“This is the most expensive crop I’ve grown, and it looks like it’s going to be the worst crop I’ve ever harvested,” Alabama cotton farmer Bob Luker told local media, referring to the doubling of his costs for diesel fuel, electricity, and fertilizer. In the last year, the price of a ton of fertilizer leapt from $150 to more than $320.

The Alabama Farmers Association predicted that up to 75 percent of corn and 50 percent of cotton crops would be lost to the high temperatures and low rainfall. Alabama’s largest row crop, cotton, is considered a failure, according to Jeff Thompson of Autauga Quality Cotton Association.

Farmers and ranchers in more than 60 percent of the country faced abnormally dry or drought conditions this year, from Georgia to Arizona in the south and from Montana to Wisconsin in the north. Ranked as the third worst drought on record, it is the continuation of an ongoing weather cycle that began in 1999.

In north-central South Dakota, where the temperature reached 120 degrees this summer, an estimated 90 percent of the natural watering holes dried up.

Parts of Texas experienced a 16-month dry spell with 29 days of temperatures over 100 degrees. Officials estimated $4 billion in losses or double that of the 1998 drought, according to an August 14 National Public Radio report.

Many farmers in affected areas are salvaging their drought-stunted crops to feed livestock struggling on scorched pastures. Ranchers are being forced to sell off parts or all their herds due to lack of water, hay, or other affordable feed sources.  
 
Gov’t aid goes to richest farmers
The government’s response is in effect to come to the aid of the rich capitalist farmers at the expense of working farmers.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Michael Johanns announced recently that Washington would provide $780 million for drought assistance in South Dakota, including $700 million in subsidies for farmers producing corn and other grains and $50 million for livestock producers.

All these programs, however, tie compensation to the size or production levels of a particular operation. As a result, nearly half of the $23 billion in 2005 farm subsidies went to the wealthiest 5 percent of farmers and landlords.

The $50 million Livestock Assistance Program (LAP) benefits are to be spread over 748 eligible counties. This amounts to up to $2,000 per household, according to Al Guston, a farm news radio announcer and rancher in Bismarck, North Dakota. Guston told National Public Radio that in contrast local ranchers’ feed bills alone will run $20,000 to $40,000.

Also LAP would only reimburse farmers whose line of credit allowed purchases of supplemental feed, watering operations, and livestock transport to greener pastures. Those lacking the financial resources are forced to sell off their herds.

Frank Taylor, director of the Winston County Self-Help Cooperative in Mississippi, told the Militant that even though the drought has affected their members, including two who have been forced to scale down their herds, they won’t be able to apply for assistance. He said three collection sites in their county received enough rain from isolated summer thunderstorms to deem farmers living there ineligible, even though adjacent counties qualified.

The government also uses narrow application windows to limit participation in aid programs. Agricultural officials in Alabama announced with two weeks notice that forms for LAP would be available October 2 with a close-out date for submission October 16. This coincides with the fall harvest when most working farmers are working sunup to sundown.

Government-subsidized crop insurance is no panacea for farmers, either. Most can only afford to insure a portion of their crop. Then when the farmer wants to make a claim, the insurer usually forces the farmer to harvest as much as possible despite the economic consequences of doing so.

In some cases, farmers are taking to the streets to demand government aid, as did 400 ranchers who demonstrated August 23 in Bismarck, North Dakota.  
 
 
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