When the last summer holiday weekend passes, it will be time for Congressmen to fish or cut bait.

Tuesday, September 07, 1999

When the last summer holiday weekend passes, it will be time for Congressmen to fish or cut bait.

As far as American farmers are concerned, the waiting is over and action is needed. Low prices for their commodities, drought in many areas, crop infestation, storage space at a premium – all that and the uncertainties about harvest spell "emergency" to them.

First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht will return to Washington, D.C. after the Labor Day weekend and be faced with a decision for farmers and others -what to do about the $7.4 billion emergency farm appropriation bill passed by the U.S. Senate a month ago.

Gutknecht and his staff have been holding meetings to sound-out farmers in the First District and Brian Hanson, a rural Grand Meadow soybean grower, knows what the congressmen has been hearing.

"People are frustrated," Hanson said. "I think American farmers are resolved that there must be a way out of this mess, but, it’s a fact of life, these kind of frustrations can’t continue in agriculture."

Hanson attended Wednesday’s Plot Day events sponsored by the Mower County Corn Growers Association in a test plot field along side Central Co-op south of Austin.

He introduced Sam Willett, legislative director for Congressman Gutknecht, to the assembled farmers.

The $7.4 billion Senate bill will go to a House-Senate conference committee after Congress returns from its August recess next week.

The Senate bill includes aid for farmers that was not included in the House version of the appropriation bill and much of that money would go to farmers in additional cash payments.

The low commodity prices that saw pork prices fall to all-time lows early this year and grain prices plummet this spring and summer have crippled American farmers. So have the devastating drought conditions in the east.

The emergency relief has been criticized by some for helping large farmers and not the ones who need it the most.

The Environmental Working Group looked at the distribution of federal farm subsidies and estimated more than 37,000 individuals, corporations and joint ventures with addresses in the nation’s 50 largest cities will be eligible for an estimated $365 million in payments.

The study also showed at least $1.1 billion will go to recipients who do not reside in the same state in which the subsidized farms are located.

Small farmers may get payments, but the largest farm landlords will get more, according to the study.

Willett and others on Gutknecht’s staff, as well as the congressman himself, have been hearing an earful from farmers who echo Hanson’s frustrations.

"That’s what the Congressman wanted from the meetings he held in the district," Willett said. "To get feedback from farmers. He wanted to hear their reaction to the farm package proposals."

And, Willett has heard the same. According to the congressman’s staffer, one of the most often expressed concerns is "How to distribute the dollars?" Farmers want it targeted to help those who need it the most.

"They are also talking about extending the loan periods and storing 1198’s crop with the anticipated, at least here in the Midwest, bumper crop to come soon," Willett said.

"Maybe, storage assistance is needed, but whatever the concerns of farmers, I really believe most farmers understand there just are no easy answers to agriculture’s problems," he said.

"The meetings the Congressman has had with Minnesota farmers have been very constructive, but I can tell you they are very frustrated and when Congress returns to Washington after Labor Day, they’re going to be wrestling with these issues and it won’t be easy," Willett said.