Bob Kerrey: “as to the income, the proposal in the conference report would be, approximately, for corn, 7 cents a bushel. That does…”

“as to the income, the proposal in the conference report would be, approximately, for corn, 7 cents a bushel. That does not get the farmer much closer to either recovering the cost of production nor providing his banker confidence to lend him money again next year, and significantly, of all the tests that I trust as to whether or not the President's proposal should be a part of the conference report or not, economists will come forward and argue on both sides of practically any proposal you come out with. The Independent Bankers of America have endorsed taking the caps off the loan rate, not because it provides more income, and by no means does it provide a sufficient amount of income that we won't still have significant people going broke, but because it is attached to a marketing loan, it increases the chances that farmers who will need operating loans will be able to get them. Likewise, this conference report is inadequate because provisions were dropped that were passed in the Senate in July, which were to require price reporting for beef, and meat labeling requirements as well. The conferees have said to farmers and ranchers that they think the livestock markets work just fine. But I am here in a brief period of time to say that the markets are not working. Cattle feeders and ranchers have lost more than $2 billion in equity this year, with millions more being lost every week.”