By Gene Meyer
Kansas Reporter
TOPEKA — David Bozone did not have any choice.
“There’s no grass on my pastures,” said the rancher from Hugoton. “We had to sell.”
Bozone sent this spring’s calf crop to market seven months earlier than he’d planned, even though he lost potential income on the deal.
Unfortunately, Bozone is not alone. Farmers and ranchers across nearly half of Kansas are wrestling with similarly painful decisions or watching their crops — their potential paychecks — wither and die.
But even as this drought threatens the livelihoods and communities of many farmers and ranchers, it has a silver lining — a temporary boon to state revenue.
Each animal Bozone sold three weeks ago would have fetched a conservative $250 more, if he pastured them until February and raised them to a feedlot-ready 800 pounds or so. Instead, he sold the calves at less than 600 pounds.
Now he worries that if the drought doesn’t end soon enough, he will need to begin selling some of the 270 cows that produce those calves to make what’s left of his forage last longer and keep what’s left of the dwindling herd alive.
His prospects are not encouraging. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, estimates that subsoil moisture, which helps grow grass for cattle to eat as well as corn, sorghum, soybeans and livestock feed, is critically short across 60 percent of Kansas and more than 80 percent in the southwest, where Bozone lives.
The USDA projects that corn and sorghum fields statewide will produce their lowest yields since 1983 this fall, cutting statewide corn production 15 percent from a year ago and sorghum by 28 percent. Soybean production also is forecast to plummet 28 percent from last year’s record, and alfalfa production is expected to drop 21 percent to levels last seen in 1956.
More than 50 of Kansas’ 105 counties are federally designated agricultural disaster areas, reflecting drought in the west and floods in the east that are rated the worst in more than half a century.
Such devastation has profound implications for rural Kansas, where farm income is the bedrock for everything from property tax bases that support schools and local commercial development to retail sales that local economies need to thrive.
This year’s agricultural disasters also will alter the pattern of state tax revenue for at least a few years, though those changes are more difficult to calculate, because agriculture’s fortunes ebb and flow over many seasons.
On a local level, “the full economic effect is actually more likely to show up in 2012,” said Charles Claar, a certified public accountant with the Lewis Hooper and Dick LLC accounting firm in Garden City, which has an extensive agricultural practice.
As in other parts of the United States, farmers and ranchers try to build financial reserves in good years to carry them through bad ones, Claar said. Many producers had a good year in 2010 with high grain prices and decent production providing healthy reserves to carry them into 2011.
“That won’t be the case going into 2012,” Claar said. “We’re hearing from clients who estimate they may be down 30 percent or more from what they carried into 2011.”
Plus, not all farmers have been afflicted by the drought or floods along the Missouri River in eastern Kansas that also destroyed crops, said Art Barnaby, a Kansas State University Extension Service agricultural economist.
The losses have driven grain and other commodity prices higher, which will lift incomes for farmers whose crops haven’t been as devastated, Barnaby said. And farmers whose crops were totally devastated could get as much as 75 percent of the income they expected before those losses, depending on how crop insurance and other USDA disaster payments work out. Those payments to eligible farmers in more than 50 counties designated by the USDA as agricultural disaster areas this summer are taxable income too, he said.
“The situation for livestock producers is the most difficult to call,” Barnaby said. “Higher grain prices mean higher feed costs for them, which could reduce their taxable income.”
Grain that producers buy to feed their livestock is a tax deductible production cost that helps producers reduce the net income on which taxes are calculated.
Crop planting patterns that change from year to year also make a difference, said David Widmar, a Kansas Department of Agriculture economist.
As of mid-August, Kansas farmers appeared to be headed toward their 10th poorest soybean crop, their sixth poorest sorghum crop and their second poorest corn crop all since 1981. But farmers planted much more corn and sorghum this spring than they did the previous year, and more of those fields are surviving the bad weather.
Based on early August farm level prices, the total value of Kansas’ soybean crop will drop more than $300 million this year, to $1.35 billion, but corn and sorghum crop values will increase from $749 million to $4.76 billion, Widmar said. One caveat — commodity prices and the taxable income they generate — almost certainly will change before farmers sell those crops, he said.
