FARM BUREAU CHIEF SEES BLESSING IN DROUGHT

SCOTT CITY -- For some farmers, the drought could be a blessing.

It may lead to higher prices for farm products, says Dean Kleckner, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

"Prices have picked up a little bit in the last few weeks," Kleckner said during a visit Thursday morning to the Midwest Grain & Barge Co. at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port near Scott City.

But Kleckner said it is too early to tell just where prices will end up.

While some farms have seen little rain, others have had plenty of moisture.

"Farmers compete with each other. Neighbors compete with each other," he said.

Kleckner's visit to the port accompanied U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's final stop on her four-day farm tour of the 8th Congressional District.

About 30 area farmers turned out for the event, which included a fried-fish lunch under a tent.

Kleckner heads up the largest farm organization in the world. The Farm Bureau has nearly 5 million members, including 90,000 in Missouri.

Kleckner said the drought has been scattered across various parts of the nation. The hardest hit area is the Northeast.

But other areas have been devastated too, including southern Ohio and parts of Indiana, Ohio and Missouri.

Still other areas like Kleckner's farm in north-central Iowa are too wet.

Overproduction of food worldwide and the Asian financial crisis have resulted in low prices for crops and livestock.

Prices are the lowest they have been in 20 or 30 years, Kleckner said. That isn't just in this country.

"Farm prices are low around the world,' he said.

Politicians talk about increased farm exports, but Kleckner said that is a difficult goal.

"Much of the rest of the world doesn't want our products," he said.

Improving America's farm economy isn't an easy task, Kleckner said. But he said the government should be giving more food aid to starving people around the world. That would provide another market for farmers' products.

The taxpayers ultimately foot the bill for such aid, he said.

There are few major meat packing and grain elevator companies. Mergers are increasingly reducing competition, Kleckner said. That means fewer places for farmers to sell their products.

The federal government needs to take charge to prevent agribusiness monopolies, he said.

Farmers need better crop insurance, Kleckner said.

The Farm Bureau president would like to see more private insurance programs to cover farm disasters "so we don't have to go back and beg to the government."

Oak Ridge farmer Marvin Ludwig is president of the Cape Girardeau County Farm Bureau, which has about 1,100 members.

He said many of the county's farmers are part-time farmers, who depend on second jobs to make ends meet.