of the country, a farm 
depression.
  This is a cartoon that ran in the major newspaper back home. It is a 
picture of vultures sitting on signs of farm auctions, pointing the way 
to farm auctions. There are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven 
different signs pointing towards farm auctions with the buzzard sitting 
on top of the sign. The cartoon says, ``Tis spring! Tis spring! Tis 
spring!''
  That is how an awful lot of us are feeling because in most of the 
country we are celebrating spring. Certainly here in the Nation's 
Capital we see beautiful flowers in bloom and we are enjoying 
absolutely gorgeous weather. We are celebrating a rebirth, a renewal.
  But we are not celebrating in farm country because spring has brought 
us up against hard reality. The hard reality is that our operations are 
not going to make it. They are not cash-flowing. Many farmers are not 
getting the credit they need to get into the field this spring.
  That is why the now stalled emergency supplemental is important. It 
provides emergency disaster funding for farm credit to assure that 
those who are credit worthy can get into the field to plant this year's 
crop.
  Too many feel that agriculture has turned against them, that policy 
here has turned against them, that trade policy has turned against 
them, and, yes, that market forces have turned against them.
  Look at the very tough facts that our producers face. This chart 
shows wheat prices. The red line on the chart shows the cost of 
production across the country. Producing a bushel of wheat costs about 
$5. This jagged line shows what has happened to wheat prices. Wheat 
prices are now $2.40 a bushel, and it costs over $5 to produce it.
  This is the pattern going back to 1996. The last time we were at the 
cost of production was back in 1996. Since that time, wheat prices have 
plunged. Why? It is a complicated series of factors, starting with the 
Asian financial collapse that cost us some of our best markets, 
followed by the financial collapse in Russia that did further damage to 
our farmers because, of course, Russia was a big customer of ours. Yet 
now they cannot pay because they are out of hard currency. We have had 
that double whammy. On top of that, we have had good production weather 
around most of the world, so production has been up, yet because of the 
financial problems in Asia and Russia, demand is down. That has led to 
a dramatic price weakening.
  In the midst of that, we passed a new farm bill. The new farm bill, 
unfortunately, doesn't work well when prices collapse because there is 
no adjustment for price collapses. Under the old farm policy, when 
prices went down, support

[[Page S4217]]

went up. Under this new policy, support goes down year by year no 
matter what happens to prices. The combination is leaving our farmers 
in the ditch, literally and figuratively. Our prices are so bad, so 
ruinously low, that literally tens of thousands of farm families face 
foreclosure.

  This is not just true in our part of the country. The distinguished 
Chair is from a nearby State. They are experiencing the effect of these 
very low prices, not only in terms of row crops, not only in terms of 
wheat, barley, and other commodities, but in terms of beef, in terms of 
hogs. We see hog prices as low as 8.5 cents a pound. It costs 40 cents 
a pound to produce a hog. If farmers only get 8.5 cents a pound when 
they go to sell, they are in deep trouble.
  We are down to only 800 hog producers in my State. We anticipate 
losing as many as three-quarters of them this year; 600 of the 800 are 
going to go out of business. The story is not much different in terms 
of beef because we see cattle prices at very, very low levels.
  The combination--whether it is in our part of the country, the 
northern plains, or as I started these remarks talking about this 
cotton farmer in the Deep South losing $500,000 last year on only 2,500 
acres--is a calamity. What is especially ironic is it is in the midst 
of a great economic boom across the country. We have probably never had 
better economic times in the larger economy, yet when we look at 
agriculture, we see the worst of times.
  It is really a result of a triple whammy: bad prices, bad policy, and 
bad weather. To top it all off, in addition to the bad prices, these 
are the lowest prices in 52 years; on top of that, the bad policy--
trade policy and farm policy--that has left farmers without much help 
in a time of this financial collapse; on top of that, we have had bad 
weather. In my State, 5 years of overly wet conditions have led to the 
biggest outbreak of a disease called scab that has also dramatically 
reduced production. Talk about a bad set of facts, that is it: bad 
prices, bad weather, and bad policy.
  We have a chance to do something on the policy front. It won't solve 
the problem, but it will help. It is urgently needed. That is the 
disaster supplemental that is before the Senate.
  I ask my colleagues, can't we move on that disaster supplemental? 
Can't we move on that legislation now? Can't we pass it? If we wait, it 
will be too late. If we wait, it is simply going to be too late. 
Farmers need to be in the field now. This is the end of April. Time 
waits for no man. Time does not wait when you are planting a crop.
  I hope my colleagues will respond to this plea that we pass the 
urgent supplemental directly. I hope we do it this week and get that 
money out there where it can do some good and help these farmers 
through what is the worst crisis they have faced since the 1930s.
  The time to act is now. I urge my colleagues to participate in that 
effort. We passed it here the end of March, and now here we are at the 
end of April. There is something dysfunctional when we have disaster 
emergency legislation before us and we passed it in this Chamber a 
month ago and it still is not out there; it is still not implemented.
  Mr. President, I ask our colleagues to act on that disaster 
supplemental and to do it now. I thank the Chair.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. ASHCROFT. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it so ordered.

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