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The first farm/ranch stop was Wednesday afternoon at state Sen. Ed Schrock's farm southwest of Elm Creek. The senator was busy in Lincoln at the Nebraska Legislature, so his sons Ted and Tom, the fourth generation of the family to farm, hosted the congressional visit.

Wednesday's tour continued to the Joel Bergman farm and Agri Co-op in Holdrege, and today's stops were to include the George and Barb Cooksley Ranch near Merna, Adams Land & Cattle Co. and Jennie Melham Memorial Medical Center in Broken Bow, and the IBP beef processing plant in Lexington. Water issues and ethanol will be discussed Friday in Hastings.

Osborne's Washington, D.C., and in-state were on the tour. John Hanson of Lexington, senior agriculture adviser for Osborne, said all but one of the staff members has a Nebraska background. The one without Nebraska ties grew up on a Minnesota farm.

Still, Osborne said he wanted to be sure they all had a first-hand look at the people and places most affected by federal policies. The tour also was another opportunity for ag producers and agribusiness operators to share ideas with Osborne, who has been appointed to the House Ag Committee.

After his election, Osborne hosted ag issues meetings throughout the 3rd District. He has organized a 16-member ag advisory group that will meet with him four times a year.

Ted Schrock and his Elm Creek-area neighbors reviewed a variety of ag issues with Osborne and his staff Wednesday, starting with the main issue for all Nebraska farmers.

"Grain is too cheap, but what do we do about it?" said Schrock, who farms and raises cattle with his dad, brother and two uncles.

The Schrock farm is diversified. The enterprises include growing white corn for the Frito-Lay plant in Gothenburg, producing seed corn for the DEKALB plant in Kearney and renting land used to grow potatoes. Schrock said a part of risk management is to "try different things and hope something works."

When asked by Osborne about his concerns as a young farmer, Schrock said, "It's a little frustrating to see guys I graduated with from UNL who aren't checking cattle on Sundays, and they're getting paid better."

He said cattle barely make money, "and grain is a no-win situation. I'm tired of working for the USDA, but then every other country subsidizes (agriculture)." Schrock would like to see demand for farm products increase so producers don't have to continually think about what federal programs should look like.

Adding to the problems for 2001 are high fuel costs that Schrock said could increase the farm's fuel budget by one-third to one-half.

High natural gas costs are having a big effect on anhydrous ammonia prices, but the Schrock family uses liquid nitrogen applied through pivots. "Through the year, you spoon feed it," Schrock said. "So if you get a big rain, you don't lose it."

Neighbor Larry Lindstrom told Osborne, "If we didn't have good neighbors, it would be a lot tougher, believe me ... We're somewhat independent until we're in trouble."

Osborne said he has sent a copy of the position paper developed by his advisory committee to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Larry Combest of Texas.

"I think we've done our homework. I think we have a pretty good idea of what people in Nebraska are talking about," Osborne said.

Going into the town hall meetings, he was told farmers and ranchers couldn't agree on anything. But he learned there was general agreement on issues such as environmental regulations, the importance of world trade and the need to put teeth into trade efforts such as the World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement.

Still, Osborne knows that some ideas appealing to Nebraska farmers are going to be tough to sell in other parts of the country. For example, he said Nebraskans are interested in ideas about flexible fallow programs with loan rate incentives, but that's not appealing to farmers in Indiana.

Osborne believes that environmental programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program, will work only if the payments provide a reasonable return for producers.

It probably will be awhile before farmers and ranchers are offered payments for the carbon-holding value of their rangeland or idled cropland. Carbon sequestration has been discussed as an environmental benefit at WTO talks about global warming.

"It's out there," Osborne said. "It's kind of vague. So no one knows what might come of it as far as payments."

Barb Cooksley of Anselmo, his staff adviser on livestock, said research is going ahead on the issue. "There are so many questions about it," she said. "We don't know what it's worth."

Osborne said his time as a congressman so far has involved being sworn in, getting the keys to his office and hiring staff. He won't start getting an idea of House attitudes on issues until the legislative session begins Monday.

He plans to propose legislation to give ag land the same one-time $500,000 capital gains exemption now allowed for the sale of homes. Other important ag issues will include writing the new Farm Bill; a proposed moratorium on ag industry consolidations, such as the proposed IBP/Tyson merger; and enhancing ethanol use and ag exports.

"We think ethanol (use) has a chance to triple," Osborne said and expressed relief that former President Bill Clinton didn't give California a requested exemption from fuel standards required under the Clean Air Act.

When asked if the new administration will get behind ethanol, Osborne said President George W. Bush has told Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns that he supports ethanol. Yet there still is concern about the effect of Bush's and Vice-President Dick Cheney's backgrounds in the oil business.