[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 92 (Wednesday, July 10, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          A BOUNTILESS HARVEST

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                            HON. JERRY MORAN

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 10, 2002

  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, across Kansas, combines and harvest 
crews are wrapping up another wheat harvest. This year, the harvest 
story is not about the wheat being cut, but about the wheat that should 
have been cut--wheat destroyed by drought and wheat plowed into the dry 
ground. Where there has been wheat to harvest, low yields are evidence 
of the ravages of drought. While farmers see harvests come and go every 
year, this one will certainly not soon be forgotten. Unfortunately, 
this year it's the dry weather and failed crop that will be remembered.
  Last year drought took a heavy toll on Kansas. This year will be far 
worse. In Kansas, almost a million acres of wheat have been abandoned--
an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. In southwest Kansas, the 
driest area of the state, as much as 90 percent of the wheat planted 
was lost to drought. This translates into a loss of over $277 million 
in farm income this year. After last year's dismal crop, few thought 
things could get worse. But Kansas farmers now have $277 million less 
than last year to pay their bills and to care for their families.
  Behind the millions of dollars lost from the agricultural economy are 
real people. I am contacted daily by farmers and ranchers hurting from 
last year's drought, whose difficulties have been compounded by this 
year's losses. In Hugoton, farmers have seen less than an inch of rain 
in the last year, and cracks in the earth run several feet deep. Here, 
there is not even enough moisture to replant failed crops. In Rolla, 
where the federal grassland is being closed due to drought, ranchers 
are selling the cattle herds they have spent a lifetime building. All 
across western Kansas, ranchers are liquidating herds, as the little 
grass that was there has been grazed to the ground.
  For the last 2 years, farmers in drought-affected areas have worked 
tirelessly, only to come away with less than what they started with. 
Crop insurance alone cannot relieve the cash flow crisis of these farm 
families. The need for assistance is greater, and more urgent, than it 
was a year ago. Farmers and ranchers need help to compensate for this 
natural disaster.
  These are tough times in farm country, and we cannot close our eyes 
to the seventy of this drought or the magnitude of its consequences. A 
dark cloud is hovering over the future of many producers in western 
Kansas; unfortunately, that cloud holds no rain. Without disaster 
assistance, this year, some farmers may simply dry up and blow away.

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