Hall-Childress Soil and Water Conservation District No. 109 We appreciate your willingness to take the time to listen to our concerns and views on the current and past agriculture policy. We know you are concerned about plight and know you are willing to make policy based on what is best for the Agriculture producers of America. Respectfully, Arch Hutcheran Dick Hutcherson, Chairman མི་ཚ་ Curtis Scrivner, Vice Chairman Ruth Jo Pete Jones, Secretary Don Ray Crook, member A.J. Johnson, member CC: Kay Bailey Hutchison Mac Thornberry Phil Graham Warren Chisum Susan Combs Pete Laney CONSERVATION DEVELOPMENT SELF GOVERNMENT Don Hilbers 813 Dogwood Idalou, Tx. 79329 806-892-2982 3/22/00 Thank you Chairman Combest and the rest of the members of the Committee on Agriculture for coming to Lubbock on March 6, 2000, to hear from producers on agriculture policy. I am a full time farmer from Idalou, Texas. We annually grow 850 acres of irrigated cotton. I have been farming for 22 years. Mike Mauldin from Security Bank Idalou, testified on the fourth panel. His proposal was to bring back the Target Price program under the 1990 farm bill. We in the Idalou farm community think this would be a very good thing to do. It would be easy to implement and would just be added to the present farm program. Rules and regulations on the Target price program already exist. Your aid, Alan Mackey, knows as much as anyone on the old farm bill and could easily help implement the target price portion of it. Concerning Federal Crop Insurance. The only thing wrong with crop insurance is getting coverage on enough yield. Seems like F.C.I C. does not want to cover a producers full yield. Only 65% of yield is currently economically justified to insure. If we could insure 100% of proven yield, at a reasonable cost, then we would have a decent crop insurance program. As long as the people involved in making the rules and regulations of Federal Crop Insurance want it to be actuarially sound, then the farmer will end up with inadequate coverage. The solution: Tell the bureaucrates the way it is going to be, and then make them leave it alone. Thank you again Chairman Combest and the entire Committee on Agriculture for coming to Lubbock. Don Hilbers Enskilter Dick Hutcherson 520 N 13th Memphis, Texas 79245 March 26, 2000 Dear Members: I respectfully present these suggestions to the Congressional Agriculture Committee for your consideration. I have been farming for the last 20 years in Hall County and have seen several farm programs come and go. Some have been better than others. Currently we just need to get enough money off our raw products to profit from farming. Most farmers will agree to give up subsidy payments if we could market our products where we could make a profit. Some of our main problems now deal with low prices. With the rising cost of production and the stagnant price of raw products we are sinking deeper in debt. Below are several other problems, which seem to be active in the last farm programs. A Stop Government policies that reduce exports. B. Set controls on imports. C. If we keep competing against other subsidizing countries (through Nafta) we need to be subsidized accordingly. D. Relax environmental regulations to reduce cost of production. E. Pay more attention to parity. F. Stop inefficient policies that increase cost and reduce effectiveness of programs. I appreciate your willingness to take the time to listen to my concerns and views. I know you are concerned about plight and know you are willing to make policy based on what is best for the Agriculture producers of America. Respectfully, suke Kutcheran Dick Hutcherson Pete Jones. Tell, Texas 79259 March 26, 2000 Dear Members: I respectfully present these suggestions to the Congressional Agriculture Committee for your consideration. I have been farming for the last 20 years in Childress County and have seen several farm programs. come and go. Some have been better than others. Currently we just need to get enough money off our raw products to profit from farming. Most farmers will agree to give up subsidy payments if we could market our products where we could make a profit: Some of our main problems now deal with low prices. With the rising cost of production and the stagnant price of raw products we are sinking deeper in debt. Below are several other problems, which seem to be active in the last farm programs. A Stop Government policies that reduce exports. B. Set controls on imports. C. If we keep competing against other subsidizing countries (through Nafta) we need to be subsidized accordingly. D. Relax environmental regulations to reduce cost of production. E. Pay more attention to parity. F. Stop inefficient policies that increase cost and reduce effectiveness of programs. I appreciate your willingness to take the time to listen to my concems and views. I know you are concerned about plight and know you are willing to make policy based on what is. best for the Agriculture producers of America. Respectfully, Lets Pete Jones I work profit for grow pasemen Combest. e grain triticale, both as a research agronomist and a grower. This crop has excellent potential to create a ep in the Southern Plains. Attached find university data showing the value of triticale. he USA is now over one million acres (many farmers turn in their acres to the FSA as wheat because they are afraid the govt will change the wheat rules in the future). A major stumbling block to growing triticale is the lack of ble insurance for the farmer. The growers need to be able to show their banker that the crop is protected in case of . I understand that under provisions of the new crap insurance law that you wrote, that the Sec. of Agriculture has the allow minor crops like triticale to be included for insurance protection just like wheat. If this is true, I respectfully ☛ Sec. Glickman to designate triticale as an insurable crop. the farmer one more weapon in his battle to survive. Triticale is poised to increase dramatically in acreage if the regulatory climate does not hinder its growth. I appreciate your help, and thank you for your good efforts on behalf of the American farmer. Ron Kershan |