USDA article prompts response
The USDA program article which was recently printed effectively demonstrates the struggles the Marion County farmers and ranchers experienced in 2002. It would be helpful if you would have done a more complete job in your reporting and you would have found some interesting information that would have made the article more useful.
You would have found that according to current government policy, if there are high government payments, it is likely due to a struggling farm economy. The bulk of government payments are a direct result of natural disasters and very low commodity prices. The dairy industry in particular has been struggling to continue to provide high quality food even though prices have plummeted to 25 years lows while input costs escalate annually. This would explain the high number of diary farms on the list.
You would also have found that the reported numbers were actually payment figures from multiple years in some cases and paid out in 2002.
The bulk of these dollars are not lining the farmer's pockets, or invested in 401 K's or other pension plans but were reinvested back in our community by paying for inputs such as feed, seed, fertilizer, and repairs at local businesses. There are the dollars that come back into our community to keep our hospitals, schools, and businesses open. These are our dollars that we sent to Washington, D.C., and now have been reinvested in local businesses throughout our county by your neighbors and friends as farmers and ranchers.
When the agriculture economy improves, we will continue to reinvest money in our communities, but it will be with money that was earned from the market place and not from government payments from USDA.
Dwight M. Flaming
Goessel
