FARMERS STILL LOOKING FOR SILVER LINING

When the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Dean Kleckner, visited Southeast Missouri recently, he talked about the drought, which is affecting much of the eastern United States and is certainly hurting crops in Southeast Missouri.

The drought, Kleckner said, might be a blessing for farmers. It's possible, he said, that the drought will curtail certain crops enough that prices for those grains and fibers will go up. Prices for too many agricultural commodities are so low that it's a wonder any farmer plants a single seed.

But that's a farmer for you. Year in and year out, the farmer works hard, tills the soil, fertilizes, plants seed, cultivates and hopes there's a decent harvest at the end of the growing season. In the meantime, he prays for favorable weather and good health, because if there's a bumper season, someone has to drive the combine and get the crops out of the field and to market.

A lot of farmers have given up, because the cycles of agriculture that depend on so many uncontrollable variables have finally reached a financial abyss. But a lot of other farmers take the bad with the good and maintain an eternal optimism that expects tomorrow to be better than today.

If Klecker can see a silver lining in a drought, more power to him. And more power to all the farmers who keep us well-fed and clothed.