| BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Gary Gollehon hasn' t scratched a
profit from his farm in years. Last spring, he gambled again, planting
much of his farm near Brady in high-quality malting barley, only to see it
wither in the powder-dry soil and be sold instead as cheaper livestock
feed.
Coming off one of the worst droughts, a bad crop and the knowledge that
his farm payments are getting cut again, Gollehon isn' t optimistic things
will turn around anytime soon.
" There have been too many dry years, " said Gollehon, who
farms with his son-in-law in west-central Montana. " We' re hoping
for a good year, but hope' s running out here."
Farmers who had difficulty turning a profit during the drought -- and
that was most of them in Montana -- are facing another whammy next year:
continued withering federal aid.
Payments to farmers with production flexibility contracts will be 20
percent less than they were this year, when high fuel and fertilizer costs
only added to the drought, said Bruce Nelson, state executive director of
the federal Farm Service Agency for Montana.
It is the single largest drop under the seven-year schedule of
declining payments set out in the 1996 farm law, Nelson said.
The law was designed to ease farmers' long-term dependence on the
government by ending a decades-old system of production controls and
lowering federal price supports. In turn, farmers were guaranteed
continued -- but diminishing -- payments through 2002. They also would be
able to plant whatever they liked, without the risk of losing government
subsidies.
Supporters called the program " Freedom to Farm." Opponents
dubbed it a more ominous nickname -- " Freedom to Fail" -- and
they say it has unfortunately proven more accurate.
The expected rise in commodity prices after the adoption of the farm
legislation never happened. Meanwhile, farm payments, which did not allow
for any adjustments for the low market, continued to fall.
In Montana, the payments will drop from about $117.5 million this year
to about $95 million next year, said Bill Flanigan, FSA program
specialist. In Wyoming, payments will fall from $7.5 million to about $6
million.
Producers in Montana, Wyoming and other states have received emergency
federal assistance to try to tide them over. But experts admit it' s no
solution.
In Montana, millions of dollars have been paid to help farmers get
water to their livestock. And land in the Conservation Reserve Program was
opened to haying and grazing to help relieve the shortage of hay for
livestock.
In Glacier County, where drought has visited for the past three years,
livestock already have grazed on much of the small grains that weren' t
salvageable, extension agent Darren Crawford said.
" It' s really tough on people who have started in the last few
years, generally because of their debt load, " he said. " Some
guys who went in without a debt load probably have some now."
Cattle in central Wyoming have been grazing on winter pastures for up
to two months, when they' re normally not turned out until Nov. 1, because
water on their range dried up, said Natrona County agent Tom Heald.
Additional feed for coming months may be necessary. |