Farmers Meet With Officials, Ask For Assistance PDF Print E-mail
By JOEL McNEECE
Dozens of Calhoun County farmers overflowed the conference room at Penick Farms in Vardaman Monday afternoon hoping to share the severity of their plight and to find out if any financial assistance might come from Washington, D.C.

The meeting was organized by Con. Travis Childers as part of a "crop disaster tour." Childers, accompanied by USDA Deputy Under Secretary Michael Scuse, said he understood the "plight" local farmers are in.
“Producers throughout North Mississippi are suffering enormous profit losses and local economies are struggling to stay afloat due to heavy rains that have left farmers unable to harvest up to 50% of their crops,” Childers said. “In order to ensure our hard-hit counties childers6receive the relief they need, it’s critical that the USDA, the organization responsible for providing disaster assistance, has a first-hand understanding of the severity of our farmers’ losses. I thank Deputy Under Secretary Scuse for taking the time to tour our district for this very important purpose. I will continue working to enact disaster assistance legislation and to make sure our farmers and communities are able to make a full recovery.”
Exactly when,  how much and what kind of assistance might be forthcoming was the most pressing question put to Childers and his delegation.
"I don't want to mislead anybody," Childers said. "We're at the end of the year and we're trying very hard, but we've got to find an avenue to get this assistance in and I honestly don't know that we can. I promise you we're working hard on it."
Childers, who noted that one of his first votes in Congress was to override Pres. George Bush's veto of the farm bill, introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives with fellow Congressman Marion Berry of Arkansas to provide timely disaster assistance. The legislation includes direct payment assistance to program crops, $650 million in state grants to assist specialty crop producers, and $150 million in assistance for livestock producers.
"We began working on the draft (House Bill 4177) before Thanksgiving," Childers said. "Sen. (Thad) Cochran filed a complimentary bill in the Senate. He understands the need."
Childers explained that with less than two weeks left in the 2009 session, it is a "serious challenge" to get the bills approved prior to the end of the year.
"Everyone that doesn't represent an agricultural district doesn't see and/or understand the need like we do," Childers said. "We can get some help next fall, but you don't have to tell me how that will be too late for many of the farmers in this room."
Agriculture economists at MSU estimate that state crop losses are nearing $485 million, exceeding 30 percent of the state’s overall crop value. Based on crop reports, MSU noted that nearly 64% of the state’s sweet potatoes, 50% of cotton, 44% of soybeans, and 41% of grain sorghum will also be lost this year. In November, 79 of Mississippi’s 82 counties were granted primary disaster designations.
Rob Langston, with Penick Farms in Vardaman, opened the Monday meeting in Vardaman with a slideshow of pictures highlighting the extreme wet conditions experienced this fall that devastated the sweet potato crop.
Langston pointed to tractors stuck in the mud, the disparity in size of this year's potatoes, molded soybeans, and the extensive rot of sweet potatoes that were harvested from the fields.
"It broke my heart to see that International tractor stuck in the field," USDA Deputy Under Secretary Michael Scuse said. "I'm a 'red' guy."
childers20Scuse, of Delaware, said he's a producer of corn, soybeans and wheat and he relates to the difficulties Calhoun County farmers are experiencing.
"I have been where you are," Scuse said. "I've told my banker before I can't make that payment in the spring."
Scuse said the disastrous crop year isn't limited to the Southeast.
"This weather took everybody by surprise," he said. "25% of the corn and beans are still in the fields up North."
Scuse emphasized that farmers need to begin working now on their credit for next spring.
"The credit situation in this country is becoming more and more difficult, and for agriculture it's even worse," Scuse said. "(Farming) is a high-risk industry and commercial banks are looking long and hard at who they lend to."
Lou Zemek, a highway patrolman and dairy farmer from Bruce, said he’s tried to work on getting his credit due to the recent hard times and the government setting his milk prices for him.
“I had great credit 18 months ago and now it’s terrible,” Zemek said. “I’ve tried every possible way to work with creditors, but I can’t get an FSA loan.”
Zemek complained to Scuse about Washington and local USDA offices not being on the same page.
Scuse said the SURE (Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments) Program has been held up in Washington, D.C. and they are "trying to get it out the door as soon as possible."
Scuse also said that NAP (Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program) will not provide the coverage needed for sweet potato farmers as a "specialized crop producer."
Jamie Earp, of Houlka, vice-president of the Sweet Potato Council, urged Scuse to get Washington to address flaws in the NAP program that provides the same amount of money for a small acreage farmer as it does much larger ones.
Earp stressed that there are many second and third generation farmers in this area that are the backbone of the local economy.
"We're sustaining and creating jobs here," Earp said. "We need some help."
Earp explained that sweet potato acreage has grown from approximately 12,000 acres in 2000 to nearly 20,000 today.
"Without some help to pay these crop loans, there will be considerably less acreage next year," Earp said.
Several farmers complained that crop insurance regulations are costing them money, while the value of their crops has virtually disappeared.
"I understand the number of people that will be impacted," Childers said. "These are not just farm jobs but many more."
“These jobs aren’t likely to come back either unless we get some loans,” said Benny Graves, secretary/treasurer of the Sweet Potato Council.
Scuse encouraged the Sweet Potato Council to invest in a study to determine the "multiplier" – meaning the far-reaching impact the success or failure of the sweet potato crop has per acre. He said it's a critical leverage figure when lobbying for more assistance.
Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell said he considers farming a national security issue and stressed the importance of keeping young farmers in the business. He said a year like this, without assistance, could drive many of them out of the industry.
The question from the audience of farmers kept coming back to what are the odds something gets done this year in terms of financial assistance?
"I don't know," Childers said. "I know it couldn't have happened if we didn't get a bill filed. The more support we get the better our chance of getting it done. That's why these meetings are so crucial."
Childers said he met with U.S. House leadership last week to explain the importance of the bill for farmers. He said with help from Sen. Cochran, Con. Berry, and Sen Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, chairman of the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, they hope to get it in, but the odds are still stacked against them as the clock ticks fast toward the end of the 2009 session.
Graves urged Childers and other Washington leaders to develop a plan B if nothing is passed this year.
Childers said if an assistance bill didn't happen in 2009, he and Con. Berry would be introducing it again the first day possible in January.