[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 54 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H2724-H2727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE PLIGHT OF THE TEXAS RICE FARMER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 
60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, on Friday night, April 15, I had a meeting 
with local rice farmers in my southeast Texas district. We met out in 
the country in the lowland plains of east Texas on Aggie Drive in 
Beaumont, Texas. Really, it was closer to China, Texas. Many of these 
men had finished a 16-hour day and came to the meeting after working 
all that time in the fields. They drove up in their standard work 
vehicles: Texas pickup trucks. Their appearances would fool you, 
however. They are highly intelligent, some very well educated. They 
know more about farming, farming machinery, nature, conservation, 
irrigation, water resources, meteorology, pesticides, insecticides, 
fertilizer, trade, global competition, foreign governments, and 
efficiency than many who have a string of degrees behind their names, 
especially those near this House.
  As we sat around and ate fried catfish made out of rice flour, I 
talked to them for several hours about their plight. One rice farmer 
said this was his last year in farming. He was finally just going to 
sell off his equipment and sell the land. They painted for me, Madam 
Speaker, the extremely bleak picture of the present and future in rice 
farming. And while one could argue that economic decline plagues all 
rural America across the board on account of the death tax and high tax 
levels, too many government regulations, the rice farming industry has 
been hit particularly hard.
  Consider the following: in 1997, 8 years ago, there were about 10,000 
rice farms in the United States. By 2002, that number had dropped to 
about 8,000. The State of Texas in 1972 had more than 600,000 acres of 
rice farming. That is about the size of Rhode Island. Last year, it was 
less than 200,000 acres, a two-thirds loss of the land to something 
else. Unfortunately, rice farmers, those in southeast Texas, for 
example, cannot change to alternative crops because other crops do not 
thrive in this environment, the marshy, unique wetlands and humid 
climate of southeast Texas.
  In addition, the farmers have to contend with the whims of the Lone 
Star weather, ranging from sun to hail, too much rain to not enough 
rain, or none at all. Natural disasters like hurricanes, they come and 
go and ravage the land where we live. According to the United States 
Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, in 2002, the 
average American rice farmer made about $1,700 from farming, or about 
82 cents an hour for a 40-hour work week. I will repeat that. That is 
82 cents an hour for a 40-hour work week, and that was with government 
support. This harsh reality forces most farmers to rely on nonfarming 
income to support their households.

                              {time}  2130

  Rice farmers work their own land, Madam Speaker. They do not hire day 
laborers or seasonal workers. They cannot afford it. The farmer and his 
kids, they work the land. Rice farmers can barely support themselves 
financially, let alone make needed contributions to the industry to 
keep it afloat.
  At one time the American Rice Growers Cooperative Association in 
Dayton, Texas, that is in my district, they owned an irrigation system 
using the Trinity River to irrigate between 5,000 and 6,000 acres of 
rice land. It has not run in 3 years because not enough farmers could 
financially commit to pay $25,000 to run the pumps to irrigate the 
land.
  Now, get this, Madam Speaker. The water rights have been sold to the 
city of Houston, and the land is being used for trailer parks which, as 
one farmer put it, once the land is gone, it is over for the rice 
farmers. You see, rice land takes years to develop. If it remains 
unused for extended periods of time, like 3 years, the land becomes 
useless for rice farming.
  Moreover, industry representatives are dwindling. Farm machines, the 
John Deere stores, they are disappearing. Each year, older farmers quit 
or retire. Each year, less acreage is being used for crops. Each year, 
fewer young men go into farming because the cost versus the return on 
this investment is not sufficient for any type of lifestyle. What is 
the incentive for the young to enter the farming industry?
  This meeting we had on April 15, most of the farmers there were at 
least 50 or older. Farming, rice farming is a very labor- and energy-
intensive business. It requires electricity to run the pumps to 
irrigate the crops, diesel fuel to run the combines, and fuel for the 
crop dusters, pesticides to control insect problems. And we have a lot 
of insects in southeast Texas.
  In addition to the labor from early morning to dark, from February to 
November, it is about 8:30 now, Madam Speaker, in southeast Texas, most 
of the rice farmers are coming in from working all day.
  All the costs have increased, yet the price that the farmer receives 
for selling his crop remains the same or has dropped. It also takes an 
enormous amount of time to fill out Federal forms, which has tripled, 
according to the farmers.
  These farmers are required just to sell the rice they grow. Due to 
government regulations, sanctions have prohibited farmers from making 
sales of their crops in an open market. They are even told by this 
government, our government, how much they can plant.
  Back in the 1970s, in what was called the rural renaissance, an 
average of 300 farmers or so would attend the American Rice Growers 
annual dinner. Last year at the dinner, 14 rice farmers showed up.
  Once the experienced rice farmers leave the industry, we cannot 
restore this lost knowledge. No government program can do that. Not to 
mention that the present farm program constitutes only four-tenths of 1 
percent of the national budget.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to take some time to recount the personal 
stories of two of the countless Texas rice farmers, to give this body 
an idea just who these folks are.
  Ray Stoesser, he is a friend of mine. He is also a third-generation 
rice farmer in southeast Texas. He has a true appreciation for the 
value of research, education, and he loves the land. One of the most 
successful and consistent producers, he brings an exceptional crop each 
year to the rice market.
  Ray is quick to point out there is no secret to rice farming. He 
says, ``I believe that God could give me the talent

