Byron Dorgan: “I was driving home last evening after the Agriculture appropriations conference committee, and I was once again struck…”

“I was driving home last evening after the Agriculture appropriations conference committee, and I was once again struck by how some in politics here just sort of shrug off some things that are so important. I am referring especially to the future of family farming. It is true that almost every day you see something around here in which someone treats the important things too lightly and then someone treats the light things in a far too serious way. It is hard to see that things are treated appropriately. There is no more urgent need in this country, in my judgment, than to address the farm crisis at this time. If we do not act on a timely basis, we will not have family farmers left in the Farm Belt given their current circumstances. Again, this chart shows the price of wheat. This is the income our farmers receive for their production. In 1 year in North Dakota, our farmers lost 98 percent of all their net income. It was just washed away. Their net income was virtually all gone. It was a 98 percent drop in their paycheck.”