24—The Daily Collegian Friday, Feb. 16, 1979
Local farmers
voice discontent
By CHRIS DELMASTRO
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
As 1,700 farmers drove their tractors
down the streets of Washington, D.C.,
the rest of American agriculture, in
cluding local farmers, sat back and
watched.
Members of an organization known as
the American Agricultural Movement
staged the protest to persuade Congress
to pass the farm legislation which they
claim will raise the price farmers
receive for corn, wheat and other crops
by an estimated two-thirds through the
implementation of price supports.
Although local farmers, many of
whom till small family-owned plots,
might benefit from the legislation, none
have joined the movement tractoring
through Washington.
Blaine Liester, a local farmer, felt the
protest was unorganized. "There was no'
big leader and everyone was unaware of
what was going on," he said.
Ed Bickle, another farmer from the
State College vicinity, commented on his
willingness to join the protestors. He
said he lacked the time.
The crop farmer could do it, but most
local farmers raise dairy and beef cattle
and have to work all year, he said.
Farmers such as these only take part
in the protest by watching it on the news
or reading about it in the papers. Many
of them are unaware of the issues, but
feel for the protestors and their cause.
According to Delores Ott, the daughter
of a Spring Mills farmer, "The protest is
worthwhile. I think something might
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"If my family wasn't receiving
food stamps, we wouldn't be
making it, says one local farmer
come out of it."
"I hope they get something, but the
government seems to be against them,"
Sickle said. "Congress is going to have
to raise prices or the farmer won't he
able to do it. The rich will buy the farms
and that isn't right."
Many of the farmers protesting have
gone into farming in recent years and
borrowed heavily to acquire expensive
land and equipment.
"Those farmers who have just bought
the land and have to make payments
besides machinery costs are the most
distressed," Leister said. "If something
isn't done soon they'll all have to quit.
They'll be bought out by contractors."
Bickle, who works on his father's
farm, must hold down another job to
support his family. The reason his
family has kept the farm is because they
like to work on it. They have been of
fered a substantial amount for it by a
realtor and are considering selling it, he
said.
Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland
met with the farmers several times last
week. "They are good people in con
siderable trouble," Bergland said, but
the farmers want a fundamental change
"which we're not prepared to support
yet."
The farmer is a consumer too and feels
the effect of high food prices. "I don't
want prices to be too high," Ott said. "If
my family wasn't receiving food stamps,
we wouldn't be making it."
"I don't want to see food prices raised
in the stores either," Bickle said, "but
Ed Bickle, a farmer from the State College area, said he would have joined in
the recent Washington protest if he had been able to spare the time.
my dad got more for wheat 30 years ago
than today."
Leister's wife, Alta, said, "I don't
blame people for not wanting higher food
prices, but the farmer isn't getting it.
There is too much of a difference bet
ween the producer and the consumer.
The implements we must buy are too
high for the price we're getting for our
crops. The farmer doesn't want
everything, just a comparative price."
Leister and his wife were against price
supports as the answer to boosting
sagging parity. "I don't believe in
getting something for nothing," Leister
said. "The farmer should figure out for
himself what to plant."
He mentioned an alternative solution
being a freeze on prices of consumer
goods so the farmer could compete, but
he added prices are already too high.
Leister, as many of today's farmers, has
realized there isn't a simple solution for
the immediate future.
"There is no real answer to the far
mer's problems," he said.
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Photo by Phil Norton
Local farmers did not attend the recent demonstration in Washington, D.C.
an agricultural lobby in support of a bill that would provide price supports for
farm products. Although farmer Blaine Leister and other local farmers said
they have been hard hit by inflation and favor the bill, none chose to join the pi
test.
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