Congressional apathy hurting U.S. Farmers
By Ron Smith, Farm Press Editorial Staff
CONGRESS has demonstrated extreme apathy by failing to take actions to pull agriculture out of a worsening depression, says a Caddo County, Okla., peanut farmer.
Floyd King stood up at the recent Southwestern Peanut Growers' Assoc-iation annual meeting in Wichita Falls, Texas, to blast congressional inactivity.
"To do nothing for agriculture is appalling," King said. "They raised labor rates but failed to consider ramifications for farmers.
"We don't have anyone (in Congress) who understands and supports agriculture anymore," he said.
King pointed to changes in the peanut program, enacted as part of the Freedom to Farm act, as detrimental to peanut farmers and to the rural communities where they live.
"They cut price support by 10 percent over seven years and raised labor rates. Common sense will tell you that hurt agriculture."
King said farmers have been forced into a desperate situation by a Congress unwilling to make changes to a failed farm policy.
"I would like to see other commodities, corn, wheat, etc., get behind change," he said. "Congress has to change the way it thinks about agriculture."
King said the added clout that major commodity organizations could exert would force legislators to pay attention and "think about agriculture and price supports."
He said current low commodity prices and the erratic nature of grain, cotton and livestock prices could spur interest in program revisions that would bring stability back to agriculture and to rural America.
"We tried to enlist help from other commodities before," he said, "but prices for other commodities were up at the time and they wanted to be able to plant more acreage. Now, we're all in the same boat."
King said Congress must recognize a need to "overhaul all agriculture. We've lost a lot of peanut farmers in the last six years because of apathy in Congress."
Peanut price support levels set
By Paul L. Hollis, Farm Press Editorial Staff
USDA's commodity Credit Corporation has announced the average price support levels by type, quality and location for the 2000 peanut crop. These levels are based on the national loan levels of $610 per ton for quota peanuts and $132 per ton for additional peanuts.
The quota loan by type for an average grade ton of 2000 crop peanuts will be as follows:
* $600.38 per ton for Virginia-type peanuts (1999 level: $602.68).
* $613.92 per ton for runner-type peanuts (1999 level: $613.86).
* $573.59 per ton for Spanish peanuts (1999 level: $572.18).
* $600.38 per ton for Valencia-type peanuts from the Southwest, suitable for cleaning/roasting (1999 level: $602.68).
* $573.59 per ton for other Valencias (1999 level: $572.18).
The method of computing the loan levels for the 2000 crop peanuts and the grades within the types is the same as last year. For each percent of sound, mature kernels in a ton, including sound split kernels, the loan level will be $8.762 for Virginia-type, $8.590 for runner-type and $8.547 for Spanish-type and Valencia-type/roast.
The loan level for additional peanuts is 21.64 percent of the applicable loan price. This factor represents the ratio of $132 per ton average national loan level for additional peanuts to the $610 per ton average national loan level for quota peanuts.
The deductions and discount schedules that were applicable to the 1999 crop generally will be applicable to the 2000 crop. The actual loan level for an individual lot of peanuts depends on the percent of the various sizes of the kernels in each ton of peanuts, in addition to other factors.
