[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9507-H9508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE SURVIVAL OF THE SMALL FARMER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, why is it that we refuse to help small 
farmers and ranchers to succeed, yet we refuse to let big business 
fail? Why is that small farmers and ranchers get little help, while big 
business gets much help? Small farmers and ranchers are struggling to 
survive in America, and because they are struggling to survive, quality 
and affordable food and fiber for all of us is at risk.
  They are not struggling to survive for the want of effort. No, Mr. 
Speaker. Small producers are struggling to survive because of the 
pressures they are experiencing from a constant barrage of hurricanes, 
unexpected flooding, unprecedented drought and economic downturns, 
exacerbated by failing foreign markets.
  Much of the problem, too, however, springs from the onerous 
provisions of the 1996 farm bill that bans family

[[Page H9508]]

farmers and ranchers from receiving a loan from the United States 
Department of Agriculture if a previous loan has been written down. 
These provisions are causing many farmers and ranchers to go out of 
business.
  Last week, as a part of a conference agreement for the fiscal year 
1999 agriculture appropriation bill, we provided some limited relief.

                              {time}  2045

  While this response to the provision of the 1996 farm bill is 
appreciated, it is a feeble response, particularly when compared to the 
response to the near collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management Hedge 
Fund.
  This hedge fund is unregulated and its activities are not disclosed 
and virtually unknown, yet its creditors, the New York banks, and the 
Federal Reserve bailed it out. The bailout was $3.5 billion, almost as 
much as the $4 billion in emergency assistance we provided farmers and 
ranchers.
  Worse, this bailout occurred with little scrutiny, little 
requirements and conditions imposed against the fund. In fact, the 
Financial Markets Reassurance Act of 1998 was also included as a part 
of the conference report. The act prohibits the relevant regulatory 
agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, from proposing or 
adopting any new regulations until March of 1999, on certain 
transactions of the over-the-counter derivative market. The hedge fund 
bailed out by the banks and the Federal Reserve is heavily invested in 
that market.
  When Congress learned of the problems with this hedge fund, a flurry 
of activity ensued, including emergency hearings. Yet efforts by the 
Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate this hedge fund was 
met with intense opposition and resistance.
  Notwithstanding the impact that fund can have on America's economy 
and the stability of financial markets around the world, the response 
to help the fund was quick and massive.
  Mr. Speaker, I must ask, why not the same or even a similar response 
for the small farmers and ranchers? Persons who have declared 
bankruptcy are now treated better than our small farmers and ranchers. 
Those persons can still get a loan, even after they have defaulted on a 
previous loan.
  By law, this Nation routinely forgives debts for foreign countries, 
and after forgiving those debts, we allow those foreign countries to 
create more debt. Credit card account defaults are record high, yet new 
credit cards are issued to those persons who do not want them. We give 
just about everyone a chance and a second chance, yet we have been slow 
in doing the same thing for our small farmers and ranchers.
  And socially disadvantaged farmers, including minority farmers, are 
even at a greater risk. Farmers have been most important to this 
Nation's past and farmers are vital to this Nation's future, especially 
the small family farmers and ranchers.
  In 1862, when USDA was created, 90 percent of the population farmed 
for a living. Today, American producers represent less than 3 percent 
of the population.
  Mr. Speaker, the least we can do is to treat the problem of small 
farmers and ranchers with the same kind of urgency we gave to the hedge 
fund last week.
  By 1992, there were only 1.1 million small farms left in the United 
States, a 45% decline from 1959!
  North Carolina had only a little over 39,000 farms left in 1992, a 
23% decline.
  In 1920, there were over 6 million farms in the United States and 
close to a sixth--926,000 were operated by African-Americans.
  In 1992, the landscape was very, very different.
  Only 1% of the farms in the United States are operated by African-
Americans. One percent--18,816, is a paltry sum when African-Americans 
comprise 13% of the total American population.
  In my home state of North Carolina, there has been a 65% decline in 
minority farmers, just over the last 15 years, from 6,996 farms in 1978 
to 2,498 farms in 1992.
  Again, much of the blame for this decline can be attributed to the 
credit crunch.
  The dwindling number of farmers and ranchers feed and help clothe us, 
and they do so at prices that are unmatched around the world.

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