Financial Help for Farmers

Thousands of acres are underwater and millions of dollars are lost. Tonight Reporter Sarah Gustin has more on some of the financial assistance that's available to help farmers and ranchers during these trying times.

[welfare]

We already pay farmers welfare subsidies to grow 7 dollar a bushel corn

[CommonCents]

Many people, not just farmers are affected by the flooding. Roll out the Welfare Caravans!

I have disability insurance, medical insurance, life insurance, car insurance, property liability insurance, business insurance, mandatory unemployment insurance to cover any catastrophic issues and gaps in take home pay.

Am I to understand the farmers don't carry any insurance? They are managing million and multi million dollar operations and they don't have the common sense to hedge their business against losses? That would be just plain ignorance.

The farmers have been reaping winfall profits with crop sales double the price or more of a few years ago, they have plowed up every slew and water shed and pothole the past decade during low water levels. Now we are to give more of our hard earned equity through state confiscated and federal confiscated taxes because mother nature filled in the water shed they should have known existed and could have taken steps to protect. I don't think so.

Farmers and the oil land property owners are pushing hard for the state to pass laws exempting them from property taxes and put the burden on the state wage earners rather than eliminating state income taxes everyone is mandated to pay, when and what are their responsibilities with the issues in discussion?

When times get tough and catastrophy strikes, the wage earners of the state and country are required to downsize, sell their new truck and drive a used one, sell the big house and live in a trailer house, get a 2nd job and on and on and on. The European socialist model of farm welfare system sucks.

If one farmer has to sell out because he/she was not insured properly, another farmer will gladly take his place and the crops will get planted and the crops will get harvested and life will go on. so anyone who wants to volunteer their hard earned income and savings and college funds to the farmer who didn't have the business sense to prepare his family for hard times will join the woa-is-me crowd and contribute, but don't create the image that the hard working men and women of North Dakota owe some thing to another person because he or she is a Farmer. This is not the American way it is the Commune Farm Mentality of the European and failed Soviet Model.

The North Dakota Communities will step up and help as they can but this is not just a poor farmer catastrophe.

Signed, a small farmer.

[RustyS]

Farm programs = business welfare.