[[Page H2725]]

and the strength to become a good farmer.''
  Ray's grandfather, Emil Joseph Stoesser, immigrated from Germany 
around the turn of the country and settled in Illinois. He learned 
about rice farming through a friend, decided to move his family to 
Texas, southeast Texas.
  He had a different type of farming apparatus. He brought with him two 
Clydesdale horses, probably the first two Clydesdale horses ever in the 
State of Texas. They came with the farming community and he hoped to 
use them to plow his rice fields. Soon after moving to Texas, however, 
the Clydesdales succumbed to the heat and the humidity and mosquitoes 
common in our area. After that, they used mules to pull the plow.
  Ray remembers how, as a boy, he worked long hours to clear the new 
property and get ready for rice production. He said, ``Dad had 3,000 
acres that was completely unimproved. We had to clear the trees, pull 
up the roots, build the canals, dig the wells just to get it ready.''
  Ray's dad was a dedicated and talented farmer. And Ray attributes his 
strong work ethic and teachings to his dad. Every day after school Ray 
would meet his dad on the farm and work until well after dark.
  Ray also had a son that followed him into the rice farming industry. 
Neal Stoesser is 26 and has been farming since his senior year in high 
school. Although he works in partnership with Ray, Neal also farms 
1,000 acres of rice and soybeans independently of his dad.
  In 2002, Ray and Neal had 2,000 acres of rice, all in Cocodrie, 5,000 
acres of milo, 650 acres of soybeans. This was a father and son team 
that farmed from one end of Liberty County to the other, about 60 miles 
from one end of their farming community to the other end.
  In good years the Stoessers average about 7,300 pounds an acre on 
this main crop of rice. They sell to the Beaumont Rice Mill and the 
Gulf Rice Mill. Ray has considered joining the Riceland Co-op out of 
Arkansas, but he prefers to have his rice sold and milled in Texas. He 
says, ``declining infrastructure is a real problem for our Texas rice 
industry, and we want to do what we can to support our local mills.''
  But Ray feels that the government policies regarding food exports 
have really hurt American farmers. He recalls the years when Iran and 
Iraq were two of our best export markets. They would buy the lion's 
share of U.S. rice. Not surprisingly, Ray feels the Cuban market should 
be open to U.S. farmers, as export embargoes only serve to hurt 
American farmers. They hurt farmers here at home. And they are not 
effective in dealing with political problem governments.
  Ray's younger son, Grant, is also very involved in the family farming 
operation as well as promoting the rice industry.
  And of course, there is Mom, Eileen Stoesser, very proud of all of 
her boys. She includes Ray as one of her boys, and has had many happy 
stories to tell about their life on the farm as the wife of a rice 
farmer. She remembers making a trip with her family and driving past 
endless fields of green. Eileen thought this was the most beautiful 
sight she had ever seen, and asked her parents what is growing on these 
flooded fields? Little did she know how important that beautiful crop 
would be, how it would come to shape her life. It was rice growing in 
southeast Texas.
  Ray and Eileen, they are humble folks. They believe that all their 
success comes from the good Lord. Ray said, ``I can plant the crop, but 
I cannot make it grow, only the good Lord can do that. I have been 
blessed with a wonderful upbringing, a beautiful family, and the talent 
to serve God by producing food for the American people.''
  That is Ray's story. He is still farming in southeast Texas.
  Jack Wendt is also a third-generation rice farmer. He just planted 
his 62nd rice crop. Jack, he is not a young guy. Some would call him a 
senior. He is in his eighties. But you would be hard-pressed to keep up 
with the pace that he sets each day. Jack and his wife Billie, they 
live in Richmond, Texas, and the house outside of Kendleton is used for 
social gatherings, receptions, weddings, church functions and rice 
meetings. That is what they do in the country, Madam Speaker.
  Much of the furniture in the house is from their parents. There are 
