Driving up and down U.S. Highway 50 to Jefferson City I saw bright green corn stalks and soybean clumps. Yes, the smaller rivers close to the Capitol showed a lot of dry bank, but still the front page article in the News Tribune surprised me: Wide Spread Drought, in some part of the state “Exceptional Drought.”
The string of articles over the last month or so about water shortages outstate caught my attention. Yet, I live in that crescent below St. Louis where rainfall still hits the normal range. In fact, only once this season have I set-up the sprinkler in my front yard.
Even Missouri’s accidental governor and gentleman rancher Mike Parson feels the heat from the drought: “I have never fed hay in August before in my entire farming career — and that started out as a little boy — but I did last Saturday,” Parson said. “It’s hard-hit in a lot of areas of the state, so if you’ve been in one of those areas that hasn’t had any rain, it’s tough right now.” [http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/parson-talks-infrastructure-and-drought-missouri-state-fair#stream/0 ]
Farms and ranches make up about two-thirds of the state’s real estate [ https://www.farmflavor.com/missouri-agriculture/ ], with just under 100,000 farms in the state.
Of course, the News Tribune article and subsequent news coverage talk of emergency aid for Missouri’s farmers. Some millions of dollars are coming and the hope is for much, much more. After all, per the USDA, agriculture is a $9 billion a year enterprise in Missouri. [ https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/Ag_Overview/stateOverview.php?state=MISSOURI ]
That’s a lot of money, yes, it’s about what the state of Missouri spends each year on MO HealthNet, aka Medicaid.
Let that sink in…the entire agriculture establishment in Missouri is roughly the same size as the medical care program for the poor.
Medicaid covers close to 1,000,000 Missourians – including around 600,000 kids. [ https://dss.mo.gov/re/pdf/fsd_mhdmr/1806-family-support-mohealthnet-report.pdf p. 127]
Farming and friends, meanwhile, supports a couple of hundred thousand Missourians.
From an economic stand point, agriculture is a big deal in Missouri. Yet, count all the health care jobs created by Medicaid and I bet it’s a bigger deal.
Now, out of that almost 100,000 farms USDA reports find that 25,100 have “sales” of less than $1,000. In fact, just 19,780 – round it up to 20% – have annual sales of crops or animals above $50,000.
Based on what the accidental governor has said about his cattle operation, that part-time job nudges him above that $50k line.
Since drought relief like most aid to agriculture is based on the size of the operation, well, the big players get most of the money. The majority of farmers get little to none.
We all know that farmers and ranchers are special. Farmers don’t want government handouts and don’t believe in welfare…unless it’s in the form of crop support payments or drought assistance. Then they line up pretty quick.
Yet, how bright a spotlight will the majority party shine on “welfare kings” in overalls? While the Missouri legislature has passed laws demanding young moms with kids work 30 hours per week and ending confidentiality and dignity in the pursuit of negligible “welfare fraud,” who will audit the payments on those soybean fields and skinny cows?
Yes, I know there’s a difference between welfare for farmers and welfare for other people…All the farm folk are good rural people, and, around 96% of them are white.
Glenn
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member