Date: 1983-09-27
Speaker: STAN GELAND (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I would like to commend the gentleman from Kansas and the gentleman from Texas for requesting this special order to permit those of us from farm States to once again remind our colleagues of the futility of grain embargoes. However. I deeply regret that this exercise is even necessary. Our discussion here today is in large part attributable to calls from many in the media and some in Congress for a unilateral embargo on grain exports to the Soviet Union as a result of the Korean airliner tragedy. There is no question that the Soviet militarys merciless behavior. and the subsequent lies and coverup which followed this atrocity. shocked and outraged the entire civilized world. But we must not let our anger over this blatant example of the Soviet Regimes small regard for human life provoke us into taking an emotionfed reaction that would end up punishing ourselves far more than it would the Soviets. Let us clearly make the point today that unilateral food embargoes simply do not work. There are several problems which make agricultural trade an especially poor foreign policy tool. Because farm goods are essentially the same product regardless of where they are produced and because they can be *obtained from many different sources. the importing country quickly finds alternative sources to meet their food needs. This is precisely what the Soviet Union did during the 1980 grain embargo Imposed by President Carter after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. As a result. the U.S.S.R. was not forced to liquidate herds and flocks as some U.S. policymnakers had predicted. Unfortunately. howeiler. the impact of the 1980 Soviet grain embargo was devastating on U.S. farmers and our rural communities. The Immediate result of the embargo was a sharp decline in farm prices. which further contributed to a decline in net farm income that was already under way due to inflation and high interest rates. Furthermore. the 1980 grain embargo cost our Nation 310.000 jobs and $11.4 billion in overall output. More than 9 months passed before prices for wheat. corn. and soybeans returned to their preembargo levels. In addition. price supports triggered by postembargo conditions cost U.S. taxpayers more than $2 billion. Yet. during this entire period. the Soviets had little difficulty in obtaining their grain requirements from our competitors and. to this day. the Russian military forces show no Inclination toward pulling back from their military occupation of Afghanistan. But the 1980 Soviet grain embargo was only one of several prior foolish and illconceived embargoes which have proven unsuccessful and robbed U.S. farmers of their foreign markets. It is generally acknowledged that the Nixon embargo of 1973 spurred Brazilian soybean production to the point where Brazilian soybean production Is now the greatest soybean competitor to the United States. As a result of this action. the Japanese Government encouraged soybean production In Brazil because they were alarmed about the prospect of supply cutoffs. This production also encouraged Argentine soybean production and exports which. In turn. compete against our farmers for foreign markets. Subsequent embargoes in 1974 and 1975 during the Ford administration further eroded Americas reputation as a reliable supplier in the international marketplace. It is this subsequent and cumulative effect of embargoes which. perhaps. proves most costly to our farmers and the entire American economy. Because food supplies are an overriding requirement for consuming countries. Importers place a special emphasis on reliable sources of supply. The United States still suffers from a reputation as an unreliable supplier. and Americas farmers have been forced to bear the cost in terms of lost sales and lower farm prices. The reaction of the United States against this International outrage must be firm and determined. However. it must not involve actions that capture media headlines and bow to public opinion polls. but rather our countrys response should be one that can work. A unilateral embargo has never worked. It will not work today. and it would truly constitute another example of our Government "shooting ourselves in the foot." Again. Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlemen for calling this special order.