I skimmed the article and I know personally several mentioned.  Les is a good guy.. I know Lee.. etc.  Yal I get the drift of the article.. Ransom and K-96 is REAL FARM Country that has seen it's share of hardship but also REALLY GOOD and TOUGH People.. that just need an opportunity.  "I hear ya."

Yesterday I went to Manhappiness (K.. S..U..) for our state Commodity Meetings and my "feed the starving college kids" (my own..) mission.

The Commodity meetings were.. about as expected.. the next farm bill debate.. TRADE.. (golly what have we done electing Trump?!?) etc.. The Usual battles.. must work together.. DO NOT let Heritage Foundation (I used to like them..) divide us on Food support / Farm Support.. etc.. which I get.  Frankly Maybe Obama's big Food Stamp push WAS a GOOD Thing.. Have you ever met someone who WANTS to be on Food stamps.. most whom I've seen do not..  but always exceptions.. I'm starting to get the angle of some like Tim in Arkansas who view the Farming Welfare as more of a problem then the food welfare...  "hmmm."   But then you read stories like the above..

Personally I believe we could see improvement in prices.. (checking.. yup only 5 minutes of bearish left in the year for JonSCKs..) but I may be wrong...???  (it happens..)

Yesterday on the way up.. heard on the Radio.. "A Senate panel moved Tuesday to cut $128 million from K-12 education and $23 million from higher education, reductions that would take effect this fiscal year to help fill a state budget shortfall."  

( http://cjonline.com/news/state-government/2017-02-07/kansas-senate-... )

"great."  I'm personally getting tired of this scorched earth tax cut policy..

After the meetings I ran up the hill to visit with some of my former College Prof's one is retiring this spring.. and we had a really good discussion.. both of us have parents whom are facing health care issues.. probably headed towards nursing homes at some point.. ??

"Whats wrong with our country that we DO NOT WANT TO PAY for services which are NEEDED?"

My county has 296 Veterans whom NEED ACCESS to HEALTHCARE.. some can not AFFORD to drive all the time to Timbuktu for healthcare..

Our County has an idiot on the county commissioners whom has stated that he wants to see our local hospital closed.. The county pays about $400 k to support an institution which pumps about $10 Million in economic activity into the rural economy..  HOW does someone get elected to that post with that kind of attitude?

$400 k to support $10 million.. that's an economic NO BRAINER.. end of discussion.

My former prof agreed.. "it's the state of the political landscape that we live in.."  It seems like we have lost some of our statesmen who KNEW what doing the right thing...  WAS.

Anywho... my pet project this year is Rural Healthcare.. and I appreciate seeing stories like this one..

( https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/world-policy/article/2... )

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Lawmakers told rural hospital leaders this week they are trying to protect and even expand health care in rural America even as rural hospital administrators stressed the struggles they are facing to stay open for rural residents.

A parade of senators and congressmen trekked more than 30 minutes from Capitol Hill on Tuesday to talk to members of the National Rural Health Association, which is made up of hospital administrators and rural clinic providers. The association's policy conference comes as Congress is moving to repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, but there is no clear strategy for repealing the law that doesn't eliminate insurance options for millions of people.

Hospital administrators also are afraid the push to repeal the Affordable Care Act will also translate into more cuts to Medicare -- insurance for seniors -- and Medicaid, which is insurance for the poor.

Besides often being among the largest employers in a town, hospitals are critical for business recruitment in rural areas. The loss of a hospital can bring down property values in communities as well.

Leaders for the National Rural Health Association stressed all hospitals have faced cuts in recent years, particularly to Medicare reimbursement, but the impact is harder in rural areas than cities.

"They aren't seeing the same kind of crisis we see in rural America," said Maggie Elehwany, vice president of government affairs for the association.

Rural hospitals have faced a series of cuts in recent years, including a 2% cut in Medicare reimbursement because of sequestration. Congress also has cut the reimbursement hospitals get when Medicare patients can't pay their copays. The so-called "bad debt" reimbursement was cut from 100% to 65% for rural critical access hospitals, amounting to a 35% cut in payment over the past three years.

Patients going to rural hospitals are more likely to be on either Medicare or Medicaid than patients going to urban hospitals. Generally, Medicaid and Medicare combine for more than 60% of the revenue for rural hospitals.

"When they cut Medicare, it's a bigger share of our budget," said Tim Wolters, who works on reimbursement at two rural hospitals in southern Missouri. "It is a bigger hit on our bottom line."

Since 2010, 80 rural hospitals have closed. Another 670 rural hospitals -- basically one out of three -- are considered in financial risk of closure because of continually running in the red. States that did not expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act are more likely to have hospitals at financial risk. Wolters stressed that whatever Congress does to Medicaid payments, lawmakers have to make it equitable to states that did not expand Medicaid or hospitals in those states will be in more financial risk.

Rural hospital administrators are hanging their hats on legislation expected to be introduced soon in the House called the Save Rural Hospitals Act. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa. The crux of the bill would allow rural hospitals to eliminate inpatient beds, but maintain emergency rooms and outpatient care. The bill could include a boost in Medicare reimbursement as well.

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., is working on a comparable bill in the Senate with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Gardner said his legislation also would focus on keeping the emergency rooms in rural areas. That is critical for that "golden hour of care" in a medical emergency, Gardner said.

"This concern about rural is at the forefront of everybody's mind when it comes to payment reimbursement rates," Gardner said.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., whose mother was a nurse, told the health-care advocates that she is concerned about the lack of competition in states under the ACA. Insurance rates won't come down without competition.

"The message you bring is incredibly important right now," Stabenow said. "As you may have heard, we are talking a little health care. So we need your perspective and voices as to what we can do to make it better and what we make sure we don't do to make it worse, which is a real concern to me right now."

Stabenow added that Republicans would like to create a voucher system for Medicare and turn Medicaid into a block-grant program for states. The problem with block grants, Stabenow said, is they always end up getting cut later on.

"There is an appeal to block grants, but not an appeal to cut 20% to 30%," Stabenow said.

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., is proposing a bill dubbed the Rural Hospital Relief Act to undo some of the reimbursement cuts hospitals have taken. Heitkamp noted that the push to repeal the Affordable Care Act has created more uncertainty in the insurance and health care markets. She also added there can be no repeal without a clear plan to replace the benefits of Obamacare.

"We're being asked to 'just trust us' but we cannot go back to a time where people have to worry whether they can afford health care," Heitkamp said.

Heitkamp called on hospital administrators to aggressively lobby on law changes they need to protect rural health care. "If you don't speak loudly about your needs as rural health care providers in this noise going on, then you will get left behind," she said. 

etc...

It's a work in progress.. and yes I'm still a Republican.. but maybe this farm bill debate needs to include more than just Farmers in Rural America...???

296 vets deserve the RESPECT they earned in my county.. "all I'm sayin."  and access to healthcare.  If we can afford new equipment and land.. we can afford the taxes.