It is hard to imagine why Congress, in discussing what tax relief to grant to tree farmers after the catastrophe of Katrina, equates tree farming to cotton farming. But that is the end result if the present IRS ruling that tax relief be granted according to the base price of a farmer's product continues to be used
 
The base price for my timber - and that of tree farmers across the state who planted stands over half a century ago - was established when land and timber were both a liability. Most land sold for $10 to $40 an acre then, timber included, making the base price on my timber acquired in 1943 less than $3,000.

I have spent 62 years of my life turning unproductive cut-over timber land into a tree farm that was selected Mississippi's Tree Farm of the Year in 1996 and whose timber crop was worth several hundred thousand dollars before Katrina struck. In six hours Katrina took down all of my largest trees - or 30 percent of my timber. Most of Mississippi's large timber is in the hands of 150,000 individual owners, many of them, like me, older people who began managing their stands decades ago as an investment for their retirement years. Katrina has altered their plans.

Last year some cotton or soybean farmer invested his time, money and effort in producing his annual crop. His losses from Katrina will be based on this one-year investment. To expect a tree farmer to use the cost of his initial investment made decades earlier as his base price while the cotton farmer is allowed to use as his base price the cost of his annual investment is not only poor agricultural economics, it is unjust.

If this plan is accepted by Congress, tree farmers will suffer two hits: one, the huge amount of Katrina's destruction to tree farms, which resulted in a glut on the timber market and a drop in the market value of the timber crop (from 100 percent to 60 percent); two, the refusal by the IRS to allow tree farmers to claim a casualty loss unless it exceeds base value.

The timber industry is the second largest agricultural industry in Mississippi, creating more than 60,000 jobs and touching every small business owner in South Mississippi. This industry needs a one-time tax write-off. It does not need to be tossed scraps from the table when it helped build the table for Mississippi.