22—Lancaster Farming, Sataffiay, December M, 1368
American Farm Bureau Federation
Holds Annual Meeting In K. C.
The head of the nation’s larg
est general farm organization
today called for a farm program
to provide a transition to a mar
ket-oriented farm economy, ex
pansion of farm exports, reor
ganization of the agricultural re
search structure, increased vol
untary farm marketing and bar
gaining, and a cut in govern
ment spending.
Charles B. Shuman, president
of the American Farm Bureau
Federation, in his annual ad
dress to the 1968 convention,
said, “We should not waste
time and resources in petty ar
guments over the procedure by
which the worn out and discred
ited government farm programs
are dismantled ”
Government farm policy, he
said, should recognize that the
low income problems in agricul
ture are of two distinctly differ
ent kinds those of the com
mercial farmers who receive
most of their income from
farming and those of the part
time, subsistence and rural res
ident fanners
For the part-time and subsis
tence farmers, Shuman suggest-'
ed a program that might include
a combination of grants and
loans to assist them in learning
new skills, establishing small
business enterprises and becom
ing more productive either in
agriculture or some other activ
ity.
For farm families who are in
the farming business as their
principal source of income, he
gg»d programs should be aimed
at improving the opportunity
for them to earn a satisfactory
income in the market place in
stead of making their produc
tion decisions or doling out pay
ments in lieu of fair prices.
However, since control pro
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grams are largely responsible
for the present distortions in
farm production patterns and
current low farm prices, it is
reasonable for farmers to expect
the government to provide tran
sitional assistance or a reason
able assurance against losses in
the adjustment period, he said.
“This transitional assistance,”
he continued, “could take the
form of substantial land retire
ment programs, indemnity or ad
justment payments to compen
sate for the capitalized value of
allotments loans to facilitate or
derly marketing and protection
against dumping of government
held stocks on the market to de
press prices”
On expansion of farm exports,
Shuman said it is entirely feasi
ble to double agricultural export
sales in the next four or five
years
“This can be done if the State
Department and the Office of
the Special Repiesentative for
Trade Negotiations are instruct
ed to immediately begin negoti
ations with any or all free na
tions on either a multilateral or
unilateral basis.
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“Our negotiators must be pre
pared to demand reciprocal ac
tion If the US. is to continue to
permit the importation of auto
mobiles, chemicals, wine and
steel from the European Com
mon Market countries, we
should be assured of access to
European markets for our farm
products.
“In order to pursue this hard
nosed bargaining policy success
fully, it will be necessary for
Congress to discontinue direct
subsidy payments to farmers.
These payments are recognized
by foreign nations as a form of
export subsidy.
“We must also be willing to
lesist the demands for import
barriers to protect a growing list
of agricultural and industrial
products which have been meet
mg increased competition from
foreign producers. Trade is a
two-way street,” he said
When imports threaten an in
dustry or an important segment
of agriculture, the remedy lies
in action under the escape
clause of the present trade ex
pansion legislation after investi-
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On agricultural research, Shu
man reported that during - the
past several years the programs
of the USDA and experiment
stations of the land grant col
leges have been allowed to de
teriorate.
The USDA, he said, has been
preoccupied with its “desperate
attempts to make farm programs
work and very little attention
has been given to the badly
needed reorganization of the en
tire agricultural research struc
ture.”
On government spending, Shu
man said the principal responsi
bility for bringing government
expenditures into balance with
receipts rests upon Congress.
“It is high time,” he said,
“that members of Congress real
ize that the irresponsible domes
tic spending spree which they
have been promoting by their
liberal appropriations for every
thing from urban housing to
limestone payments for fartneis
has brought this nation to the
brink of financial disaster. The
new Congress can balance the
federal budget and it should cut
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accomplished.”
While government has an es
sential . role to play ii} .helping
farmers solve their economic
problems,” the principal respon
sioility for improving net farm
■income must be accepted by
farm and ranch people," Shu
man said.
Effective, farmer - managed
marketing and- bargaining af
fords one means of improving
farm income, he said.
In such efforts, Shuman said,
.farmers should ■ resist every ef
fort to include, government as a
participant or supervisor -of the
marketing programs. Govern
ment, he said, instead could pro
vide a favorable climate by de
fining fair practices and pi elect
ing the rights of bargaining as
sociations.
Citing the lessons learned in
eight years of bargaining activ
ities by the Farm Bureau, Shu
man suggested the following
points
1. Marketing and bargaining
must be on a national basis
2 Negotiations for price and
othei terms of sale should take
(Continued on Page 23)
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