Business - AP
Farmers Who Backed Bush Upset With Budget
Thu Feb 17, 2:59 AM ET Business - AP
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer
TOLEDO, Ohio - Some farmers from battleground election states who campaigned and voted for President Bush (news - web sites) say they are not happy about proposed cuts in federal farm subsidies and other agriculture programs.
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"We wouldn't call it a double-cross or anything like that, but I don't think this is going to sit real well," said Harold Bateson, whose family's grain farm covers 2,300 acres in northwest Ohio near Bowling Green.
The president has proposed an across-the-board cut of 5 percent for all farm payments and a reduction in the cap on individual subsidies to $250,000. The cuts would total $2.5 billion — more than reductions in health, housing and law enforcement.
Some farmers say they understand the need to balance the budget, but believe they have been burdened with an unfair portion of the budget reductions compared to other programs.
"It's kind of a slap in the face," said Neil Clark, an Ohio grain farmer who worked to gather support among farmers for Bush's campaign in Hancock County.
In Ohio and other key election states, conservatives in small towns and farm communities went to the polls for Bush. In rural Ohio, the vote helped negate Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s advantage in the state's big cities.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has defended the cuts in government subsidies, saying most of the money was going to only a handful of large agribusiness corporations, rather than small family farms.
And not all farmers are angry with Bush over the proposed cuts.
Richard Clemens, a cattle farmer from Marshall, Mo., who volunteered with the Bush campaign, agreed that farm families are not getting big government payouts anyway.
Despite the proposal, Clemens said he does not expect the president to suffer much political backlash in the farm community.
"Sometimes these huge farm payments have given agriculture more of a black eye than they've helped us," he said.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Officials are warning Kansas wheat farmers about the potential dangers of the Hessian fly, which has already infested some areas of the state.
The insect has not been a problem in recent years, probably because of dry conditions across the state. This year, conditions are more moist, allowing the fly to thrive, experts say.
The February newsletter of the Andale Farmers Co-op said so many Hessian fly pupae have been found in Kansas wheat that even if only 20 percent live to maturity, it will be enough to cause significant damage.
The flies hatch from their pupae in the wheat stem, causing it to weaken. Although some plants can overcome the injury, they usually weaken and the plant breaks just above the infested area.
The extension service says one of the best ways to control the fly problem is to plant resistant varieties of wheat.
"A lot of farmers have gotten away from planting the resistant varieties, and now we'll see more fly problems," said Bob Strasner, an agronomist with the farmers co-op.
Despite the potential Hessian fly problem, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service rated the wheat crop in early February as 74 percent good to excellent, 20 percent fair, and 1 percent poor.
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