Jerry Moran: “local commodity prices are becoming an everyday story for Kansas farmers and ranchers. Last week was no exception, with…”

“local commodity prices are becoming an everyday story for Kansas farmers and ranchers. Last week was no exception, with headlines like ``October Farm Prices Show an Abrupt Drop'' and ``Farm-Price Index Suffers the Biggest Drop on Record.'' Last Wednesday, data showed that farmers' prices were reduced the largest amount in 1 month, 9.5 percent. The decline between September and October is the sharpest month-to-month price drop in 91 years, since USDA began recording farm prices in 1910. The corn price, $1.79 for October, was down 12 cents from September. Twelve cents may not sound like much, but for the State of Kansas, that is a loss of $50 million to the State's economy. Soybean prices plunged 43 cents to $4.10 cents a bushel, 35 cents below the price just 1 year ago. For the average Kansas farmer who plants about 150 acres of soybeans, that is a 1-month loss of about $1,500 on his or her fall harvest. Farmers know that grain prices always drop around harvest time, but even the Department of Agriculture admitted last week that ``the breadth of this downturn is unanticipated.'' Grain producers were not the only ones affected. The index of meat prices fell 4.2 percent, hog prices at $41 per hundredweight declined $4.10, and cattle prices fell to $67.50, down $1.50. The news of this dramatic price drop is bad not only for agricultural producers, but for all of us who depend upon American agriculture for the security of our food supply.”