BILL REQ. #:  S-1408.1 

Read first time 02/12/2003.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE HONORABLE ANN M. VENEMAN, THE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Wheat farming is the major industry in many rural regions of Washington State and thus the health of the industry is inextricably linked to the economic health of the populations in these rural regions; and
     WHEREAS, Approximately one hundred fifty million bushels of wheat is produced annually on two and one-half million acres by five thousand farms and generates four hundred fifty million dollars in gross crop value, placing Washington State third in the nation among wheat producing states; and
     WHEREAS, Washington is one of the largest and most heavily reliant of the wheat exporting states with up to ninety percent of the state's production being exported each year; and
     WHEREAS, The wheat production in Washington State is predominantly by family farm operations that are as efficient and productive as any growers in the world and that produce the highest quality product possible; and
     WHEREAS, Despite being the most efficient producers of the highest quality product, low prices received by farmers in recent years, especially for those farmers with loan obligations, have resulted in the continual erosion in many farmers' net worths and a loss of farming operations; and
     WHEREAS, Because prices for wheat in recent years, including funds from government programs, have frequently been at or below the cost of production, the wheat farming community is very sensitive to significant government actions that affect supply and demand and depress wheat prices; and
     WHEREAS, The price of the soft white wheat predominately grown in Washington reached a high in early fall of four dollars and eighty cents per bushel at the Portland grain terminal but has fallen dramatically by over one dollar per bushel due to a combination of factors, including large sales over a short period of time from federally held grain reserves and the labor dispute causing the cessation in the shipment of grain at export facilities; and
     WHEREAS, A bushel of wheat makes forty-two pounds of flour, which makes sixty-six loaves of bread, and comprises only six cents of the one dollar and thirty cents average retail price per loaf;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that new federal procedures be established to assure that future sales of wheat stocks from federally held grain reserves be conducted in a manner that such sales will not unduly disrupt the market while also fulfilling the original intent of providing for emergency humanitarian food needs in developing countries.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the Honorable Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.