Knebel favors present farm policies
C-DITOR’S NOTE; The following are excerpts from a
speech given last month by John A. Knebel, U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The new farm bill which must be
written next year will be the most important piece of
legislation to come before the 95th Congress in 1977.
With the farm programs now on the books scheduled to
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expire next year, American agriculture is at the crossroads.
The decision Congress makes will influence agriculture in
this country for the next generation.
The present market-oriented policy saved taxpayers well
oyer $3 billion annually in farm payments and up tO' $1 million
daily for storage and handling of surplus farm production. At
an earlier time of the heavier costs, America was suffering
trade imbalances.
Since 1974, the United States has been recording favorable
balances in international trade. It is more than coincidental
that we have been exporting agricultural products in record
amounts during that same time.
United States agricultural exports provide many other
benefits.
They boost employment. More than 50,000 jobs are created
for every $1 billion of agricultural products exported. These
jobs are among those held by nearly 17 million Americans
who are employed in the agricultural chain from production
on the farm to sale in the stores.
Exports stabilize the economy. The American dollar is
sounder in international business and buys more. In addition,
for every $1 received from agricultural exports, $2.20 in
spending is generated in our economy.
At the same time, the projection for food prices in the
United States next year suggests a modest increase,
markedly lower than the inflationary trend.. American
consumers are realizing that the groceries they buy are the
best deal-in the world - and this includes the production from
the farms and ranches of this great state.
American consumers spend only 17 percent of disposable
income for the best and most nutritious food ever produced.
Compare that with the Soviet Union where the consumer is
spending 37 percent for food and doesn’t get nearly the
selection, quality or built-in services that the U.S,
homekeeper gets.
If each farm worker is to continue to feed himself and 56
others in this nation and abroad and if America is to continue
as the leading exporter of agriculatural products, Congress
must make the correct decision in the 1977 farm law. It must
write legislation which will continue the progress of the past
four years - legislation which will keep farnr exports at
record levels, which will maintain farm income at the
highest levels ever, which will reaffirm the role of the farmer
as the mainstay of the nation’s economic progress.
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WILLIAM F. GUHL
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday. Dec. 4,1976
There will be various attempts to adjust the legislation now
in effect. One method may aim at setting support levels
based on cost of production. There are many variables -
weather, geographic location, farm size, interest rates and
managerial ability among them - that would make it difficult
to come up with cost-or-production figures that would be
satisfactory on a commodity-wide basis.
There are no scientific formulas for solving farm economic
problems. But they can be solved by understanding the
simple economics of supply and demand, providing a wide
range of markets and having faith and confidence in the
experience and intelligence of America’s farmers to meet the
needs.
The American farmer has never failed us. I am confident
he never will.
Government officials should look closely at regulations and
proposed regulations on America’s food producers and
handlers. Everything must be done to keep competition
spirited, but superfluous and needless regulations will add
unnecessarily to the prices that Americans have to pay at the
grocery stores.
The Department of Agriculture is very much aware of a
move to unionize farm workers and the subsequent probable
effect on farm production costs and grocery prices.
Obviously, farm workers are entitled to a livable wage and
reasonable security for themselves and their families. But,
at the same time, the rights of millions of other humans and
their humans are involved and must be remembered. Strikes
or lockouts which destroy the availability of food cannot be
condoned because they affect the very lives of other innocent
humans.
Farmers who grow perishable fruits and vegetables are
particularly vulnerable and their rights must be observed
and protected. If. they are forced into bankruptcy and
closure, then the production of food there will cease.
A proposal for an Agricultural Labor Relations Board has
been drawn and is in the hands of Department of Labor of
ficials for study and consideration.
There were proposals in the last Congress to extend the
Taft-Hartley Act to include agricultural workers, and there
probably will be similar proposals made by members of the
new Congress which convenes in January.
Recent farm labor results in California may indicate the
national mood for the future. California voters defeated, by
two to one, Proposition 14 early this month that would have
permitted union organizers to spend several hours daily
recruiting workers on farms and ranches.
The American farmer is getting recognition in recent years
for the vital job he has done. Our fellow Americans are more
aware now than ever before of the farmer’s crucial role in the
nation’s productivity and strength.
Americans are becoming conscious today that less than
five percent of their population lives and works on farms,
producing the materials necessary for sustaining life.
They must realize that the American farmer is entitled to a
reasonable reward for his risks and efforts; otherwise,
production of food and fiber will diminish and prices will
soar.
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