High Fuel Costs Are Kicking Them While They’re Down, Farmers Say

Sep. 11–HUTCHINSON — Legislators listen as farmers list woes

Energy costs were the N 1 issue on the minds of farmers attending Legislators Day events Saturday at the Kansas State Fair.

“Look around you and you’ll see some of your neighbors who won’t be farming next year,” Farm Bureau president Steve Baccus told farmers and legislators attending the annual Farm Bureau breakfast at the Kansas Cosmosphere.

Baccus said energy costs for the average Kansas farm have gone up $14,000 over last year and represent fixed costs that farmers can’t avoid paying.

“If you are going to harvest fall crops or if you are going to plant wheat, you are burning fuel,” he said. “It’s unavoidable.”

As fertilizer prices have almost doubled and diesel fuel sells for $2.20 a gallon, the price of corn has fallen to $1.70 a bushel.

“Do the math. This doesn’t work,” Baccus said.

Kansas Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts and 1st District U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran had one clear message for the farmers: “We hear you.”

“I think we will open a portion of the Alaskan wildlife refuge (the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) to drilling,” Roberts said. “And we absolutely must address the need for additional refining capacity.”

Roberts said four Kansas refineries could be put back on line if environmental rules were relaxed.

Brownback said the current energy bill will help by offering incentives for alternative energy and fuel-efficient cars. He also predicted new legislation to address the need for expanding existing refineries and building new ones.

On an issue not related to energy, Moran also said the House is expected to take up legislation before the end of the month to impose trade sanctions against Japan if it does not reopen its borders to U.S. beef.

Roberts and Brownback also support a U.S. refusal to buy Japanese beef and other products if the ban remains.

They reiterated their stand on energy policy at the annual WIBW live radio forum later in the day.

Roberts told a packed Farm Bureau arena that energy is hitting the agriculture industry harder than any other industry.

Even as the farmers and legislators discussed economic issues, however, the shadow of Hurricane Katrina loomed large.

Roberts and Moran agreed that scheduled discussions of $3 billion in cuts to agriculture appropriations probably won’t happen.

“We’re facing huge demand increases for food stamps and Medicaid assistance,” Roberts said. “At a time when so much is undecided, I just don’t expect those talks to happen.”

Moran pointed out that nutrition programs, including food stamps and school lunches, account for 55 percent of agriculture spending.

“I don’t see how we can make cuts without knowing what we need to spend in the aftermath of Katrina,” he said.

The day’s events also included an appeal for Kansas farmers to help their colleagues along the Gulf Coast, where Katrina’s less-publicized damage has wiped out thousands of poultry operations, killed livestock and left farmers with fields under 10 feet of water.

“I think it says something about the spirit of Kansas and of America that we can talk about the financial challenges facing our own farmers and at the same time ask for — and get — help for those even worse off,” Roberts said. “Only in America. Especially in Kansas.”

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