[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S4531]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       NATIONAL AGRICULTURE WEEK

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, today, as America celebrates National 
Agriculture Week, I rise to pay tribute to our country's farmers and 
ranchers.


                           the growing season

  This Tuesday was the first day of spring. The time of rebirth and 
renewal. All over the country, farmers are preparing to till the soil 
and plant the seeds that they hope will lead to a bountiful harvest. 
Ranchers see newborn calves and lambs. In Montana and across America, 
producers are getting ready for the future with hope and confidence.
  They know only too well that lack of rain, too much rain, or other 
uncontrollable natural events can destroy their crop. They know they 
are in a risky business. And yet they continue to brave the risks and 
work long hours, because of the satisfaction that comes with working 
and living on your own land.
  These are hard working folks. They are survivors who make up 
Montana's number one industry, creating nearly $2 billion a year for 
our economy. And their work gives Americans the best, cheapest and 
safest food supply in the world.


                        before the farm program

  Today we take all that for granted. We think it is natural. But it is 
not. It is the result of careful policy, and cooperation between 
producers, consumers, and government.
  As we begin to redraft our farm bill this year--and as some with 
short memories call for eliminating farm programs completely--we should 
remember what happened before we had any farm programs.
  In those days, producers lived through drastic cycles of boom and 
bust. A hard-working and prosperous family one year could be destitute 
the next.
  As Mike Malone recalls in his book ``Montana: A History of Two 
Centuries'':

       During 1929-1930, a new ordeal of drought and depression 
     began in Montana . . .  By midsummer of that terrible year, 
     twenty-eight of Montana's fifty-six counties had filed for 
     aid from the Red Cross. Most of those counties lay in the arc 
     of dry-farming and stockgrowing lands that reached from the 
     High Line north of the Missouri River to the southeast along 
     the Dakota state line . . .
       An amount of wheat worth $100 in 1920 brought only $19.23 
     in 1932. Beef cattle sold for $9.10 per hundredweight in 
     1929; in 1934, the price was only $3.34. Sheep brought $8.14 
     per hundredweight in 1929 but only $3.12 in 1934.
       Daniels County, in the state's northeastern corner, 
     typified the crisis. During the good years of the late 1920s, 
     the country seat, Scobey, had advertised itself as the 
     world's largest wheat shipping point. By the spring of 1933, 
     3,500 of the county's 5,000 people needed relief assistance.


                    success of american agriculture

  This disaster was only the worst in a series. The heartland suffered 
equally traumatic disasters in 1893, 1907 and 1920. But this time, 
Franklin Roosevelt responded by creating the first Federal farm support 
programs.
  Since then, we have had good times and bad. But farm programs have 
prevented crises on that scale. And during this time, American farmers 
have created a productive revolution unmatched in history.
  They have revolutionized agricultural productivity. They have used 
hard work and state-of-the-art research, to develop new sustainable 
farming techniques, thus protecting our natural resources. And they 
continue to be most productive agricultural producers in the world.
  According to USDA's Economic Research Service, farm output per unit 
of input increased by 26 percent between 1982 and 1991.
  As a result, Americans spend the lowest amount of their disposable 
income on food of any nation in the world. Just 9.3 percent, less than 
a dime in a dollar of income.


                           the 1995 farm bill

  Today, if the Congress goes too far in a thoughtless rush to 
eliminate farm programs simply for the sake of cutting, we could return 
to those days of boom and bust.
  Less severe consequences could include lower soil and water quality. 
Loss of wildlife habitat.
  Lower farm incomes, and thus higher rates of outmigration from rural 
America. From the consumer's point of view, if we are not careful, 
America could wind up depending on imports of food to give our citizens 
enough to eat each day.
  We must help our producers make American agriculture more competitive 
and more profitable in the international market place. We must continue 
to develop new sustainable farming techniques. We must make sure the 
children and grandchildren of today's rural families can still live and 
work on their own land.
  Mr. President, I look forward to the job. The FFA, the national youth 
organization for the improvement of agriculture, begins their creed 
with the statement, ``I believe in the future of farming.'' I believe 
in that future, too.
  Thank you, and I yield the floor.
  

                          ____________________