Charles W. Stenholm: “I rise in support of H.R. 1342. Mr. Speaker, it has become apparent from meeting with farmers and discussing the…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 1342. Mr. Speaker, it has become apparent from meeting with farmers and discussing the situation with the chairman, that farmers in winter wheat States who have expiring Conservation Reserve Program [CRP] contracts will probably not have adequate time to react should those contracts not be reenrolled in the CRP. In other words, these particular producers will not be able to prepare the ground and begin to summer fallow their acreage in time to ensure adequate moisture for fall planting. I am supporting the chairman's efforts to help these producers who were caught in a timing crunch through no fault of their own. I would have preferred that we would have completed the farm bill in a reasonable time so that we wouldn't be in this position today. We have a large number of acres expiring in 1 year because a great deal of them received a 1-year extension due to the fact that the farm bill was not completed in 1995. Now the USDA is under tremendous pressure to make quick decisions on how many acres of the nearly 26 million bid into the program should be accepted.”