Finally, tax revenue patterns in previous drought years such as 1980 and the years that immediately followed cannot shed light on this situation, said Tracy Turner, a Kansas State University economist and public finance specialist.
Because of crop insurance and farm program changes since the 1980s, economists have no experience measuring how droughts such as this one change net farm income or the personal income of implement dealers, grain haulers and storers, retailers and others in communities where farmers live, Turner said.
“There certainly are going to be effects, and they might be pretty substantial,” Turner said. “But looking back won’t give us a clear picture of what they are.”
How will farm subsidies play into all of this??????
Stevens County where Hugtoton is located received over $5 MILLION in farm subsidies for 2010. The total farm subsidies for Kansas were $326 MILLION. Wonder if Mr. Bozone received any of those funds. Have you received your subsidy this year or perhaps just a higher tax bill?????? Come before your City Council and tell them you only want to pay 50% or less of your property taxes this coming year and you want them to provide financing for you of around $50 MILLION – be sure to bring along your benefit analysis report compiled by Kutak Rock and oh yes, be sure to ask for a benefit district deal too where the citizens will pick up the tab for you in case you can’t pay the yearly assessment amount.
******************************************************************************
Commodity subsidies in Kansas totaled $326 million in 2010
Counties in Kansas Receiving Commodity Payments, 2010
Rank County Subtotal, Farming Subsidies
2010 Pct of
Total Running
Percentage
1 Thomas County, Kansas $7,932,176 2.4% 2.4%
2 Sumner County, Kansas $7,550,850 2.3% 4.7%
3 Finney County, Kansas $7,515,178 2.3% 7.1%
4 Gray County, Kansas $7,194,472 2.2% 9.3%
5 Haskell County, Kansas $6,293,719 1.9% 11.2%
6 Reno County, Kansas $5,840,050 1.8% 13.0%
7 Sherman County, Kansas $5,839,178 1.8% 14.8%
8 Sheridan County, Kansas $5,439,978 1.7% 16.4%
9 Ford County, Kansas $5,375,326 1.6% 18.1%
10 Stevens County, Kansas $5,351,101 1.6% 19.7%
11 Harper County, Kansas $5,120,200 1.6% 21.3%
12 McPherson County, Kansas $5,105,083 1.6% 22.9%
13 Scott County, Kansas $4,876,748 1.5% 24.4%
14 Pratt County, Kansas $4,845,982 1.5% 25.8%
15 Republic County, Kansas $4,767,090 1.5% 27.3%
16 Stafford County, Kansas $4,760,993 1.5% 28.8%
17 Sedgwick County, Kansas $4,663,769 1.4% 30.2%
18 Barton County, Kansas $4,529,990 1.4% 31.6%
19 Stanton County, Kansas $4,515,283 1.4% 33.0%
20 Marshall County, Kansas $4,505,014 1.4% 34.3%
21 Mitchell County, Kansas $4,491,345 1.4% 35.7%
22 Pawnee County, Kansas $4,456,209 1.4% 37.1%
23 Washington County, Kansas $4,442,426 1.4% 38.4%
24 Wichita County, Kansas $4,426,774 1.4% 39.8%
25 Rawlins County, Kansas $4,362,285 1.3% 41.1%
26 Jewell County, Kansas $4,301,287 1.3% 42.5%
27 Meade County, Kansas $4,245,167 1.3% 43.8%
28 Rice County, Kansas $4,206,978 1.3% 45.1%
29 Edwards County, Kansas $4,192,503 1.3% 46.3%
30 Kingman County, Kansas $4,181,516 1.3% 47.6%
31 Dickinson County, Kansas $4,130,306 1.3% 48.9%
32 Kearny County, Kansas $4,129,616 1.3% 50.2%
