Kansas Ag Leaders At Odds
Over Price Reporting Laws

HUTCHINSON, Kan. —(AP)— Mandatory price reporting in Kansas is not the answer to low livestock prices, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Jamie Clover Adams said Saturday at a farm forum broadcast live from the Kansas State Fair.

It could actually hurt prices, she said.

The state's new ag secretary said later that she expected federal price reporting legislation to pass in Congress, which some farm leaders contend would be preferable to a hodgepodge of state regulations.

``We are not an island,'' she said. ``We can't put a big fence around Kansas.''

Farmers should instead focus on producing the types of foods that an urban mother buys in the store, she said.

Adams was one of four Kansas farm leaders participating in a panel discussion of farm issues broadcast by WIBW and the Kansas Ag Network. About 75 fairgoers also stopped by the event.

Other speakers included Steve Baccus, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau; Linda Hessman, Kansas Farmer's Union; and Brett Myers, executive director of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

Baccus cited the problems South Dakota and Iowa had with their state mandatory price system, noting that some packers simply quit buying livestock in those states.

But their state pricing regulations helped force the proposed federal rules.

``That is the prime reason those states passed their own, and that is the one reason Kansas should do the same,'' Hessman said.

Mandatory price reporting was one of several issues surfacing in an agricultural economy hard hit by overproduction and low prices.

``There isn't any doubt American agriculture is in the middle of a crisis, and it certainly doesn't stop at the Kansas border,'' Baccus said.

But he added that agriculture prices are cyclical, and efforts should focus at getting the industry out of the down cycle a little quicker.

Adams said that a recent survey taken by her department found that almost two-thirds of Kansans believe the ag economy is strong, with the survey finding only a moderate concern found about the commodity prices.

She said that indicates an opportunity to educate people about the agriculture industry. Fewer than two percent of the nation's population are farmers.

``Unfortunately, or fortunately, we are in a minority — even in a farm state like Kansas,'' she said.

Hessman, a farmer from Ford County, likened the current situation to the beginning of the farm credit crisis of the 1980s.

``It is absolutely deplorable that we have homes in rural areas which produce food that report they have trouble buying food,'' she said.

Myers said that in the long-run the ``band-aid approach'' of government farm aid is not the best option. The answer is more profit in the producers' pockets.

``We need to come together at this crucial time in agriculture and speak together with one voice,'' he said.

The U.S. House agriculture committee plans to hold a field hearing next Saturday at the Kansas State Fair.

An estimated 33,000 people attended the free opening day of the fair Friday. The fair ends Sept. 19.