Jerry Moran: “In Kansas today the combines and harvest crews are rolling through day 13 of the 2003 wheat harvest. Farm trucks and…”

“In Kansas today the combines and harvest crews are rolling through day 13 of the 2003 wheat harvest. Farm trucks and semi-trailers crowd the highways and gravel roads bringing Kansas's most celebrated crop from the fields to the grain bins and local elevators. After a few days of rain, harvest is now in full throttle in the southern half of the largest wheat producing State. And with just under 20 percent of the harvest in, there is some good news to report. The yields are good and the landscape is of golden waves of grain, a welcomed change from the scenery of a year ago. Two thousand and two was one of the worst years that farmers in Kansas ever faced. Because of severe drought wheat yields were poor, many families had net incomes of zero and farm equities plunged, the trickle down effect of the hard hit causing cash-flow problems for rural businesses and closing down stores on main streets in many small towns across our State. But after consecutive years of natural disaster, Kansans can finally be cautiously optimistic this year. The harvest reports from producers are more positive and even a little upbeat this year, and the cause for that improvement can best be described in one word, rain. Thanks to the spring rains, many producers are getting their first wheat crop in 3 to 4 years. By the time this harvest is completed the first part of July almost 10 million acres of wheat will have been cut, the largest acreage harvested in our State in the last 5 years.”