33 Norton County, Kansas $4,103,308 1.3% 51.4%
34 Smith County, Kansas $4,041,572 1.2% 52.7%
35 Grant County, Kansas $4,033,782 1.2% 53.9%
36 Cheyenne County, Kansas $4,017,498 1.2% 55.1%
37 Greeley County, Kansas $3,905,396 1.2% 56.3%
38 Nemaha County, Kansas $3,894,023 1.2% 57.5%
39 Marion County, Kansas $3,700,171 1.1% 58.6%
40 Cloud County, Kansas $3,671,668 1.1% 59.8%
41 Harvey County, Kansas $3,618,992 1.1% 60.9%
42 Brown County, Kansas $3,612,590 1.1% 62.0%
43 Gove County, Kansas $3,611,391 1.1% 63.1%
44 Decatur County, Kansas $3,575,589 1.1% 64.2%
45 Logan County, Kansas $3,500,805 1.1% 65.3%
46 Seward County, Kansas $3,455,004 1.1% 66.3%
47 Phillips County, Kansas $3,389,142 1.0% 67.4%
48 Ness County, Kansas $3,224,929 1.0% 68.4%
49 Clay County, Kansas $3,218,543 1.0% 69.3%
50 Wallace County, Kansas $3,212,223 1.0% 70.3%
51 Osborne County, Kansas $3,201,063 1.0% 71.3%
52 Lane County, Kansas $3,082,169 0.9% 72.3%
53 Saline County, Kansas $3,061,488 0.9% 73.2%
54 Cowley County, Kansas $3,024,139 0.9% 74.1%
55 Graham County, Kansas $3,002,189 0.9% 75.0%
56 Rush County, Kansas $2,920,998 0.9% 75.9%
57 Rooks County, Kansas $2,920,544 0.9% 76.8%
58 Hodgeman County, Kansas $2,886,744 0.9% 77.7%
59 Hamilton County, Kansas $2,879,827 0.9% 78.6%
60 Kiowa County, Kansas $2,840,068 0.9% 79.5%
61 Lincoln County, Kansas $2,813,243 0.9% 80.3%
62 Russell County, Kansas $2,620,573 0.8% 81.1%
63 Doniphan County, Kansas $2,569,858 0.8% 81.9%
64 Butler County, Kansas $2,514,046 0.8% 82.7%
65 Ottawa County, Kansas $2,442,995 0.7% 83.4%
66 Morton County, Kansas $2,436,522 0.7% 84.2%
67 Ellis County, Kansas $2,422,498 0.7% 84.9%
68 Trego County, Kansas $2,383,267 0.7% 85.7%
69 Ellsworth County, Kansas $2,262,208 0.7% 86.4%
70 Clark County, Kansas $2,240,227 0.7% 87.0%
71 Cherokee County, Kansas $2,236,417 0.7% 87.7%
72 Barber County, Kansas $2,198,875 0.7% 88.4%
73 Lyon County, Kansas $1,957,847 0.6% 89.0%
74 Labette County, Kansas $1,935,698 0.6% 89.6%
75 Montgomery County, Kansas $1,813,397 0.6% 90.2%
76 Crawford County, Kansas $1,813,079 0.6% 90.7%
77 Coffey County, Kansas $1,796,097 0.6% 91.3%
78 Atchison County, Kansas $1,794,761 0.6% 91.8%
79 Allen County, Kansas $1,664,790 0.5% 92.3%
80 Wilson County, Kansas $1,651,397 0.5% 92.8%
81 Pottawatomie County, Kansas $1,601,705 0.5% 93.3%
82 Morris County, Kansas $1,595,420 0.5% 93.8%
83 Anderson County, Kansas $1,576,610 0.5% 94.3%
84 Franklin County, Kansas $1,575,827 0.5% 94.8%
85 Osage County, Kansas $1,548,468 0.5% 95.2%
86 Neosho County, Kansas $1,439,048 0.4% 95.7%
87 Jefferson County, Kansas $1,359,429 0.4% 96.1%
88 Jackson County, Kansas $1,289,425 0.4% 96.5%
89 Shawnee County, Kansas $1,208,326 0.4% 96.9%
90 Linn County, Kansas $1,184,590 0.4% 97.2%
91 Riley County, Kansas $1,125,177 0.3% 97.6%
92 Douglas County, Kansas $1,118,737 0.3% 97.9%
93 Wabaunsee County, Kansas $980,331 0.3% 98.2%
94 Miami County, Kansas $909,730 0.3% 98.5%
95 Bourbon County, Kansas $847,460 0.3% 98.8%
96 Leavenworth County, Kansas $693,501 0.2% 99.0%
97 Woodson County, Kansas $654,644 0.2% 99.2%
98 Johnson County, Kansas $625,155 0.2% 99.4%
99 Greenwood County, Kansas $582,471 0.2% 99.5%
100 Chase County, Kansas $575,519 0.2% 99.7%