several door frames dating back to 1868 from the original homestead of 
Billie's grandparents in Fulshear. That farm had been continuously 
operated by her family for over 100 years and was designated as a Texas 
Century Farm by the Texas Department of Agriculture. There are old 
photographs of Billie's and Jack's ancestors around the house, 
kitchenware and tools that date back to the 1800s.
  Jack takes pride in their family heritage. The man Jack called 
Grandpa Wendt came to America, like many other rice farmers, from 
Germany. He came in 1856, and he settled in this town called Sweet 
Home, Texas. That is right, Madam Speaker. It is Sweet Home, Texas.
  His father, William George, born in August of 1886, served in World 
War I, fighting for the United States. In 1936 his family moved to 
Stowell, Texas and started farming rice.
  Jack Wendt is an activist, and he has written our President, 
President Bush, and a number of Members of Congress, letters about the 
issue of rice. This is one of the letters he has written President Bush 
recently. I will read part of it because it is lengthy.
  He starts, ``Dear President Bush, I am a third-generation rice 
producer. I have spent my entire life, except for 3 years in service to 
the United States during World War II, being involved in agriculture; 
rice, cattle, cotton, and grain. I will be 83 years old this year, so I 
have seen a lot of changes, changes from horses and mules to 400 
horsepower tractors, threshing machines to combines. This statement is 
coming from a farmer who is still actively engaged in the production of 
agricultural products.
  ``All of us who are engaged in production of agriculture commodities 
that are subsidized by the USDA are very concerned about the proposed 
cuts the administration is considering in the 2006 budget. Some 
commodities will not survive if these cuts are a reality.
  The subsidies that we now get for our crops are just enough to keep 
us in business. Other developed countries are supporting their rice 
production 3 to 10 times more than we are in the United States. The 
reason: These countries do not ever want to be without an adequate food 
supply.
  Three of our most lucrative markets we have ever had were Iran, Iraq 
and Cuba. The seed money to develop these markets came from our check-
off funds. Now our government has curtailed sales to these countries by 
putting sanctions on the countries. Other rice-producing countries are 
supplying most of their needs. That should not surprise us. If we do 
not sell food to some country, they will buy it somewhere else. When 
and if these sanctions are ever lifted, it would be hard to reestablish 
these markets.
  American agriculture is known by some to be the envy of the world 
because of its quality and high production per acre. Since we are 
losing prime farmland to urban development, it is very important we 
maintain and support American agriculture and research so we can 
continue to produce our needs on less acreage. You know and I know we 
do not want to depend on our food supply coming from foreign countries. 
Although we in the United States, in the American agriculture, 
represent less than 2 percent of the American population, we play a 
vital role in the balance of trade with other countries. Agriculture is 
America's number one export. It totals $53 billion a year.''
  He goes on to say, Madam Speaker, ``Keeping a strong agricultural 
system in our country is as important as keeping an updated and strong 
army. The old saying goes; 'you cannot fight or work on an empty 
stomach.' Once you lose the desire of the American farmer to produce, 
and he is forced to leave the farm, it will be hard to replace him or 
get him back on the farmland. American agriculture was built on 
individual initiative, private investment and incentives to produce. 
Once destroyed, agriculture will not be restored overnight by some 
government program or some government bureaucrat.
  ``If there is one thing Americans do not worry about these days, it 
is running out of food. We worry a lot about health care, jobs, the 
environment, crime. But food miraculously shows up on our supermarket 
shelves every day. There is plenty of it. It is not priced

