Roberts discusses drought, security
Rural Development joins meeting to profile area projects
By Dan Thalmann
Washington County News
Senator Pat Roberts continued his 105-county Kansas listening tour with a stop Tuesday at the First National Bank in Washington. The "town hall meeting" and luncheon was held in conjunction with a session planned by Kansas USDA Rural Development to share stories from recipients of Rural Development programs and discuss USDA Rural Development opportunities in the 2002 farm bill.
Roberts updated the crowd of more than 70 people on the topics of national security, agriculture and the farm bill before fielding questions.
He said 60 percent of his time is now spent in meetings of the Senate intelligence committee. "No longer do the oceans protect us," said Roberts. "We’re in a new kind of war."
He said government agencies’ ability to expect the unexpected was not good. He told the group the government was recruiting heavily for the FBI and other intelligence agencies to upgrade their ability to deal with the new threats on national security. In order to deal with those threats, he said the agencies "must learn to think outside the box."
Roberts is promoting Kansas State University as the center for fighting agri-terrorism. He said the university is in the process of developing a first rate, first class, first responder training center against the threats against the nation’s food supply.
The drought was also of obvious concern as Roberts was earlier handed a copy of the Monday edition of the Salina Journal which had a front page headline proclaiming "Drought compared to ‘Dirty ‘30’s’."
"We farm a lot different than in the ‘30’s," Roberts said. He compared the current drought to the ‘50’s and ‘60’s rather than the ‘30’s. He said it was bad, however, and was upset by the latest government claim that did not place Kansas as one of the states that is in a drought.
He was confident the drought determination would come soon, however, followed by aid and feed assistance for farmers. "Come September," said Roberts, "we’ll pass a disaster bill."
Roberts’ discussion quickly turned to the farm bill and its provisions for drought. He also said there was a need to look at the CRP regulations during a time of drought.
Roberts ended his presentation by promoting the work of USDA Rural Development. He also voiced his theory of what would help rural areas. "The best thing we can do for rural development is increase farm income," said Roberts.
He then fielded comments and questions about the damage the farm programs
had done to a Clifton-area farmer, questions about assistance to livestock
producers because of drought-affected pasture, water use regulations and
the role of agriculture in offsetting the United States’
dependence on foreign oil.
The USDA Rural Development portion of the afternoon included break-out sessions covering both the Rural Housing and Community and Business program areas as well as information on new rural development opportunities associated with the farm bill.
Chuck Banks, director of the Kansas USDA Rural Development, was present to field questions and provide information about the agency’s programs along with staff from several area offices. Many of the programs Rural Development offers are not well known. Gary Smith, originally from Mahaska and current community and business programs director of the agency, was able to list several area projects, including the recent construction of the Haddam fire building along with a new fire truck, but was also able to point out area projects that could have qualified for funds through Rural Development but did not try.
Rural Development programs provide assistance to rural areas through services and programs in several areas including:
• Rural businesses and cooperatives (which is the top priority of Rural Development) through partnerships with public and private community-based organizations for financial assistance, business planning and technical assistance.
• Rural housing and community facilities programs in the form of self-help housing, subsidies for the elderly and home improvement or community facility building or expansion with loans and grants.
• Rural utilities programs which provide project financing and technical assistance for rural infrastructure needs.
• Rural empowerment zones and enterprise communities which benefit from special economic stimulus programs.
• New programs through the 2002 farm bill with priorities set for the value-added agricultural market development grants and funding for rural development backlogs.
Attendees from several counties discussed the programs with the Rural Development staff and received information on the agency’s programs.
There will be only two more similar sites (Philipsburg and Lyons) where Roberts will join forces with the USDA Rural Development team during his tour.
Roberts will complete his state-wide tour by the end of August during the congressional recess.