101 Geary County, Kansas $427,227 0.1% 99.9%
102 Chautauqua County, Kansas $171,896 0.1% 99.9%
103 Elk County, Kansas $141,659 0.0% 99.9%
104 Comanche County, Kansas $102,207 0.0% 100.0%
105 Wyandotte County, Kansas $72,918 0.0% 100.0%
Source: Environmental Working Group Compiled from USDA data
EWG Farm Subsidy Database
Subsidy Recipients 1 to 20 of 315 in zipcode 66030
Recipients in this zipcode received $7,723,573 from 1995-2006
Rank Name Location Subsidy Total
1995-2010
1 Southwestern College Gardner, KS 66030 $ 1,004,011.74
2 Lloyd E Lynn Gardner, KS 66030 $ 859,113.55
3 Robert Lynn Gardner, KS 66030 $ 510,297.22
4 Richard L Nellor Gardner, KS 66030 $ 462,044.50
5 Russ Nellor Gardner, KS 66030 $ 363,310.41
6 Larry Stricker Gardner, KS 66030 $ 351,535.80
7 Robert J Mason Gardner, KS 66030 $ 319,458.14
8 Marvin Nelson Gardner, KS 66030 $ 304,457.18
9 Edward W Mistele Gardner, KS 66030 $ 291,634.78
10 Degrande Farms Gardner, KS 66030 $ 279,704.08
11 Carl D Andrew Gardner, KS 66030 $ 237,468.75
12 George H Wise Gardner, KS 66030 $ 220,945.92
13 Clifford C Sparks Sr Gardner, KS 66030 $ 207,462.54
14 William W Andrew Gardner, KS 66030 $ 202,386.50
15 Glenn Bonar Gardner, KS 66030 $ 179,228.38
16 Richard Fielder Gardner, KS 66030 $ 152,261.25
17 Steve Holtgraver Gardner, KS 66030 $ 117,610.75
18 Wesley Brecheisen Trust Gardner, KS 66030 $ 115,003.03
19 Gary Rankin Gardner, KS 66030 $ 111,756.84
20 Mary Stricker Gardner, KS 66030 $ 104,160.95
21 Ruby Lucille Mistele Gardner, KS 66030 $ 103,515.25
22 Leonard R Brim Gardner, KS 66030 $ 101,585.16
23 The Hampton Family Liv Tr Gardner, KS 66030 $ 98,956.00
24 Dinnis Crownover Gardner, KS 66030 $ 88,522.98
25 Sodbusters Partnership Gardner, KS 66030 $ 80,538.00
26 Nadyne M Castonguay Gardner, KS 66030 $ 79,624.29
27 Harvey G Wise Trust Gardner, KS 66030 $ 67,272.00
28 Francis A Deters Gardner, KS 66030 $ 66,303.25
29 Larry Donham Gardner, KS 66030 $ 65,645.28
30 Virgil G Jacobs Gardner, KS 66030 $ 61,293.85
31 James L Gutsch Gardner, KS 66030 $ 56,168.81
32 Jake Mackey Gardner, KS 66030 $ 54,470.20
33 Harley E Ravenstein Gardner, KS 66030 $ 52,704.98
34 Donna R Knoche Gardner, KS 66030 $ 49,810.28
35 Peggy Gott Gardner, KS 66030 $ 46,543.77
36 Harold Quaintance Jr Gardner, KS 66030 $ 46,179.36
37 J P Lefmann Gardner, KS 66030 $ 45,990.11
38 Paul D Hambelton Gardner, KS 66030 $ 45,246.63
39 Dale Baker Gardner, KS 66030 $ 40,103.16
40 Armand D Burgdorfer Gardner, KS 66030 $ 33,650.22
41 Robert J Wise Gardner, KS 66030 $ 33,294.00
42 Marshall Hitchcock Gardner, KS 66030 $ 33,250.53
43 George E Walter Gardner, KS 66030 $ 30,784.07
44 Randy Hutchins Gardner, KS 66030 $ 30,657.08
45 Marion Bacon Gardner, KS 66030 $ 30,454.87
46 Marilyn K Miller Gardner, KS 66030 $ 28,996.00
47 Gerald Ohmes Gardner, KS 66030 $ 28,639.79
48 Lora Lee Strain Gardner, KS 66030 $ 26,758.27
49 Brenda L Pedersen Gardner, KS 66030 $ 25,259.00
50 Hilda Sanford Est Gardner, KS 66030 $ 24,639.87
51 Fred Fraley Gardner, KS 66030 $ 23,366.52
52 Vivian Johnson Gardner, KS 66030 $ 23,241.00
53 Jay L Richardson Revocable Trust Gardner, KS 66030 $ 21,853.32
54 Evelyn Rankin Gardner, KS 66030 $ 21,302.75
55 Wise Productions Gardner, KS 66030 $ 20,803.68
