of the weather; and defined quality losses would be the third, 

 which is a program Congress appropriated funds for earlier this 

 summer but thus far has not been clearly defined. And we have a 

 lot of questions of what exactly a quality loss is. 



There are no magic formulas of what will help farmers through 

 this difficult fall and harvest. However, I think flexibility through 

 what we do in Washington through the agencies and Departments 

 that are there to help I think is one of the best ways that we can 

 give some assistance during this period of time. 



I might also add as a sidenote, one of the farmers this last week- 

 end I was visiting with knew that the frost was coming and men- 

 tioned that there may be something that Congress could do about 

 the frost. 



He said, with all the hot air in Washington, why don't they move 

 out to Iowa for a week and that may put us off for a week. But 

 barring that as a fourth alternative and understanding the frustra- 

 tion that is out there, I appreciate the opportunity to go over some 

 of these flexible things that can be done in lieu of a large overhaul. 



I thank the chairman for calling this hearing. 



Mr. Johnson. The gentleman from Minnesota. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. COLLIN C. PETERSON, A REP- 

 RESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MIN- 

 NESOTA 



Mr. Peterson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I, too, want to thank you for calling this hearing. In our area, 

 we were looking at one of the better crops that we have ever seen; 

 and for awhile we were looking like we maybe were going to avoid 

 this disaster. But I think, in the end, we probably ended up worse 

 off than a lot of the rest of the country. We still have a lot of my 

 farmers that can't get in their fields. We have been hit by this 

 vomitoxin problem; and to say that farmers are frustrated is an un- 

 derstatement. 



I think it is important that we take a look at where we are at. 

 I want to thank the Department for trying to deal with this prob- 

 lem. They have been most cooperative and I think have honestly 

 tried to address all of the issues as they come up. 



But frankly, I think the disaster program, in spite of the fact 

 that it has been improved, is inadequate. The Federal crop insur- 

 ance program is inadequate. And if we don't learn anything else 

 from the situation we have just been through, it should be that we 

 have to fix Federal crop insurance and we have to quit having 

 these disaster bills because it just doesn't work, and it doesn't 

 make a whole lot of sense. 



So I hope we can learn something from this hearing today, and 

 I hope that we can fix the Federal crop insurance and never have 

 to go through a situation such as we have had again. 



Thank you. 



Mr. Johnson. The gentleman from Oregon. 



Mr. Smith of Oregon. No statement, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Johnson. And the gentleman from Greorgia, Mr. Bishop. 



