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The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise, Thursday, October 3, 2002
perverse.
Farm law traditionalists,
parroting in parts partisan
rhetoric and anti-farm support
dogma, shouted so long and
hard against the old freedom
to farm bill, they won back the
most perverse aspect that
historically has characterized
farm bills. That is, when prices
are good, the supports fail
away. That doesn't sound per-
verse until one realizes why
prices are good. That means
many good farms and farmers
have nothing much to sell at
any price.
A leading private agrono-
mist in southwestern Kansas
earlier said this drought was
going to. be very hard on family
farms.
Many is the farmer I've
heard this fall talk about har-
vesting "half a crop" on non-
irrigated land. And we've
documented in this space the
rising numbers of bankrupt-
cies and sellouts.
Had we waited just one
year before installing new leg-
islation, as many wanted to
do, farmers would have re-
ceived far more support pay-
ments than they will now. For
wheat growers the difference is
probably 60 cents a bushel or
more.
As of this writing, at least
two familiar payments are lost
to -- irony, irony -- higher
market prices. Again, that
would be great if there was
anything to sell.
So, with two support fea-
tures knocked out, that leaves
only one or two more.
Many of-us have seen the
charts. Even with widespread
crop insurance, this year's
farm bill is no match for the
previous one in terms of sup-
porting farmers with cash.
That's why disaster aid was
so important. Someday law-
makers are going to under-
stand that it is stupid to write
farm bills without some pro-
tection against poor yields
being built into the legislation.
Some other things get lost
in the farm bill rhetoric each
time we go through it. They
include the fact that all the
other so-called rifles in a farm
bill add to many, many more
billions of dollars than those
paid out to producers.
The food programs, for ex-
ample, annually exceed by
twice or three times what is
paid to farmers. It is not un-
common for the various food
subsidies to cost around $30
billion. Do away with school
breakfast, school lunch, WIC
and food stamps, and see how
long you last politically. Most
of those users come from De-
mocratic precincts or voter
bases, and we never hear them
complain about those expen-
ditures. They did complain
about EQIP (a manure control
subsidy effort) funding to big
farms and big companies, as
well as to smaller ones, despite
that money being destined to
help proteefi water quality, an
environmental issue one
would think just about every-
body, including most Democ-
rats and most Republicans,
would support.
When what's good for a
given political party overrides
what's best for the nation, it is
time to throttle those respon-
sible. We need, as a nation,
The view from
Route #8
by Jim Suber
production agriculture. We
need, as a nation, clean water.
We also don't want to receive
starving children at school, so
we feed them.
Despite recent rain in some
places, the drought continues.
It is thought by some experts
that it will persist two or three
more years. Therefore, it might
be wise to put some language
into the current farm bill that
provides more support for
farmers who wind up with
less, little or nothing to sell.
And one more thing. It's all
right to look after our fellow
Americans first before worry-
ing whether some provision in
a farm support bill is going to
offend a trading partner whose
own subsidies are still triple
what ours are. That would be
Europe I'm talking about. We
need to do what we need to do
for us first.
shorts.
Impressionistic flashes
collected while mind-traveling
around...
If Wallace County has a
creek named Willow that still
has water on its surface, then
steps to preserve it as a na-
tionai wonder might be in or-
der. Forget the ballyhooed
problem of stocked bass eating
the hallowed Topeka shiners
in it. Go for finding that
stream's source. Wallace
County has been one of the
driest places on earth the last
couple of years.
One hopes the much-
publicized $752 million in
drought aid for livestock pro-
ducers in parts or all of 37
states will help. Time will tell.
The payments will go to some
producers in only 40 Kansas
counties. The thing is, many
more counties than that are
affected by dry weather, al-
though eight more could be-
come eligible...
Here's another news flash:
the drought isn't over, and
even if it ended today, it would
take a number of one-inch
rains to restore normal levels
of subsoil moisture, stream
flows, reservoir elevations and
pond holdings...
