08/21/07 Grower says yield variability shows need for new safety net

Farm and Ranch Ausut 21, 2007 According to Idaho grain grower Bill Flory, wheat yields just within the Northwest have been highly variable this year. Flory: "Our yield averages are exceeding 100 in places and less than 20 in others." For those with low yields, despite high prices, Flory says revenue will likely be down and he says the existing farm safety net doesn't offer any support for those producers, a major weakness of the 2002 Farm Bill. Flory says the Farm Safety Net Improvement Act introduced by Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, offers better protection for production agriculture. Flory: "The Durbin-Brown legislation would factor in price and yield and offer revenue protection not just price protection. And that provides stability in a wildly cyclical and variable and often times unpredictable industry we all are in. That is an extremely important concept." That concept says Flory, eliminates the need for ad hoc disaster programs for commodity producers. Flory: "In today's climate ad hoc disaster programs are find when they come through but are difficult to rely on." Flory says private crop insurance would also work better and with reduced premiums. He says the revenue principle has received support from Senate Ag Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, the American Farmland Trust, the National Corn Growers Association and a growing number of wheat growers. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.