Kent Conrad: “I wanted an opportunity to talk about the farm crisis that is now facing our country, and certainly facing my State. I…”

“I wanted an opportunity to talk about the farm crisis that is now facing our country, and certainly facing my State. I represent North Dakota, which is one of the most agricultural States in the Nation. There is no question that our farmers are facing a crisis of really unprecedented proportion. As I go around my State, every place that I have a farm meeting, farmers have a sense of hopelessness. One of the reasons is that is happening to farm income. I have just come from a hearing where the Secretary of Agriculture is testifying. We were talking there about the pattern of farm income. It is very interesting, if you back out Government payments, which have been increasing now in the last several years in response to this economic calamity--in 1996, farm income absent Government payments was $46 billion. This year farm income, absent Government payments, is estimated to be $27 billion. Farm income from the prices that farmers receive for the commodities they sell is in a virtual free-fall. This chart shows headlines from the newspapers back home talking about what is happening to farm prices. The first one is from the major paper in our State: ``Going down, down, down. USDA sees lower prices for wheat, corn, soybeans, and other major crops.'' Another major story: ``Lower crop prices predicted.'' Again, the story is the same--collapsing farm prices. Farmers have been hurt by more than low prices.”