Date: 1983-09-30
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. some people seem to think these days that the troubles in our farm economy are all over. That is not true. It is true that prices of some commodities. including corn. are up this fall because of an unusual combination of eventsmany farmers reduced acreage under a Government surplus control program. and then we were hit by the 1983 drought which cut the harvest even more. And with supplies of some crops reduced dramatically. we naturally got some increases In prices of those com*modities. I am very happy that prices of some crops have improved. But if anyone thinks this means that American agriculture Is out of the economic woods. he or she is making a great mistake. If anyone thinks this means that the time has come to wash our hands of Government programs in agriculture. he or she is making a very dangerous mistake. The fact is that we still have serious economic problems in much of American agriculture. If we walk away from those problems. we could be setting the stage for continuing depression in the Nations most basic industry. And we had better realize that depression In agriculture hurts more than the farmer. It can hurt every one of us badly. Just what is the state of American agriculture today? Well. some farmers are clearly going to be better off this year than they were last year. An Individual corn producer. for Instance. who retired his entire corn acreage for 1983 under the paymentinkind program. is going to be compensated by what amounts to a normalsized harvest of grain which he can sell at a price which is up substantially from last year. But many farmers who did not enroll In the paymentinkind program are not so lucky. The drought losses this year have been real and severe. And we have livestock and poulty producers in many parts of the country for whom the drought Is becoming an economic disaster. Their feed supplies are down sharply. and when they buy extra feed the cost means they may be producing meat. milk. and other foods at a loss. The point that nobody should forget Is that even for farmers who will do better this year. 1983 comes at the end of a series of bad years. Farmers have been forced deeper and deeper Into debt through the past few years. axid many of them are still walking a narrow line between survival and bankruptcy. Thousands of farmers still may be forced off the land. If the next couple of years do not produce a sustained and healthy recovery. the situation In rural America is going to be grim. I hear people talk about the Agriculture Departments prediction that net farm income is going to Improve this year. If that forecast turns out to be accurate. I am going to be happy. But before anybody takes this forecast as a license for jerking farm programs away. we had better look closely at what the USDA tells us about farm income. According to the Agriculture Departments most recent estimates. realized net farm Income went down from $27.3 billion in 1979 to $26.8 billion In 1980. Then it went down again to $22.4 billion in 1981 and edged up slightly to $23.9 billion In 1982. This year. the current forecast is a range between $26 and $30 billion. The squeeze those previous 3 years put on hundreds of thousands of farm families was as great a tragedy as we have seen In other families where men and women have been out of work for years at a time. Earlier this year. the Nations attention was focused on stories of farm foreclosures and bankruptcies. And the upturn In net farm income which USDA Is predicting for this year has not cured all the troubles which piled up In the past. What all this boils down to Is the fact that if we want to avoid a deepening depression in agriculture. we are going to have to give high priority over the next couple of years to sensible farm policies. We are going to have to recognize that if we allow new surpluses to pile up. we will be right back on the treadmill of low prices and increasing foreclosures. We will have to face the fact that if the general economy continues to recover. there Is going to be further inflation in the farmers cost of production. And if we allow shortsighted pollcymakers to squeeze farm programs in this situation. the producer is going to be shopping for more red Ink for his books. Mr. Speaker. I. would like to follow up on what my distinguished colleague. the gentleman from Iowa has just mentioned. only to enlarge. In one respect. that developIng a sensible farm policy Is not only a problem or a matter for farmers to be involved in. but rather for business. for labor. for the consumer. The future depends. to a large degree. on the kinds of decisions we make on farm policy. but it impacts from the futures industry to Wall Street to big to small to international banking. And the fact is that the policy can well decide how we survive as a nation. I know it is very difficult for some of our colleagues to understand. but if the food is not there today. forget everything else that we do here in this Housewar powers. Export Administration. budget. everything else that we do. If you do not have the food that day. forget it. that is the end of the ball game. I would like to follow up with what my colleague has said that the responsibility Is going to be ours. the consumer. labor. business. and all Americans to see that the base for our sustenance. which is the agricultural area. the farm sector. is sustained and maintained in a viable. productive posture so that it will help all of us for the future as a nation and as a people.