[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H6147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



[[Page H 6147]]

                LESSONS FROM THE HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Smith] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, you know, we are a young Nation, 
and our focus is forward with only an occasional glance back at the 
lessons of Athens or Rome or even the lessons of the dust bowl in this 
country.
  But this House is soon going to consider an important issue that 
requires a deeper look back so we can better plan ahead.
  We will soon consider a farm bill that warrants an examination of the 
history of agriculture and a study of the lessons learned. There is a 
lineage between the modern American farmer and the ancient Sumerian who 
worked the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates. It is an equality 
of importance. Both were responsible, indeed farmers throughout history 
have been responsible for their countries' civilizations.
  It has been said that in the last reckoning, all things are purchased 
with food. This was true with the cradle of civilization, and it holds 
true now. Today, American agriculture is this country's largest 
industry. Agriculture accounts for a full 16 percent of our current 
gross domestic product, $355 billion worth of food and fiber were 
produced this past year. That is more than any other industry.
  And so it is especially critical that we learn the lessons taught by 
the successes and failures of the past. History is awash with the 
remains of societies that failed their farmers and ultimately failed to 
maintain their soil and who let it succumb to erosion and certainly 
that resulted in a fall of their civilization.
  Cities like ancient Babylon, 2,600 years ago, developed a productive 
agriculture. It allowed their civilization to grow to 17 million people 
and a remarkably diversified society. King Nebuchadnezzar boasted, 
``That which no king has done before, I did. Great canals I dug and 
brought abundant waters to all the people.'' But agriculture and 
farmers became a lesser priority in that country, and ultimately 
failed.
  Today, the site of Babylon is desolation, a dry land, and the 
promised land 3,000 years after Moses, he called it the land of milk 
and honey, now barren and rugged, the victim of soil erosion. Only 
dregs of fertile soil remain at the bottoms of narrow valleys.
  But there are also successes. Societies with plans maintaining 
farmers and maintaining agriculture survived and flourished. For the 
last 1,000 years, farmers in the French Alps have terraced hillsides 
dramatically in an effort to prevent soil loss, resulting in 
continuously fertile soil, fertile agriculture and abundant production.
  Essentially, countries that practice a careful stewardship of the 
Earth's resources through terracing, crop rotation and other sound 
conservation measures have flourished for centuries, Dr. W.C. 
Lowdermilk, of the Soil Conservation Service, reported in 1953. Forty-
two years have not changed that.
  In the U.S. Congress we are now engaged in a great agricultural 
debate. We are deciding what proper role the Federal Government has in 
Federal agricultural policy.
  It is important that the American people understand that agricultural 
programs have been designed to encourage a continuous, but slight, 
overproduction. Farm prices have been kept low.
  Most farmers over the past 50 years have experienced subsistence 
standards of living, mostly because of the agricultural farm programs.
  A goal of those programs has been to keep enough farmers and ranchers 
producing so that an abundant supply would result in not only lower 
food and fiber prices in this country, but huge exports of commodities 
that has eventually assisted in our balance of trade.
  For 60 years, we have enticed farmers to become more and more 
dependent on Government subsidy programs. As we move to a more market-
oriented farm policy, it is important that we do it gradually and we do 
it smartly to make sure we do not endanger this productive and 
efficient industry of American agriculture.
  American consumers now spend 9.5 percent of their take-home dollars 
for food. With that 9.5 percent they are able to buy the best-quality, 
lowest-priced food anywhere in the world.
  In our haste, we cannot jeopardize the survival of American 
agriculture or the economic strength of our country.


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