Byron Dorgan: “I want to read a letter from Joni Flaten from Langdon, ND. She is a farm wife. We have a huge farm crisis not only in my…”

“I want to read a letter from Joni Flaten from Langdon, ND. She is a farm wife. We have a huge farm crisis not only in my State of North Dakota, but also in the entire wheat belt. Grain prices have collapsed. We have been hit with the toughest, worst outbreak of crop disease in a century in North Dakota. So you take crop disease that devastates the crop and then you add collapsed prices, and you have a calamity for a lot of family farmers. Joni Flaten writes: My husband has been farming now for 18 years. He is a third generation farmer, and with my oldest son graduating last Sunday, we were looking forward to some day having the fourth generation. However, that will no longer be possible for we have been unable to get an operating loan this season due to low grain prices. We are now going to be forced into giving up the family farm, and I'm not sure if there is a lot of need for a 38-year-old combine operator/tractor driver/trucker/run for parts person and be a mother in the work force in North Dakota.”