WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) – American president Bill Clinton signed legislation March 15 making $450 million (U.S.) in federally guaranteed loans available for farmers and ranchers hurting from low commodity prices.
In a written statement, Clinton said the bill will accelerate the availability of loans to give farmers and ranchers “continued access to credit that is necessary to operate their farms and ranches.”
Clinton said the United States Department of Agriculture has estimated it will soon exhaust the funds available to guarantee loans for farmer ownership and operations. The latest loans will not fully address what he called an unprecedented increase in demand for USDA financing caused by low commodity prices.
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Clinton urged Congress to work expeditiously to approve his request for an emergency addition to this year’s budget for $1.1 billion more in USDA loan authority.
The money will be available to all qualified ranchers and farmers, rather than reserved for beginning farmers and ranchers until April 1, as is normal practice.
U.S. offers $450 million for farm, ranch loans
- The only dry area is southwestern Oklahoma, where rain is needed.
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) – Hard red winter wheat from the Texas Panhandle to Kansas should start spring development soon thanks to recent rain, snow and warm weather, crop sources said.
Also, another 1.5 to four centimetres of rain were forecast for much of the central and southern Plains late last week.
Temperatures in the high teens were expected last week in snow-covered areas, weather sources said.
Most Kansas and Oklahoma wheat has turned green but has not yet jointed, while the crop in the Texas Panhandle was jointing, crop sources said. Jointing is the phase of wheat growth that precedes stem development.
One of the few stressed areas for wheat was southwestern Oklahoma, where more rain was needed.
Because of dry conditions much of the winter, wheat in southwestern Oklahoma was behind in development and needed more rain to catch up. The two cm that fell March 14 was the first rain since Jan. 29.
“It is not going to solve everything. We are still in a drought,” said Rod Nichols, executive director of the Jackson County, Okla., Farm Service Agency. “We are a long way from having a normal crop.”
The Farm Service Agency is a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers federal farm programs at state and county levels.
Last year, Jackson County wheat averaged about 45 bushels to the acre, but this year Nichols estimates the average will be less than 25 bu.
Helpful snow
Snow fell on wheat in northern Oklahoma, with amounts of 48 cm reported near the Kansas-Oklahoma state line, said Harold Dick, an official at the state Farm Service Agency office in Stillwater.
Southern Oklahoma got rain.
The 25 cm of snow that fell in south-central Kansas should aid the wheat, which had been nourished by rain a few weeks ago.
“Our wheat has been growing about a month,” said Gary Fair, director of the Sumner County, Kan., Farm Service Agency.
Snow fell over much of southern and western Kansas and should add to already-good soil moisture.
“I did not see a lot of dry stress,” said Curtis Thompson, a crop specialist with the Kansas State University extension office in Garden City, Kansas.
“All of the wheat has started greening but is not necessarily jointing.”
About a centimetre of rain fell near Amarillo, Texas, which should nourish hard red winter wheat that was growing and jointing.
“We’ve been rather warm so it is growing a little faster,” said Ed Laur, vice-president of Atterbury Grain in Amarillo, Texas.
