S—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 16, 1972
FB’s Fleming Discusses
Control of Agriculture
Three separate and often op
posing groups will be trying to
influence Congressional action in
1973 on the issue of who will
control agriculture, Roger
Fleming, secretary-treasurer of
the American Farm Bureau
Federation, said in Los Angeles
this week in his report to the 54th
annual meeting of the
Federation
“You won’t be surprised,” he
said, “when I suggest that farm
and ranch families, themselves,
should be the most important of
these groups. The policies agreed
upon at this annual meeting will
express the best thinking of Farm
Bureau families as to how far
mers can control their own
future.”
Among those competing for the
control of agriculture, Fleming
said that next to farmers and
ranchers, themselves,
numerically the largest group is
made up of “planners and
political activists.”
“They advocate government
farm programs allegedly
designed to preserve the small
family farm. Instead of providing
a healthy, prosperous
agriculture, they would force
family farmers into a sort of
government managed peasan
try.
“When the new ,93rd Congress
convenes, the proponents of this
philosophy—together with their
political allies—will be back in
Washington trying to sell the
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Congress and farmers on the
merits of government supply
management, international
commodity agreements, so
called strategic reserves, and
reliance on the crutch of
government payments as the
basis for farm income.”
Another group in the race for
power, Fleming, who is also
director of the Federation’s
Washington office, said, is
composed of agribusinessmen.
“Too often the reason
agribusinessmen oppose
government control of farming is
their conviction that they are the
ones who should do the con
trolling of farmers. They con
stitute a third force in the tugging
and hauling that is taking place.”
“With this in mind, it is easy to
understand why the integrators,
the processors, the feed dealers,
and other handlers react so
vehemently in opposition to the
National Agricultural Marketing
and Bargaining Bill currently
under consideration in the
Congress.”
“They understand that the Sisk
bill would require them to
negotiate in good faith for con
tract terms when farmers and
ranchers voluntarily develop
qualified associations of
producers for this purpose. No
longer would they be free to
dictate contract terms to in
dividual contract growers on a
‘take or leave it’ basis.
“Significantly, the giants of
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agribusiness also have their own
solution to the farm labor
relations problem. It was the food
distribution industry, not food
producers, who caved in when
Cesar Chavez brought his grape
boycott to Chicago and New
York.
“And when certain producers
finally signed their workers over
to the United Farm Workers
Union, the first to sign were the
conglomerate corporations not
the family farmers who are the
backbone of the Farm Bureau.
“Hie agribusiness community,
time after time, has provided one
excuse after another for those
who would concentrate power in
the central government to seek to
extend their control over all of
agriculture.”
Turning to another area of
concern to farmers and ran
chers—fiscal responsibility—
Fleming said that government
spending will be an over-riding
issue in 1973.
“The implications to farmers
and ranchers of impending
Congressional '‘showdowns’ on
this issue will be far-reaching.
For example, it is unrealistic to
expect an end to direct controls
on price and wages unless the
Congress attacks the root cause
of inflation—i.e., deficit spending
by the federal government.
“The President has good
reason to want to phase out direct
controls as soon as possible. He
knows that they have never
worked because they treat the
symptoms of inflation, not the
root causes. Also, the President
understands the importance to
the American economy of our
efforts to increase productivity
and otherwise to become more
competitive in domestic and
world markets.
“Direct controls have an ad
ditional serious negative im
pact-more important than any
of the others. They divert public
attention from the Congress,
which has the primary respon
sibility for fiscal decisions—the
most important factor in con
trolling inflation. Instead, direct
controls focus public attention on
the activities of the Executive
Branch of government.”
Fleming pointed out that
federal spending will exceed $258
billion—over a quarter of a
billion dollars—in the current
fiscal year.
“The Congress has authorized
even greater spending in the
years to come. And, the ap
propriations to fund such
authorizations will be voted
unless the Congress gets the
message that the American
people are against excessive
government spending.”
“If the new Congress is to face
up to its Constitutional respon
sibility, it will need the help of the
free institutions of this nation.”
“Are we in Farm Bureau
prepared to extend this help? It
would be unrealistic to expect the
Congress to cut spending in other
areas while leaving untouched
spending by the United States
Department of Agriculture, in
cluding the Commodity Credit
Corporation which provides the
funds to finance commodity
programs, for example.
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“The record shows that over
the years the Farm Bureau has
been willing, and ready, to act
responsibly in this regard. Alone
among the general farm
organizations, (he Farm Bureau
annually has developed
recommendations for line-by-line
reductions in the budgets of all
federal agencies, including the
U.S. Department 0 f
Agriculture.
“Maybe it’s time to call upon
other farm organizations and the
various commodity groups to join
in the battle for fiscal respon
sibility. If agriculture ever
needed unity on an issue, it’s in
the matter of cutting government
spending.
“Farmers and ranchers are
taxpayers and have a vital stake
in fiscal responsibility. The
general farm organizations have
an opportunity to project a
positive image of farmers and
ranchers by calling on the
Congress to reduce federal
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