I had mixed feelings on the USDA flour export program. It had both its pro & cons. Being a former milling worker back when mills produced export flour, it provided jobs, a good market for wheat farmers, lots of interesting rail activity on what kind of boxcars the switcher would spot for loading. The cons related to it was the fact that there were certain jobs in the mill that worked everyday the mill was running. Mine was one of them. When mills were filled up w/export orders, the mill ran 7 days a wk, including holidays except Christmas. When export dropped off, so did the runtime that would slack down to 5 days a wk or even lower than that. Always loved it when business slowed. Atleast I got wknds off for awhile. 1983, 1984, 1986 & 1987 I recall were very heavy export yrs for the milling business. Because of high business levels, I worked every single day from December 26, 1982 to Labor day wknd 1983–almost 9 months w/out a single day off. You bet I cursed the USDA.