Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Cokie Roberts begins report on domestic issues in Congress, farm subsidies.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Farmland, pan over cornstalks. CU of brown leaves on cornstalks, scrappy looking ears of corn from drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Representative Jim Leach (R Iowa) in office, You usually think of natural disasters in terms of sudden events, a hurricane, a flood. What we ve had in Iowa, and much of the Midwest, is a profound long drought. But the total effect is far worse than a flood.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Dry, cracked soil from drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
DO NOT USE B/W still of Dust Bowl era farmlands.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Door of a bank in a small town.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Representative Jim Leach (R Iowa) in office, Federal Deposit Insurance covers depositors. In this bank, it was one of 500 banks that didn t cover depositors. So we have one county that s going to have a 20 30 million loss due to the drought and another $5 10 million loss due to this bank. It s going to be real tough.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Representative Tom Harkin (D Iowa) in office, Well, the drought in my district is extremely bad. I represent the southern portion of Iowa and that s the area that was the hardest hit
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Cow on rangeland pasture with very little grass from drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Representative Tom Harkin (D Iowa) in office, I m telling you the pasture in some of my counties in Iowa are about as smooth as a desktop. There s no grass there for those cows to eat.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Dry farmland with brown vegetation from drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Dry bean plants from drought
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Senator Paul Trible (R Virginia) and in many parts of Virginia this is the worst drought that we ve had since the 1930s. 70% of our corn crop has been lost. 40% of our soy bean crop and 30% of our tobacco crop which is the biggest money crop in Virginia
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Farmer driving a tractor to tear up dead crops from drought.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Lawrence Greene, farmer in Warrenton, Virginia. He has a pipe in his mouth. You get discouraged when you start figuring what your loss is. I wouldn t get out of bed tomorrow morning.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Iowa Farmer s Rally. Representative Jim Leach (R Iowa) sitting in shirt and tie at a table. Large crowd of farmers in caps and casual shirts sitting in bleachers. Representative Jim Leach (R Iowa), I personally believe very firmly that if we, and I happen to be a member of the President s party, but if we don t respond to this crisis there is a severe likelihood that the mandate to govern my political party will be removed. We have no choice at this time in government but to be very, very compassionate.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Exterior of Department of Agriculture building in Washington DC.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Congressional committee on farm issues. John Block, Secretary of Agriculture, There has to be a line drawn somewhere. And I suggest that I think that we ve probably done the appropriate things that need to be done at this point and time. Representative Ed Madigan (R Illinois) I have a corn producer in my home county who raises his own corn but this year he doesn t have any corn because he didn t get any corn as a results of the drought. So he s going to have to go out and buy corn to feed to his hogs. John Block, Secretary of Agriculture, Every, every member in here, most of you anyway, have some who have suffered from the drought. I d say at least 3/4ths of you have some that have suffered from the drought that might qualify for some kind of feed assistance. And I m just saying that there isn t that much feed around. Representative Jim Weaver (D Oregon) What I m concerned about are the carryovers and the reserves for next year. The reserves for next year if weather patterns repeat, and weather patterns have a tendency to repeat, could be devastating for this country. And mean not just higher food prices, but categorically astronomically higher food prices for the people of this country. It is the first and foremost duty of a government to make sure that the people have enough food to eat. And I don t think this government is doing that. John Block, Secretary of Agriculture, There is adequate grain in this country, as we pointed out. Our review of this situation is based upon the latest crop report. I would add furthermore, that American agriculture has never let the consumers down of this country. It has never let our international trading partners down in producing food and fiber for the consuming public at large. And I don t expect them to do that next year either. Representative Jim Weaver (D Oregon), Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, thank you. I just want to say you have been warned. Next year is an election year.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Senator Paul Trible (R Virginia) Well, I m hopeful the Administration will be more forthcoming. But to date, it s been a rather frustrating process for us. We ve tried to get the Agriculture Department to recognize the magnitude of the problem in Virginia and to respond promptly. So far we haven t had an adequate response.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Representative Jim Leach (R Iowa), A drought is an act of God, but on the other hand people do hold governments accountable when things go wrong
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Drought stricken farmland.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Iowa Farmer s Rally. Sign with outline of Iowa and slogan "State of Disaster".
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Farmers gathered around a pickup truck.
Lawmakers 9/22/1983 - Farm Issues and Drought
Representative Jim Leach (R Iowa) but if they do it in a constructive way, with some low interest loans put out there and people can respond with their own initiative and make it work. I think the American public would support that. I think the farmer would reward that Administration with reasonable support at the polls.