[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 54 (Tuesday, April 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3890-S3891]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AGRICULTURE CONCERNS

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, we had a gathering in the State of 
Minnesota on Sunday afternoon. It started about 1 p.m. Joel Klein, who 
heads the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, was gracious 
enough to come. Mike Dunn, who is Assistant Secretary for Agriculture, 
was gracious enough to come. This will just be 5 minutes' worth, 
because I am going to be calling on colleagues, especially

[[Page S3891]]

from the Midwest and the West, to start coming to the floor every day 
and talking about what is happening to farmers and what is happening in 
agriculture. We have to speak out, and we have to turn the pressure up 
for action.
  During spring planting season, Sunday afternoon--I think the Chair 
knows this as well as I do--to have somewhere around 800 farmers come 
was unbelievable. It was an unbelievable turnout of farmers. And there 
is a very clear reason why. Many of them from Minnesota, but a huge 
delegation from Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, 
Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Colorado, these farmers came because they 
are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. They came because time 
is not neutral for them, time rushes on, and they can work 20 hours a 
day--and they do--and they can be the best managers in the world, and 
they cannot survive.
  There was a focus to this gathering, and it was basically about the 
whole problem of conglomerates having muscled their way to the dinner 
table to the point where there isn't the kind of competition we need. 
There was a call for antitrust action. What farmers were saying was: 
These conglomerates have muscled their way to the dinner table and they 
have exercised their raw economic and political power over us as 
producers and over consumers and over taxpayers. You have our grain 
farmers going under, record low prices. Then a headline in the Star 
Tribune on Saturday: ``Cargill profits from decline in farm prices, 53 
percent jump in earnings expected''--how hog farmers are going under 
and yet the packers are in hog heaven. Everywhere the farmers look, 
they have a few large firms, whether it be dairy, whether it be 
livestock producers, whether it be grain farmers, a few large firms 
that dominate well over 50 percent of the market. What the farmers were 
calling for was strong antitrust action.

  Joel Klein was honest. He said: I wouldn't be here if I didn't take 
this seriously, and you will have to judge me by my deeds. I so 
appreciated his coming out. There was a lot of pressure on Mike Dunn 
and USDA and Secretary Glickman to do more by way of antitrust action.
  It was much appreciated. But I say, Mr. President, that the farmers, 
with considerable justification, want to put some free enterprise back 
into the food industry. Farmers, with considerable justification, see a 
direct correlation between monopoly power and a few large, giant firms 
that are making record profits while they go under. They want to see 
antitrust action. All they are asking for is a competitive market. By 
golly, government ought to be on their side. We ought to be seeing 
stronger antitrust action.
  The other thing I have to say--we have one bill, S. 19, on which 
Senator Daschle is taking the lead, which talks about full public 
disclosure of pricing, which is so important to livestock producers--we 
ought to know what these packers are paying our livestock producers; we 
ought to have public disclosure on pricing. In addition, we ought to 
deal with the monopoly power and have some antitrust action taken so 
farmers have a chance to compete.

  I have to say to colleagues, yes, it is crop insurance reform that we 
are talking about. But the other thing we are going to have to do is 
revisit this Freedom to Farm, which I have always called the ``freedom 
to fail'' bill. I don't even want to point the finger. We can talk 
about what works with Freedom to Farm, but it seems to me that here the 
evidence is crystal clear that one thing has happened for sure--there 
is absolutely no stability anymore when it comes to farm income. And 
while the large conglomerates with huge amounts of capital can weather 
these mad fluctuations in price, our family farmers can't. They aren't 
getting anywhere near the cost of production. We have to focus on how 
we can get the price up and have some farm income for family farmers, 
and how we can take on some of these conglomerates so family farmers 
have a fair shake by way of getting a decent price.
  As a Senator from the Midwest where we still have a family farm 
structure in agriculture that we are trying to hold on to, it is so 
important for our rural communities, so important for family farmers, 
so important for safe, affordable food for consumers, so important for 
the environment. This is a historic struggle.
  I hope Senators from the farm states will be coming to the floor 
every day to speak out about this until we have some strong action that 
will be on behalf of family farmers. They need the support. They 
deserve the support. And the Senate and the Congress ought to be taking 
action.
  I yield the floor. I thank my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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