126
—Uncaster Farming, Saturday, December 22,1979
Cattlemen call for free enterprise
DENVER, Colo. - The
National Cattlemen’s Assn,
called for a free enterprise
approach to agriculture.
Speaking at a regional
hearing on the structure of
agriculture, NCA
spokesman Hubbard Russel,
Jr., declared that “con
tinuation of the free en
terprise system with less,
not more, government in
tervention is the road we
should travel.
“In fact, if government
could tend more to its real
responsibilities of reducing
inflation and keeping a
balanced budget, many of
the problems of agriculture
would be reduced, if not
eliminated.”
Russell, a cattleman from
New Cuyama, Cal., is
chairman of the NCA
Private Lands and Water
Usage Committee. He was
among those speaking at a
bearing held by Agriculture
Secretary Bob Bergland and
the U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
Russell cited the efficiency
of American agriculture and
its role in improving the
American standard of living
by improving agricultural
output per man-hour and
releasing people to produce
other goods and services
needed or desired by society.
“Over the last 30 years,”
Russell noted, “agricultural
output per man-hour has
risen by an average of 3.8%
per year a rate of increase
six times faster than that of
the private non-farm sector.
As a result, Americans are
not only the best fed people
on earth, but they spend the
smallest share of their in
comes for food. The less we
Hearing set for southeast milk area
HARRISBURG - The
Pennsylvania Milk
Marketing Board has
scheduled a hearing for the
Southeastern Milk
Marketing Area Number 1
Zone 2.
Subject matter of the
meeting will be limited to
wholesale discounts charged
in that area and zone, ac
cording to PMMB Executive
Secretary Earl B. Fink, Jr.
□ Please send me color catalog on the Cherokee horse stock trailers and GN flatbeds.
□ Please send me literature on Silo-Matic Feeding Systems.
NAME
ADDRESS
CITY
J
PHONE
need to spend on food, the
more we have for other
goods and services. ”
He went on to warn against
further government in
terference with America’s
agricultural and food
system.
“I do not believe govern
ment should set policy based
on some stereotype of
agriculture or, worse yet,
the ‘average family farm’,”
Russell said.
“No two people have the
same idea of what con
stitutes a family farm today
and no idea of what a family
farm will look like in the
future. More importantly,
any program aimed at such
a ‘will o’ the wisp’ definition
is destined to mean more
government regulation and
intervention.
“Let’s give maximum
freedom to the people in
agriculture and get
government to work full
time on ending inflation and
balancing the budget,” he
said.
Russell traced the
development of agriculture
and attitudes toward the
trend to larger, more ef
ficient and fewer operations.
In most other areas of
society and the economy, he
said, it is “fulfillment of the
American dream to move
upward to better and more
rewarding occupations and
higher income. Yet, let an
able and successful farmer
add acreage, a larger
tractor, more stock, or a
bigger barn which not
only improve the fanner’s
lot but give the consumers
wider choices, better quality
food and lower priced food
The hearing will be held in
Room 309, Agriculture
Building, 2301 North
Cameron Street, Harrisburg
on Friday, December 28,.
beginning at 9 a.m.
The hearing has been
called by PMMB upon a
petition received from the
Milk Distributors
Association of the
Philadelphia Area, Inc.
STATE ZIP.
and we begin to look for
a bogeyman.
“In fact, the name chosen
for these hearings
structure of agriculture
suggests a static rather than
a dynamic condition. It
almost implies that there is
some ideal agriculture
structure that would fit all
times and all places.
Moreover, it seems to offer a
protective wall around
agriculture from the
changes that will take place
in the rest of the economy
and the world.”
Russell noted that
agriculture has changed
greatly and will continue to
change unless there is
even more government
interference.
“Agriculture’s structure is
not a goal or an ideal
but an economic means of
providing consumers with
food of the best quality and
at the fairest price
possible,” he continued.
“We should never forget
that our way of life as far
mers and ranchers
whether on 10 acres or 10,000
acres is possible only as
long as we meet our
customers’ needs. Our claim
for our way of life is not
superior to that of any other
profession or occupation,
and hope alone will not save
us,” he said.
He noted that occupations
and industries that have
disappeared over the years
generally have done so
because they didn’t meet a
changing society’s needs.
Russell said he, like many
other farmers and ranchers,
often longed for a time when
things were more orderly
and slower-paced. But, he
Subject to change by the
Board during the hearing,
the schedule to be followed in
the presentation of
testimony follows:
First will be testimony by
the petitioner, followed by
the dealers, producers.
Commonwealth witnesses,
and testimony by consumers
and all other interested
parties.
added, “then I look around
at the standard of living we
eniov my parents
aim ceiuuiiiy my grand
parents couldn’t even dream
of and the past seems less
idyllic.”
The NCA spokesman told
Secretary Bergland: “You
and I are part of this
evolutionary agriculture
process because of the free
enterprise system. Those
who have left agriculture
have for the most part gone
on to do worthwhile and
rewarding things and, in
the process, raised the
standards of living of both of
us. The free entry into and
withdrawal from agriculture
and the right to buy and sell
land as we see fit has served
all of us extremely well.”
Russell indicated that
most commercial farmers
and ranchers have goals and
needs like those in the rest of
the economy and society.
And, he said, society as well
as agriculture itself will be
best served in the long run if
agriculture is permitted to
operate in a free enterprise
economy letting
economics rather than
undefined “social goals”
allocate resources and
determine the structure of
agriculture.
A
Jf
/is
f
n the hush of this
beautiful season we greet
warmth of lasting friendship. \
each other in the
As we renew the bonds of
our happy relationship, we send
thanks from our house to yours.
iMnunMoiMi
in agriculture
He said ir»p<wing more today’s efficient farm and
controls and requiring ranch operators and their
taxpayers to subsidize those families, and such action
farmers who do not want to would only reduce supplies
be part of the competitive • and increase the cost of food
system would hurt, not help, to the public.
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