Published: December 22, 2005 11:39 am      

Area farmers urged to call lawmakers

DEWITT — Alarmed by an alleged statement by Sen. Chuck Grassley as quoted in the national media, Clinton County farmers were urged this week to contact the senator immediately.

According to news out of Washington, D.C., a panel of House and Senate members last weekend rejected $1.6 billion in drought relief to help farmers. Grassley, R-Iowa, was quoted as telling farm broadcasters he had not heard much lately about the drought-damage situation and it was his understanding that late rains had helped the farmers.

Clinton County Supervisor Jill Davisson told the Clinton Herald she called Grassley’s Congressional aide after reading his statement to the farm broadcasters.

“His aide said we need to make phone calls or e-mail” to the senator, Davisson said. “He has a lot of power, but his aide said he needs ammunition” to be heard by other lawmakers.

“We really need to let him hear from us, because in January he will be going in for appropriations,” she said.

Speaking of her own family’s farming enterprise, Davisson said, “We usually get anywhere from 150 to more than 200 bushels an acre in a normal year. This year we’re looking at an average of maybe 100 bushels, if that much. It’s definitely a major crisis here, and it’s not just Clinton County. Southern Iowa, western Illinois and Missouri — it’s widespread.”

The Clinton Herald told its readers as the record-breaking drought and high temperatures continued into August that the rains came too late to save the corn. After a stressful spring, the crop had entered a crucial stage in July and August when it needed an inch and a half of rain a week, according to Iowa State University Extension crop specialist Virgil Schmitt.

Instead, total rainfall in Clinton County during July was only 0.83 inch, compared to an average of 3.53 inches.

Finally, in mid-August, the area received a soft 4-inch rain — but it came after many corn tassels had dried up and failed to pollinate the ears.

Then damp cool weather promoted the growth of aflatoxin in the already stressed crop, causing some elevators to reject the corn.

Davisson provided the following phone numbers and addresses for the lawmakers:

n Sen. Chuck Grassley: (202) 224-3744; Web page for e-mail: grassley.senate.gov .

n Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa: (202) 224-3254; Web page for e-mail: harkin.senate.gov .

n U.S. Congressman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, (202) 225-2911; Web page for e-mail: nussle.house.gov .