Fresno, California - Remarks on Arrival at Fresno Airport.

Thank you very much. Mayor Whitehurst and Senator Cranston, Governor Brown, Congressmen Sisk and Krebs, and distinguished members of the California General Assembly and the Senate, Lieutenant Governor Merv Dymally, and fellow farmers:

I'm glad to be out of the White House back into one of the most beautiful farming areas in the whole world. Thank you for coming out to meet me.

This is my third trip to the Fresno Airport. This is the largest crowd I've ever had, and I've got the largest plane I ever had.

Part of the reason that I have the large plane and the large crowd is your own confidence in me. And one of the reasons that I wanted to come here today is to learn at first hand, as a farmer, myself, and as a President, about the special problems that face our country because of your own drought conditions.

When we came in from Los Angeles, we passed over Fresno and went up into the mountain area to look at the water reservoirs that ordinarily this time of year are filled to the brim by melting snow. They're almost empty, and there is very little snow, if any, in the mountains.

There's no way that any of us, including the President, can make it rain. But we can share the experience of prospective agricultural disaster by making very careful plans ahead of time and by understanding the consequences of a lack of rain.

We all know that you've already suffered. The first ones who feel the effect of drought are the cattle producers who have had to start depleting their crop-their herds, by sale of even breeding stock, because of the high cost of hay and the lack of adequate grazing land.

Areas which ordinarily are natural grazing areas, instead of being a beautiful, springtime green are a brown color. And we know also that the recreation areas in the mountains, the ski resorts are suffering very badly.

Water levels are falling underground, and some of the irrigation ditches that ordinarily bring in water to replenish your underground supplies are bone dry. This is a time of careful planning for the future between the Federal Government, the State and local governments, and the farmers and residents in this beautiful supply area for food.

We now have a total Federal drought program that consists of about $1,200 million. About $400 million of this money will be available for direct grants in aid for the farm areas. About $800 million of that total are available for guaranteed or low-interest loans. But this is not going to be an adequate amount if you don't receive rain this year and snow in your mountains next winter. We all pray that we'll return to a normal degree of rain and snowfall. But if not, we ought to make plans now on how we can use a limited supply of money and a limited reservoir of water in the most careful and conservative fashion.

We need to start thinking about deeper wells. I think you still have an adequate area to go and deeper supplies of water before you hit the salt water content that would be damaging to your crops. We need to make sure that we shift very rapidly to the kinds of irrigation that don't waste water. The drip area, the drip supply system, which was developed in Israel, is now being used, which makes every drop of water go a maximum degree in growing a crop.

We need to make plans to be sure that the surface of small reservoirs is covered with materials that cut down on the amount of evaporation, and everyone who lives in an urban area needs to be aware that when you use an extra gallon of water, it robs you in the future.

I'm very proud of the resilience and the strength and the courage and the independence and the insight and the careful planning that's been part of your lives ever since this area was settled and began to depend upon a careful utilization of both land and water supplies.

I hope that in the future we can learn more in Washington about how to work harmoniously with you. And the Members of Congress and the U.S. Senate here on the platform with me, the members of your own general assembly and your Governor are all working as closely as is humanly possible to share plans for the future.

I'm going to leave here and visit a couple of farms so that I can understand better as President the practical problems that are faced by prospective drought. You've probably noticed in the news that in the areas north of San Francisco: in Marin County, that with strict conservation measures they've cut down the use of water more than 55 percent. This is the kind of thing that might be necessary in many areas of our country in months to come.

I think you see already the need for this kind of close care of what we have. Your area is perhaps the richest agricultural producing area in the world. What you do here not only affects your own prosperity and your own income but it affects the rest of our Nation. And the degree of inflation that's going to take place next year that robs every consumer to a major degree will be decided in California, depending upon how much rain we get, how bountiful your harvests are, the supplies of adequate food, and the prices that result if shortages occur.

So, I'm here to learn, to let you know how interested I am in your future, and to share with you a commitment that whatever God gives us in the future we'll use it to the best interest of us all.

I'm glad we live in the kind of country where the Congress, the President, the State and local officials can work closely with the citizens of our Nation and where the citizens--farmers and consumers-can have an input in the decisionmaking process of government.

I'll try to do the best I can. I think I bring one advantage to the White House--that I farmed most of my life myself. I know that farmers are very seldom satisfied. We often complain about the weather, but I can say that you have a real reason and an excuse for complaining this year.

But I believe and I hope that the future might bring us better rainfall, and whether it comes or not, I believe we can weather this problem and we can continue to serve the rest of the Nation as you have for so long.

So, thank you for letting me come. Thank you for the tremendous welcome. I really appreciate your support and your confidence. Thanks a lot.