Date: 1988-10-21
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I thank my distinguished colleague for yielding to me in order that I might Join him and my other colleagues in discussing this very important issue of education and a new direction on agriculture. First. let me say that I think probably the first step we should take is to have people understand what agriculture is and what it is that we do. I think we begin by taking the fact that agriculture and everything in agriculture is the largest consumer group in the United States of America and perhaps in the world. and when we -think of the Jobs related to agriculture. perhaps 20 percent of all the Jobs in the United States in one area or another are related to agriculture. But the different times and the changes in our society and the direction in which we are going demand that we do more. I want to commend. for example. the 4H and the FPA. the Future Farmers of America. We have very close contacts with this group. and that is a nicleus of outstanding young men and woman in the United States of America who have done a tremendous amount of good work. Recently we had group here working with what they call BOAC. Building Our American Communities. The youngsters have projects that. they work on. Perhaps one of the exemplary projects I might mention at this time is to identify the direction we should be going. because some people ask. Is there a future in American agriculture? Well. a couple of years ago one of the projects taken on by the youngsters in a small town in Oregon was a reforestation project. and when I asked the young man who was the sponsor of the project in that FAA chapter. "When will you harvest the seedlings that you are now planting?" He said. "Oh. I dent know.. 50. 60. 70 years from now." This exemplifies that chapter aid the thinking of that young man. because perhaps FFA and thnt young man were thinking way. way ahead in the future and had confidence in the future. But what we speak of here is a multiplicity of things. The schools need to have agriculture as part of the curriculum. not just something off in the back room or in the back of the school yard where you have vocational education or a little meeting room for the FFA or the 4H. It should be a part of the basic standard curriculum. Secondly. beginning with adults. we know it is said that there are people out there who think that milk comes out of a carton. that peas come out of a can. and that we just go to a supermarket and ring a little bell and then they bring us whatever cut of meat we would like. chicken or pork or lamb. There are people in our enlightened society like that now. So where do we begin to correct this misconception or inaccuracy or failure in the cultural development of our populace? We begin in theischool. and we begin with the youngsters. We ask. what are the nutritious foods that we should eat? How do we differentiate a cow from a deer? A few years back one of my secretaries brought one of our youngsters that I had taken to Texas to visit with me so he could see a few things. I had a mounted deer head in my office. and he looked at it and he said. "Cow?" That is what his understanding was of anything with horns. This is the minimal of what we can do. I commend the gentleman for taking this time and for reminding us of the Research Councils Board report: "Understanding Agriculture. a New Direction of America." This is where we need to go. We need to start with your youngsters in urban and rural neighborhoods. everywhere a youngster is. so he knows for his own good and benefit something about agriculture. so he would know what is the proper nutritional value of the things we eat. and then so he would be able to communicate with his peers in the community. Then that develops to the rest of the community and perhaps to the rest of the Nation. so that we do not lose our link to agriculture and so we know the vocabulary of agriculture and we know where everything comes from. I do not want to take much more of the time of the gentleman. but there are two basic things about agriculture we should cover: No. 1. the physical body. the machine. not the intellect or the soul. how the good Lord made us in his image and likeness. I am not speaking about that. I am speaking only of the machine. The machine needs only three things for survival. air. water and food. Only the good Lord makes are and water. and only farmers and ranchers make food. That is what it takes for the human physical body to survive. Then there is the matter of national security. My colleague has listened to me many times on this. and many of my other colleagues have also. But when I was in the Navy. I never got on board a ship. I will cover this very briefly. When I came to Congress. they asked me what they could do for me. I said. "Get me on board a ship." So I went on a ship. on a carrier. the biggest one I could get. Eventually I asked to get on a submarine. I said. "I want to go on a nuclearpowered submarine." And I did. This is the triad. We can defend our country on the ground. in the air. and on the water. and also on a submarine. under the water. Our adversaries know where our troops are. they know where our planes are stationed. they know where our missiles are. but they do not know where our submarines are. This is what is protecting the peace and security. not only of this Nation but of the Free World. When I asked the young commander of that ship how long can you keep this submarine under water. he looked at me and said. "Thats a military secret." I said. "Oh. come on. you can tell me." He said. "Well. take a guess." I am thinking of the core of the reactor. the propellant. and I guess 7 years is long. zero is short. and I said 4 years. He said. No. he can keep the submarine under water as long as he has food for his crew. That is the deterrent. So who is preserving and keeping the peace and security not only of this Nation but of the rest of the free world? The farmers of America. and it is about time that we learn to speak their language. I thank the gentleman for yielding.