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<br />no practical economic significance. It should also be noted that in 1993 only 7 percent of all <br />flights were for the sole purpose of rainfall enhancement. The importance of seeding for hail <br />suppression has always been the major thrust of the Program due to funding limitations and the <br />amount of loss that can occur with a severe hail storm. <br /> <br />In contrast, the Kansas Water Office evaluation of the hail suppression component of the <br />Program was very positive. The estimated percentage decrease in hail damage to crops in the <br />target area was 27 percent, and resulted in an estimated benefit of approximately $60,000,000 <br />to the six cO\lnty target area for the 1979-1993 time period or $4,000,000 per :year, after the <br />expenses to operate the Program have been deducted. These figures are based on reduced hail <br />damage to crops and do not include any estimate of the savings due to reduction in hail damage <br />to dwellings, personal property, wildlife or other natural resources. <br /> <br />Hail losses within the state can be both variable and staggering. In 1993, the State of Kansas <br />sustained $43,418,000 of insured crop-hail damage, its greatest dollar loss of insured crops due <br />to hail damage since 1948, Since not all farmers insure their crops for hail damage, the total <br />dollar loss for crop-hail damage was, of course, much greater than $43,418,000 in 1993. <br />Although 1993 was. also the worst year for crop-hail damage to the Western Kansas Weather <br />Modification I?r()gram__target area counties, it should be noted that the insured crop-hail damage <br />loss for Sheridan County, a control area county, was $4,542,000 in 1993, which exceeded the <br />total crop-hail damage loss for all six target area counties. <br /> <br />From the outset the original designers of the Western Kansas Weather Modification Program <br />knew the Program could never eliminate all crop-hail damage and they never claimed to be able <br />to do so. Originally, the Program was designed around the best use of the available funding, <br />a concept that has allowed it to expand or contract each year depending on the number of <br />participating counties. Despite Program funding limitations, the Kansas Water Office has <br />concluded that the dollar value of the crop-hail damage reduction, to date, has been very <br />significant. <br /> <br />As a result of this recently completed evaluation, the Kansas Water Office plans to request <br />adequate funding in Fiscal Year 1996 to match Western Kansas county participation in hail <br />suppression weather modification activities at $10,000 per participating county. <br /> <br />2 <br />