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Wednesday, July 29, 1998
Agriculture secretary gets firsthand look at wilting farms
Associated Press
NEWCASTLE, Okla. -- Georgia Arterberry holds a shriveled corncob in her right hand as the brown stalks of her drought-stricken, 200-acre crop crackle underfoot. The corn that should be 9 feet tall is barely half that.
"It's the worst crop I've ever seen," says the 70-year-old Arterberry, whose family has farmed this area for six generations. "It's already burnt up."
State officials estimate up to $6.6 billion in agriculture-related losses in Oklahoma and Texas because of the persistent drought, which is withering crops and forcing ranchers to sell off underweight cattle at a loss because there is no feed for them.
Temperatures have topped 100 degrees in Texas every day since July 6, and little rain has fallen in southern Oklahoma since late April.
"We'd like to see some of the farmers protected against this kind of catastrophe," said Emmett Matthews, 78, who last year earned $27,500 from a 103-acre peanut crop that is dying now in nearby Pauls Valley. "Our drought is causing quite a burden on these farmers around here."
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman began a two-day tour Tuesday to assess the damage in Texas and Oklahoma, but drought also is causing significant losses in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. The conditions are depressing exports and huge worldwide grain stocks are slashing prices and reducing farm income overall.
The Republican 1996 "Freedom to Farm" law, however, ended traditional disaster assistance programs in favor of crop insurance. The problem is that the insurance policies include restrictions limiting coverage for farmers who suffer repeated losses and they do nothing for livestock producers.
"We do not have a predictable, sensible, reliable risk management system which will protect people against acts of God," Glickman said. "We don't have any resources to deal with this problem."
For example, Texas and most of Oklahoma have been declared federal disaster areas, entitling farmers to low-interest loans. But they have to demonstrate 30 percent loss in row crops and must be turned down by two other lenders before they can qualify. People who once had a government loan written down in the past cannot qualify at all.
Livestock producers -- Texas is the No. 1 cattle state and Oklahoma ranks fourth -- don't even have that. Many must feed cattle their winter hay stocks now because pastures are scorched. Some are selling herds, further depressing the price and cutting into farm incomes.
The Oklahoma City stockyards last week auctioned off 14,000 head on a single day, compared with 6,800 the same time a year ago.
"If things don't change, I'll venture to say there's a good percentage of farmers who won't be here," said Jim Roberts, 62, who raises crops and cattle in McClain County, Okla.
Glickman visited the cattle ranch of Harold Pruett in Decatur, Texas, later Tuesday to announce some short-term relief for livestock producers. Ranchers in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico who already are grazing their animals on land reserved under the federal conservation reserve program can leave the animals there for an additional two months, until Nov. 30.
"That extra couple of months will provide some help," Glickman said.
In Washington, the Senate has voted for $500 million in emergency farm aid, but half of that is headed for the Upper Midwest, where excessive moisture and wheat disease have triggered steep losses. Glickman said that number will have to be raised to cover all losses, perhaps up to nearly $1 billion, when a compromise emerges from Senate-House spending negotiations.
Some of that money would go to farmers who have suffered losses in three of the past five years and to replenish a now-exhausted program that helps livestock producers buy feed and recover from deaths of animals.
Beyond that, Glickman said in an interview that the administration will make a major push early next year to reform crop insurance. Among the proposals he is considering: removal of penalties for farmers suffering repeated natural disasters, allowing coverage for farmers trying a new crop and beefing up coverage for livestock.
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