Cedar Rapids, IA (November 12, 2001) - Speaking to the 135th annual convention of the National Grange, Kermit W. Richardson, National Master (President), called on Congress to create a new Farm Bill that will "…encourage increased participation in agriculture by the largest number of individuals and families through the broadest possible distribution of agricultural assets possible." Contrary to popular thinking that the United States currently has too many farmers and too much production, Richardson hammered home the point that, "Our nation does not suffer from having too many farmers. Our nation's food security is threatened by having too few farmers!"
Richardson called for legislation that will benefit a broad spectrum of farmers rather than favor the few and to reject legislation that will lead to continued consolidation in American agriculture. He also called for legislation that will allow the current generation of farmers to retire with dignity and to easily pass on farm assets to the next generation without onerous financial burdens.
Technical Assistance vs. Land Retirement
Keeping with his theme of "more, not less farming," Richardson pointed out that 92% of all Federal conservation dollars go to land retirement programs and that nearly every state is woefully under funded in technical assistance programs that "help farmers to produce food and fiber in harmony with the environment." He revealed that the host state, Iowa, had funding to cover only 37% of its technical assistance needs. Richardson strongly pointed out that current House legislation would only exacerbate the shortcomings in technical assistance.
Dairy Compacts Successful
Richardson called the creation of the Northeast Dairy Compact "the most successful agricultural innovation" in the 1996 Farm Bill. Dairy Compacts set prices on fluid milk that assure a fair return to dairy producers. A panel consisting of producers, processors, consumers and state government representatives sets prices. Compacts have no net cost to taxpayers. Richardson noted that retail milk prices in New England have been below the national average since the inception of the Northeast Dairy Compact and that the rate of demise of dairy farms in the Northeast has declined.
Legislation that would have extended and expanded the Northeast Dairy Compact and created a Southern Compact got caught up in disputes over committee jurisdictions in Congress. As a result, the Northeast compact expired on September 30 and new legislation has stalled. Richardson appealed to Congress to resolve the jurisdictional disputes between committees and to pass this legislation that "will pay tremendous dividend to family farmers in the future."
Need for "Check Off" Choice
Noting that U.S. pork producers recently voted to end mandatory assessments for a national research and promotion program, Richardson depicted current "check off" programs as too rigid to meet the needs of today's farmers. He believes that the programs fail to exploit specialized production processes that enable farmers to create value-added products within their commodities. For example, organic producers may want their check off dollars spent on promoting the organic category rather than the entire commodity. He sees a need for more direct input by farmers on how check-off dollars are spent and says that government appointed promotion boards alienate many farmers who have been mandated to make key decisions on what and how they farm under the "Freedom to Farm" concept.
Unrealistic Environmental Goals
Last Spring, the Federal government cut off irrigation to 1,500 farmers in the Northern California/Southern Oregon Klamath Basin in order to preserve endangered sucker fish and salmon. Richardson termed this "the zealous pursuit of unrealistic environmental goals" that is causing severe damage to farms and industries important to our country. "Responsible stewardship recognizes a balance between use and conservation. We will not accept that Americans must sacrifice their prosperity or surrender their constitutional rights in order to preserve our environment," he stated. Richardson told the audience that the Grange has labored for over a decade for amendments to the Environmental Species Act and for fair compensation for those who have been denied use of their land by the Act.
Washington DC (July 12, 2000) – Leroy Watson, National Grange Legislative Director, today told members of the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee that, like the famous Tennessee Williams character Blanche DuBois in the ic play "Long Day’s Journey Into Night", U. S. Farmers are “surviving on the charity of others” under current federal farm policy. Watson likened the supplemental farm payments provided by Congress and the Administration to charity that alleviates the situation but does not solve the underlying problems.
“We believe that past and current farm policies have contributed to the decline in the quality of life in rural communities,” Watson told the Committee. He claimed that current policies are promoting the consolidation of farm production assets into fewer and fewer hands, and that, today, “we have the fewest number of farmers, either full time or part time, in our nation’s history.” Government intrusion on the rights of farmers to mange and husband their land and prohibitive capitol gains and inheritance taxes have discouraged and prevented new generations from carrying on the family farming tradition. The Grange believes that, unless federal farm policy changes to encourage greater individual and family participation in U.S. agriculture, the number of U.S. farmers will continue to decline until U.S. farm production is in the hands of the very few and the very large.
According to Watson’s testimony, it is not farm policy alone that is affecting rural America. He cited increased rural crime, rural public school consolidations, inadequate health facilities, and lack of high speed Internet and communications access as factors contributing to the decline of rural communities.
The National Grange “Blue Print for Rural America 2000”, in fact, represents National Grange involvement in issues affecting all of rural America. It deals almost equally with farm and non-farm rural issues. The Blueprint reflects the needs and desires of grassroots America. It is modified each year through a resolution system that starts at the Local Grange levels. Resolutions then pass up through county and state Granges and are voted on each Fall at the Grange National Convention where several hundred policy resolutions are processed each year.
In terms of specific farm policy, the 2000 Blueprint includes these recommendations:
The National Grange is the nation's oldest general agricultural organization, founded in 1867. It has grassroots units in 3,600 local communities in 37 states, with nearly 300,000 members. Its activities include and serve farm and non-farm, rural families and communities on a wide variety of economic, educational, legislative and family issues.
Proud Socialist, eh? Well, our experiment with socialism gave us the inner-city welfare state. Animal Farm, essentially, as the result of governmental interference and meddling with the family unit. Another flaming success story.
clinton's ag secy chimed in and said he would not touch the subsidy issue because he could make no difference.
the same wealthy farmers with political clout in washington get the bulk of the spoils.
the nyt had a good article on this several months ago, when the government numbers were released by the feds. the article included a usa county map. most of the fat cat farmers were on the great plains, from texas to canada. these guys have several thousands of acres in production each.
This guy is smoking crack .... 350 billion dollar is about the equal to 70 aircraft carriers. Not even a state full of Monica's would have gotten that much money from Clinton.
No. That's why we have so many democrat senatores from states thatb vote overwhelmingly Republican in Presidential elections. ie..Tom Dashle
Welfare farmers are just another form of welfare trash.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa (November 14, 2001) - The newly adopted Grange resolution states that it is paramount that the Senate retains the $179 billion dollar budget approved by the House for the lifetime of the Farm Bill. "Agriculture's survival, our self sufficiency, our food supply and its safety depend on agriculture's profitability," the resolution states. The resolution also calls for sufficient funding for technical assistance on environmental practices. The Grange maintains that too much federal money is spent encouraging farmers to take land out of production and not enough is spent teaching them environmentally sound production practices. The Grange does support voluntary short-term conservation reserve programs targeted to meet price goals of at least production costs.
Other actions called for by the Grange's 2002 farm policy resolution include a return to tariffs on imported asparagus; a review of grazing policies to enhance weed control; a determination of how 31.4 million pounds of stored cheese where not accounted for by U.S.D.A. and caused a severe price drop in cheese when discovered; tracking of the identification, movement and disposition of Genetically Modified Organisms by USDA; support of initiatives to use farm silos as bases for communications antennas; equal standards for measuring hail damaged fruit; and encouragement for the development of value added products by America's farmers.
Founded in 1867, the National Grange is this nation's oldest general farm and rural public interest organization. The National Grange currently represents approximately 300,000 members affiliated with 3,400 local, county and state Grange chapters across the nation. The National Grange will hold its 135th Annual Convention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cedar Rapids, IA November 12-18, 2001. At that time, Grange delegates from across the nation will adopt grassroots policy positions related to the next Farm Bill and other rural issues.