[[Page H2726]]

that bad, and it tastes pretty darn good. The truth of the matter is 
our food supply is the best and safest in the world. Let us face it, 
Americans are complacent about food and where it comes from, not 
realizing that most of our food is homegrown.
  ``Restrictions and regulations are putting a noose around the 
farmers' necks and tightening. Most of the farmers are top-notch 
stewards of the land. They care about the environment and want to do 
the right thing, but regulations that are being talked about in 
Washington, DC are punitive and would curtail farming.
  ``Here are a few of the facts. Today, each American farmer produces 
food and fiber for 144 people.
  ``American farmers produce 18 percent of the world's food on 10 
percent of the world's land.
  ``American farmers account for 25 percent of the world's beef and 
veal production, 40 percent of the world's corn production.
  ``Food is most affordable in the United States where consumers spend 
less than 10 percent of their income on it.
  ``Farm programs that we now have represent only four-tenths of 1 
percent of our national budget.
  ``However, as it is with most Federal legislation, the cost of our 
farm program is misleading. Our farmers will not receive all the money 
earmarked in the farm bill. In fact, they will receive only 30 percent 
of the funds. The remaining 70 percent in this fund, in this bill, 
provides support for the Food Stamp Program, the Children's Nutritional 
Programs, the Women, Infant and Children Care Program, and a range of 
other USDA programs. The bottom line is that funding provided to 
producers through the farm bill costs $0.17 a day per family in the 
United States.''

                              {time}  2145

  He goes on, Madam Speaker, to point out, it takes 440,000 people to 
process, package, market, finance, and ship agricultural exports. 
Thanks to our farming families, more and more Americans in related 
businesses are working.
  The United States is one of few families in the world that has never 
known wide-spread hunger. Not relying on other countries for food is 
key to national security. The vast majority of food America eats is 
grown by U.S. farmers. The question is not whether food price support 
is necessary, but one of determining how much price support is needed 
to protect our food producers and our food supply from unfair 
competition brought about by unequal agricultural trade restrictions on 
the American rice farmer.
  Like other businesses in our country, U.S. agriculture products have 
shown they can compete with the very best from any country, sometimes 
even when the playing field is leveled against them. So we must keep 
our agricultural system strong so Americans can never be dependent on 
foreign food imports to feed our people. If the American consumers want 
to keep adequate food supplies, the safest and cheapest cost per capita 
of food in the world, then our government should maintain a support 
level on agricultural commodities that is necessary to keep us in 
business until free trade supply and demand will return as it was in 
the past.
  In conclusion, Madam Speaker, with two comments in quotations from 
former Presidents. One is from President Dwight David Eisenhower when 
he said: ``Our farmers are the most efficient in the world. In no 
country do so few people produce so much food to feed so many at such 
reasonable prices.''
  He also quotes President Bush 41, when he said: ``Our Nation owes a 
debt of gratitude to our farmers and to our ranchers to help ensure the 
stability of our economy, for providing food products that amply meet 
our citizens' needs and for representing what is best about America and 
its people.''
  He concludes in his letter, Madam Speaker: ``Therefore, Mr. 
President, I urge you pose proposals to reopen the farm bill and single 
out farming families. Please give us new markets for our rice.''
  Madam Speaker, these figures and personal accounts all point to the 
two main obstacles faced by rice farmers. The fact that the land that 
the farmers work in many times is not land that they own, but they are 
tenants on the land. Yet the owners of the land are the ones who 
receive the subsidies. Also, the United States Government has shut off 
several of the key markets to which our rice farmers used to sell.
  The rice farmers that I have talked to, Madam Speaker, they do not 
want to be dependent on the government. Most believe they are forced to 
sell their land and become tenants to land owners because of the 
government. The land owners receive the subsidies. Maybe the farmers 
who work the land should receive the subsidies.
  But with all this talk about free trade, the real issue is, Madam 
Speaker, is we prohibit free rice trade. It is unjust to further cut 
subsidies unless we expand the scope of the rice trade. During the 80s, 
Iraq was the number one rice market for American rice producers, 
producing 80 percent of Iraq's rice imports.
  American rice sales to this country alone peaked at 500,000 metric 
tons. But from 1991 to 2003, because of Saddam Hussein and the Iraq 
sanctions, the U.S.A. Federation and the U.S. Rice Producers 
Association estimate that the United States lost $1.9 billion in rice 
export sales to Iraq.
  As a result of loss of these sales to Iraq, other countries have 
stepped in to sell rice to Iraq. Two of them are Thailand and Vietnam. 
We have perfectly good rice in the United States, perfectly good rice 
in Texas and the five other States that grow rice. Not every State 
grows rice in the United States, Madam Speaker. The States that grow 
rice are Texas, California, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and 
Mississippi.
  Here we are rebuilding Iraq with American money, and yet rice is 
bought from Vietnam to restore Iraq. I ask the question, why. Charity 
begins at home if we wish to have charity, and maybe we should think 
about some of the other foreign giveaway programs that this country is 
involved in before we cut subsidies to our rice farmers, remembering, 
of course, that they really do not want the subsidies as much as they 
want market for their rice.
  In January I had the opportunity to go to Iraq. I met with James 
Smith. He was a counselor for the Office of Agricultural Affairs at the 
United States Embassy in Baghdad. That is a long title, but he is the 
person that is responsible for helping American farmers get rice to 
Iraq.
  He is a good individual. He understands rice economics 101. I 
congratulate him on his efforts to make sure that we get rice, 
especially Texas rice and rice from the southeast United States to 
Iraq.
  Upon returning to the United States, I was later invited by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla), chairman of the House Subcommittee 
on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and 
Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations to join him and 
other congressional leaders to discuss with the Iraqi grain board the 
further expansion of United States rice trade to Iraq.
  We learned in that meeting that the Iraqis, through the Iraqi grain 
board, had purchased 60,000 metric tons of U.S. rice and another 
360,000 metric tons will be purchased soon. The Iraqis wish to buy all 
the rice that they can. It is estimated that Iraq will need 1.3 million 
metric tons of rice every year. We want that rice to come from the 
United States, and we need to make sure that it is American rice that 
is on the Iraqi supper table and not rice from Vietnam.
  And while, Madam Speaker, this is a great historic first step, we 
cannot stop there. We need to reopen trade, not only with Iraq but also 
with Cuba on the issue of agriculture products, specifically rice. 
These two countries along with Iran were countries that we used to send 
our rice to before trade embargoes and sanctions were set.
  So these are some issues that are before the House and before our 
country. It is called food and food supply. I am working along with 
many others to facilitate rice trade with Cuba. I believe that our 
sanctions against Castro's regime, which have been in place since 1963, 
should not prevent our Nation from selling our farm products to the 
people there.
  Madam Speaker, the Cuban people will eat rice just like the Iraqi 
people will; and if we do not sell it to them, they will get it 
somewhere else. Why are we economically hindering ourselves, our 
farmers, and our industries?

