D22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17,1982
Speak out for farming; call a Congressman
WASHINGTON D.C. - Last
Friday the Agriculture Council of
America (65 members of
Congress from both political
parties) and Farmland Industries
announced plans for a national
hearing on the farm economy,
conducted by telephone on May 11,
with an accompanying mail-m
survey on solutions to agriculture’s
current problems.
A bank of 50 telephones will be
set up in the Cannon House Office
Building Caucus Room. Members
of Congress, their aides, officials of
Executive Branch departments
and representatives of in
dependent agencies with economic
responsibilities have been invited
to take calls from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m
(EOT).
The purpose of this farmers’
oversight hearmg is to dramatize
to the Washington audience the
depth of farmers’ and ranchers’
difficulties and to try to stimulate a
broader discussion of feasible
remedies.
“It is not an attack on the ad
ministration or anyone else,” said
Allen Paul, president of ACA.
“It is an attempt to find
solutions, acceptable to a majority
of the interests represented in our
government, by discussing these
too-long-ignored problems with
officials of all backgrounds—rural,
suburban or urban,” he said.
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come fell to its lowest levels since
the 19305’ Depression. The
projections for 1982 (dependent on
weather and other relatively un
predictable factors) warn of
further, sharper declines
Farmers, farm business
operators and anyone else who
wants to call can tell officials
directly of their situations and
their views on various proposed
remedies—simply by dialing 1-800-
368-5769 between 10 a.m. and 10
p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, May 11.
The 12-hour call-in has been
made possible through a grant to
ACA from Farmland Industries,
the nation’s largest farmer-owned
cooperative.
The U.S. representatives and
senators (see attached list) who
joined in today’s announcement
endorsed the telephone hearing as
an extension of their attempts to
have the plight of their con
stituents more fully considered in
the making of national economic
and budgetary policies this year.
In 1982, according to tentative
long-range estimates by
Agriculture Department experts,
U.S. farmers and ranchers face a
nose-dive in farm mcome of up to
28 percent—from an estimated
$18.9 billion in 1981 to perhaps
$13.6 billion (the “best guess" in
March within a range of $l3 to $lB
billion). Net farm mcome in 1980
was pegged at $19.9 billion, or $B.l
c/o JOHN Z. MARTIN
billion in 1967 dollars about half
what it was during the 1974-75
recession. In contrast, per capita
disposable income for the
population as a whole has in
creased since that tune by more
than 11 percent, reported the ACA
spokesman.
The grim prospects for 1982 farm
mcome are not a secret. If they had
emerged for many other in
dustries, however, there would be
consternation, an outcry
throughout the government and an
intensive search for solutions by
all, not just those directly affected
or directly responsible for the so
called farm constituency, he said.
‘ ‘ W ashington policymakers
seem to know the problems of, for
example, the housing and
automobile industries. Now it is
tune for farmers to speak out and
be heard,” Paul said. “There may
only be less than 3 million farm
operators and workers, but 20
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million other American workers—
from tractor factories to super
market check-outs—depend for
their jobs on food and fiber
producers’ staying in business.”
No attempt will be made to
control the opinions of those who
call, Paul explained. Most callers
will be using a survey question
naire that asks them to briefly
describe personal financial
situations and then rate, by order
of preferred priority, various
proposals that have been advanced
as solutions to today’s bleak
agricultural economic outlook.
Responses to the survey, which
respondents are being asked to
mail to ACA, will be tabulated
immediately after the hearing,
made public and later forwarded
to President Reagan, Speaker of
the House Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr.,
the appropriate committees of the
Congress, Secretary of Agriculture
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The Agriculture Council of
America is a nonlobbying
organization of producers, farmer
owned cooperatives, agricultural
associations and local and national
agriculture-related businesses. It
serves as a forum through which
diverse agricultural interests can
focus on solutions to problems of
common concern and as a source
of factual information about
modern agriculture for the non
farm public.
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