[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20740-20741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                             FAMILY FARMERS

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I will take a brief period of time 
today, I say to my colleagues and to the Chair who cares deeply about 
this issue as well, I intend to take the time I need to give a report 
to the Senate and to the country about what is happening in 
agriculture. I say this to the Chair who I know cares deeply about 
this.
  I have spent most all of August organizing with farmers. I have spent 
almost all my time in our agricultural and rural communities. I can 
tell my colleagues that we are now experiencing an economic convulsion, 
and on our present course we are going to lose a whole generation of 
farmers and producers. This is not just a battle or a struggle for a 
fair price for family farmers, it is a struggle for the survival of our 
rural communities.
  I spent time in northwest Minnesota, in southeast Minnesota, in west 
central Minnesota, and then in southwest Minnesota, at one farm 
gathering after another. The good news is that many farmers turned out 
for our meetings, and that made me proud as a Senator. The bad news is 
that people are in such economic pain. The bad news is that people are 
in such desperate shape. The bad news is that people who have worked so 
hard and are asking for nothing more than a decent price so they can 
have a decent standard of living to give their children the care they 
know they need and deserve are not getting a decent price.
  This Congress has to take action, and it has to take action this 
fall. We can get the emergency financial assistance out to people. 
Because of the way we are doing it, too much assistance will be going 
to some people who do not need it as much, and not enough will be going 
to many people who need it more. But it is a price crisis and we have 
to get the price up. We need to take the cap off the loan rate. We need 
to give the producer some leverage in the marketplace--with a farmer-
owned reserve--and the ability to extend the payback period of the loan 
rate. We need to give our producers a fair shot. We need to get the 
prices up. Our farmers do not have cash-flow and they are going to be 
driven off the land.
  I believe our country will deeply regret what is now happening in 
agriculture. It is a food scarcity issue. Who is going to farm the 
land? Are we going to have affordable food? Is it going to be food that 
is healthy and safe for our families? What about the environment? What 
about the whole idea of pattern of land ownership?
  So much is at stake for America, but I do not think this crisis, of 
which the Presiding Officer is aware, is breaking through. No amount of 
self-reliance is going to help the farmers, given the prices they are 
getting for wheat, corn, and soybeans. Our livestock producers are 
faced with the most outrageous situation: they find themselves 
confronted with a few packers who control almost all of the market in 
terms of whom they can sell to.
  Yesterday in Iowa we had an important hearing with Senator Grassley 
and Senator Harkin, and we had several hundred farmers there. I said 
that we should have a moratorium on all mergers and acquisitions and 
marketing agreements between agribusinesses with revenues over $50 
million until the Congress reviews the antitrust laws. I am going to 
bring this moratorium to the floor, speaking about concentration of 
power.
  Whatever happened to the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act and the work 
of Senator Kefauver? What does it mean when we have a few packers and 
they control almost all of the market? What does it mean, with our 
livestock producers facing extinction and IBP and ConAgra and a lot of 
these large outfits making record profits?
  Mr. President, this is an injustice. I am telling Democrats and 
Republicans, we have to make it a priority and we have to push through 
legislation over the next 2 months that will make a difference. A lot 
of these farmers are going to be gone if we don't. I speak today to 
give a brief report, although I am going to start coming to the floor 
and talking at great length about the number of farmers we are losing.
  Tracy Beckman, who directs the Farm Services Administration, has 
figures on all our counties, on what an emergency situation this is, on 
what a crisis situation this is, and on what we can do. We can take the 
cap off the loan rate. We can rewrite the farm bill. Freedom to Farm 
has become the ``Freedom to Farm for No Money,'' the ``Freedom to 
Fail.'' We have to change the farm bill. We have to take some antitrust 
action. We have to be on the side of family farmers and producers. We 
have to make sure they get a fair price. We have to have a fair trade 
policy and we need to do it now. Speeches are not enough.
  Rural American farmers, when you come here next week, turn up the 
heat. When you meet with Senators and Representatives, turn up the 
heat. Ultimately, it is going to take rural America raising heck in 
order to turn this situation around.
  This August, for me, was the most difficult during my time in the 
Senate. It was the most emotional 3 weeks I ever spent with people in 
my State. I say to the Senator from California, who is a good friend, 
what happens at these farm gatherings is that people will say to you: 
Thanks for caring, it makes me feel good. And you reach out to shake 
their hand, and they are crying, just crying because they are going to 
lose everything. Their farm has been in the family for generations. It 
is where they work, it is where they live, and they are going to lose 
it all. The implement dealers, the bankers, the educators, the hospital 
people, and the health care people all say: Our rural communities are 
going to be ghost towns.
  This is needless suffering. This does not have to be. This is not 
Adam

[[Page 20741]]

Smith's invisible hand. It is not some law of gravity. The only 
inevitability about what is happening to family farmers is the 
inevitability of a stacked deck. If we change policies and give them 
leverage so they can get a decent price in the marketplace, if we take 
on some of these conglomerates and put free enterprise in the food 
industry, and if we move forward on trade policy, we can make a huge 
difference.
  This is an issue that goes to the heart and soul of what America is 
about. America, if you are listening to what we are saying in the 
Senate, this is all about the country, this is about food scarcity, 
this is about getting food at a price you can afford. It is about who 
is going to own the land. This is about whether or not we are going to 
have a rural America. This is about whether we are going to have a few 
conglomerates muscle their way to the dinner table and exercise their 
power over all phases of the industry--over the producers, over the 
consumers, over the taxpayers--or whether we are committed to a family 
farm structure in agriculture.
  I come from a State, Minnesota, where family farmers are really 
important. They are so important to my State, but they are important to 
our country. I hope and pray over the next 2 months we will take action 
in Congress that will make a positive difference and will change this 
policy.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, before I begin my remarks, I ask unanimous 
consent that Senator Feingold and Senator Reed each be given 10 minutes 
at the conclusion of Senator Dorgan's time. Of course, if people from 
the other side want that courtesy, we will be happy to support that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, before Senator Wellstone leaves the floor, 
I thank him. I thought his comments were very poignant, and what he is 
addressing is some of the unfinished business of this body, things we 
have to take care of. Certainly one of them is the problems of the 
family farmer.

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