[[Page H2727]]

The Cuban market remained closed until this body passed the Trade 
Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. With the reopening 
mandated by this law, rice sales to Cuba have grown to $64 million a 
year. But now we hear that some want to slash back this trade for 
political reasons.
  On February 22 through the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign 
Assets Control, it announced it was redefining what Congress had put 
into law, that being the definition of payment of cash in advance. To 
most folks, payment of cash in advance is not a complicated issue. It 
means what it means. This bureaucracy is getting in the way of 
congressional intent. So Cubans are beginning to look to other nations, 
not surprisingly, Vietnam and Thailand and other sources for their 
rice. So I encourage other Members of this House to co-sign on to H.R. 
1339 to further explain in simple terms to government bureaucrats that 
farmers should be allowed to trade with Cuba on a cash for crop basis.

  I continue to hear from rice farmers in my district that if U.S. 
political leaders would open world markets to American farmers, price 
supports would not be necessary. The modest price support provided by 
the U.S. Government and the greater efficiency of the U.S. agriculture 
production simply are not enough to provide a level international 
playing field and prevent erosion of U.S. agricultural infrastructure. 
We just want markets, Madam Speaker.
  America's food supply is the safest, it is the best quality, it is 
the most abundant and the cheapest in the world. As the agricultural 
society of the United States declines, we will become more and more 
dependent on other countries for our food. This could lead to a 
national security problem.
  It is one thing for this country to become more and more dependent on 
other countries for energy, but we should never get in the position, 
Madam Speaker, that this country becomes dependent on any country for 
our food. We cannot let that happen. It is a national security issue.
  Maybe we should also consider using Texas rice as an alternative fuel 
like Nebraska is doing with corn and Hawaii is doing with sugar. In 
devising a long overdue energy plan, we should capitalize on rice's 
potential. We should be openminded, be innovative, and not depend on 
foreign nations for not only our food but our energy as well. And this 
has great possibilities, Madam Speaker.
  This week is Small Business Week. Farms, the American farmer, the 
American farm family are the best examples of small business in the 
United States. So tonight and tomorrow morning when we push ourselves 
away from our tables, we need to thank the American farmer. We need to 
thank the folks like Ray Stoesser and Jack Wendt. We need to thank 
their families for what they have done to America and for America. They 
are our natural resources, for there is nothing quite like the American 
farmer.
  Madam Speaker, that is just the way it is.

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