Dateline: Franklin.
Rep. Virginia Smith of Nebraska was completing a tour of southeastern Franklin County where she had met with 50 area residents who were very concerned about drought conditions.
Franklin County has had 2.31 inches of rain in the last seven months. It is May.
Earlier in the day Smith had visited a farm near Elwood. Accompanying her were Gov. Kay Orr and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter.
Franklin County was declared a disaster area last month.
During her talk to the Franklin County residents, Smith gave assurances that action is being taken to aid drought-stricken farmers. Smith told the group that Yeutter was looking into options for cattle producers.
Quotation from Smith to support her statement that Yeutter was looking into options: "He is very seriously considering opening up the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) acres that have been seeded for two years, and have a little bit of hay on them, for haying only, not grazing."
Smith said that another option under consideration is federal assistance in transporting cattle to grazing areas or for bringing in hay.
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Smith also said that she was concerned with the long-term effect the drought will have on cattle prices.
Other quotations by Smith: "I am so glad I came (to Franklin County) because I have not seen . . . anything as bad as what I have seen in the last hour. All the way as we were coming down from Gosper County it was getting worse and worse.
"I am so thankful we have a secretary of agriculture from our own state, who owns land here and who grew up here. He'll have a better understanding. (Yeutter, from Eustis, has a farm near Brady.)
"In the long term this is a disaster. We put our cattle on the market now and it's going to push the price way down and you won't get much for it, and then next year we will be short of cattle and the consumers will have to pay a whole lot more.
"Things are tough. I'm not going to be able to find all the answers to solve everything, but I am going to do the level best I can."
Quotation from Franklin Mayor Bill Nielsen, who conducted Smith's tour: "She just kept on saying that she couldn't imagine that it was this bad. It was far worse than what she had imagined it and she has seen a lot of drought areas."
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Exercise 15.3
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2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education