Kent Conrad: “I support the effort of my colleague from Montana, Senator Burns. This is not any of our preferred solutions to the…”

“I support the effort of my colleague from Montana, Senator Burns. This is not any of our preferred solutions to the problem faced by our barley producers. Very frankly, the barley farmers have been left short. They were told very clearly last year that if the new farm bill passed, they would get 46 cents a bushel. Somebody made a mistake. It is still not clear to me who did or precisely how they did, but the fact is, a mistake was made. Instead of getting 46 cents, barley producers are going to get 32 cents, 30 percent less. Very clearly, farmers were told 46 cents. They were told the prices and amounts that were going to be paid were estimates, no question about that. But they were told, and told repeatedly, that the amounts that they would actually receive would be close to those estimates. I was in dozens of meetings where they were told it would be close to those estimates; maybe a few cents difference. And, indeed, if you look at corn, they were told it was going to be 27 cents. It turned out to be 24 cents. On wheat, they were told it was going to be 92 cents. It turned out to be 87 cents. Everybody understood those differences. But when it comes to barley, they were told 46 cents, and it turned out to be 32 cents. Not a 5-percent difference, not a 10-percent difference, a 30-percent difference. Is there any wonder that barley producers across the country are wondering, is there anything straight that comes out of Washington?”