• I don't ever want to make
any individual feel bad, but
sometimes stepping on toes is
necessary. Sometimes small
town businessmen are ex-
tremely beleaguered by many
forces, and they receive little
assistance from the govern-
ment. So when the govern-
ment does something to try to
help farmers, often the town
cousins don't understand, at
least not on an emotional
level. So, if you're a producer,
you might try not to complai9
or appear to be complaining in
front of some of these mer-
chants. On the other hand,
the non-farmers in small
towns still derive a lot of bene-
fit if their farm and ranch
neighbors are prospering...
Good luck to the Washing-
ton group that is trying to take
away PETA's tax exempt
status. At issue is a $1,500
grant PETA made to the North
American Liberation Front,
according to the Center for
Defense of Free Enterprise.
The ELF has been classified by
the FBI as a domestic terrorist
organization, a claim I made
about PETA about a year ago
after its leadership suggested
in England that what America
needed was a big outbreak of
foot and mouth disease...
If researchers at Tulane
University and the University
of Kansas are able to prove
that Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
and its variant, known as the
human form of mad cow dis-
ease, are really spread by a
bacterium carried by insects,
that could mean the diseases
could be treated by antibiotics.
Stay tuned...
And finally, this is the sort
of thing one thinks he saw or
heard, but cannot quite come
up with the definitive answer
when asked: How much heav-
ier are beef carcasses today
than they used to be? Well,
according to the Kansas Beef
Council, carcass weights have
increased an average six
pounds each year since 1975.
That would be 162 pounds.
The average since 1997 has
been nine pounds a year. The
council says that each one-
pound increase in carcass
weight is the equivalent to
nearly 1,000 more head
slaughtered each week. So
there you have it, a ready an-
swer. The real issue, though,
is how to keep it moving at a
profit by increasing real de-
mand.
llllllll
~Letters to the Editor)
All Letters to the Editor
must be signed and will be
printed exactly as written.
They will be printed in the
order they are received.
They do not necessarily re-
flect the viewpoint of this
paper. Letters to the Editor
are limited to 500 words per
letter. Additional space will
be charged the regular rate
of advertisement.
To The Editor,
I have some questions for
the #330 School Board Mem-
bers and Superintendent
Schmidt regarding quality
education for our students.
How many full and part-
time employees does District
#330 have?
The number of out-of-
district students attending our
schools at the present time?
There were 37 students ap-
proved as listed in the board
minutes; however, this was
before deadline for enrolling.
The State provides $3,870 per
student. How much additional
cost above this for our district
to educate them? Could each
student be asked to pay tui-
tion if State aid is not covering
their cost?
According to the Topeka
Capital~loumal report of
August 11, 2002, due to the
budget crisis, there is a Pay-
To-Participate charge of
$25.00 activity fee for the Em-
poria High School students.
Quoted also in article, "In
Kansas, 29 districts at the end
of 2001-02 school were using
Pay-to-Play. This year the
number may be between 60
and 90 schools". Lawrence
High schools last years' fee
was $25 for sports as well as
extracurricular programs but
since this was not meeting
expenses the
suggested $50
2002---04 for each
The September
Topeka
new Kansas State
Activities
saying "We're
that we have not
bership dues.
school pays to be
KSHSA is $400
high schools;
high/middle school
How many
Sporting Events
participate in? On
calendar, some
listed almost
ning as well
sure sporting
precedence over
ricular activities
I believe a
program along
skills provided
Trade Schools,
sentiai. There are
tivities, Scouts,
"Home Life" which
ing experience also.
I trust these
be answered.
S
• t I!
Because he and
Andrew "Old
were so close, james
often referred to as
Hickory." ~
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T
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Cocktails: 5:30 p.m. Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
Ag Hall, Kansas Expocentre
Topeka, KS
Tickets:
$45.00 (banquet & membership)
$25.00 (spouse &/youth tickets at the door
INFORMATION
Steve Damron
256-6639
Jeff Whisler
478-4003
Great Raffle Items
Fun
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TICKETS
Rusty's
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