56 Richard N Stephens Gardner, KS 66030 $ 20,563.13
57 William H Norris Gardner, KS 66030 $ 20,158.50
58 Omer Knoop Gardner, KS 66030 $ 19,873.00
59 Wayne Roberts Gardner, KS 66030 $ 19,464.10
60 Gerald W Hiatt Gardner, KS 66030 $ 19,283.21
61 Kearney And Son Farm Gardner, KS 66030 $ 19,060.76
62 Charles R Barnett Gardner, KS 66030 $ 19,024.26
63 Alan J Schneider Gardner, KS 66030 $ 17,588.00
64 Norma A Boone Gardner, KS 66030 $ 16,780.41
65 Robert L Knoche Gardner, KS 66030 $ 16,215.69
66 Doris Vervynck Gardner, KS 66030 $ 15,786.31
67 Ruth Hadle Gardner, KS 66030 $ 15,098.99
68 Wayne H Rollf Gardner, KS 66030 $ 14,884.99
69 Hester Haber Gardner, KS 66030 $ 14,721.00
70 Vernon Knabe Gardner, KS 66030 $ 14,694.16
71 Mayrene Norris Gardner, KS 66030 $ 14,582.05
72 Earl Allen Gardner, KS 66030 $ 14,353.44
73 Ronald W Burger Gardner, KS 66030 $ 13,900.06
74 Greg Lefmann Gardner, KS 66030 $ 13,690.57
75 Bernice Clymer Gardner, KS 66030 $ 13,249.49
76 Theodore A Parry Gardner, KS 66030 $ 12,386.86
77 J C Myers Gardner, KS 66030 $ 11,948.96
78 Paul Clute Gardner, KS 66030 $ 11,545.58
79 Robert Shippee Gardner, KS 66030 $ 11,509.00
80 Fred Hadle Gardner, KS 66030 $ 11,451.00
If you want to see the rest of the 315 people living within the zip code of 66030 receiving farm subsidies from 1995-2006, you may go to http://farm.ewg.org/addrsearch.php?z=1&zip=66030&page=3. I hate to think what the amounts have been from 2006-2010.
So is this cash back these people receive? or tax credits? I don’t understand, but I think I would like to be on the list.
By all means get in the handout line and create more costs for the taxpayers to pay………
So it is money received? Not tax credit. I really don’t understand why they get this money.
How much is that loaf of bread REALLY costing you? Go to http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/agriculture/subsidies and consider the information given. Special interests are everywhere you go……..where do you fit in the big picture????
How to get paid to NOT farm – go to http://abcnews.go.com/US/city-dwelling-landowners-paid-millions-farm-secondary-estates/story?id=13916915
And remember entities are claiming farm use of their properties right here in Gardner such as the SE corner of 183rd & Center where the owner is only paying around a TOTAL YEARLY TAX BILL OF $8 And there are many, many, many more of these rigged appraisals across Kansas – that is my opinion. I have lived across from that property for 8 years and there has never been a crop of any kind present nor any type of agricultural animal grazing there. And then your city provides the owner/developer of this property a benefit district to give them financing to put in utilities to the property. Remember that if the owner doesn’t pay the special assessment for that benefit district that shows on the tax bill, then the citizens will have to be picking up the bill. I know who my city government is serving and it certainly isn’t me, the average citizen and you certainly don’t see them doing anything about what I consider the fraudelent farm appraisals on property that robs millions of tax dollars from the citizens. The stench at City Hall continues………….