About CAIS, I have to say the same as Allan, and I want to take my only example again. I've been there 12 years now. The first two were very good years, and then 1998-99 was a really bad year. I got $80,000 out of the program at that time. Afterwards, I got a couple of thousand dollars out of it. Last year, with personal expenses, I lost close to $100,000 again. The bookkeeper told me there was no money, no CAIS.
It doesn't help, and it can help somehow.... So if you could go back to the CPC and talk to them, there are certain ideas. The protein council has certain ideas. I don't have all the knowledge they have. But it does not help; at least, it did not help me, and that's what I want to emphasize.
I think the green idea is a great idea, but it should be more...[Inaudible--Editor]. Going into Smithfield Foods and the other people.... Smithfield is the biggest one in the whole world. They want to have loose housing. I don't have a problem with loose housing for sows; we can do it, but again it costs money. The consumer wants it, and we have to cough up all those costs. The space per pig--I don't know how many square feet it is; let's say it's two square feet. They want to have it at two and a half; they want to upgrade it because there are too many pigs in a pen. That's okay with me too, but it's on the backs of farmers. They're going to have to cough it up.
We cannot say to the processor that we want to have 10¢, 5¢, or 1¢ more, or whatever it costs, because it's costing us money. We can't do it. The consumer wants it, so we have to cough it up. If that falls under the green idea, please advise us and send me the form. I will fill it in.
The same is true with the options program. My wife works with me on the farm. We have a part-time hired hand once in a while. We want to go into that options program. The two of us are in the negative, and $25,000 is waiting for us--no forms. You can get it in the fall of this year.
She asked me to hire a bookkeeper to come up with a plan. If it stays like this, then they're going to want liquidation. There's no money at all, so I don't know how.... If the prices go up, I have to spend another $2,000 or $3,000 on an accountant. Whatever I can get out of the options program, if I'm eligible for it...but I cannot get into it.