[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12912]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          AMERICAN AGRICULTURE IS IN CRISIS AND NEEDS HELP NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, this past week it was announced that 
North Carolina farmers' earnings had dropped by $1 billion in 1998 over 
1997. I was astounded when I read the article. But similar problems are 
being experienced all over America by our farmers. The farm crisis in 
America should be a concern for every American.
  I have said many times that the people in this country must realize 
that food does not just come from the grocery store or from the 
supermarket. It comes from the blood, sweat, and tears and hard work of 
some of the hardest-working, God-fearing people in this country, and 
their families work hard. We cannot stand by and allow the farmers of 
this country to go out of business and let our farms be turned into 
strip malls and parking lots.
  Whether it is the wheat farmer in the Midwest, the cotton farmer in 
Texas, the vegetable farmer in Florida, or the tobacco farmer in North 
Carolina, farmers help build this country, and they deserve to have us 
stand by them in times of crisis. If we do not, we will pay the price 
through the devastation of our rural communities and higher prices at 
the grocery store ultimately.
  I am committed to working with Congress to find solutions that will 
restore profitability to agriculture in America and allow mothers and 
fathers to pass on this honored professional farming to their sons and 
daughters, because a lot of young people in this country are getting 
out of the profession because they cannot make a living. We must 
restore the farm safety net in this Nation before more farmers and 
their families fall through the cracks.
  Mr. Speaker, the bumper crop of wheat last year and again this year 
that is now being harvested and is being seen in many parts of the 
country are suffering from some of the lowest prices in recent years. 
Farmers are finding out that they cannot produce themselves into 
prosperity with the low prices we are having. In some parts of the 
country, some farmers are already reeling from drought. This Congress 
must do something before it is too late for our farmers and their 
families.
  We must start by reforming crop insurance, breaking down trade 
barriers, providing greater access to low-interest loans and credit for 
new and struggling producers, and provide support to farmers in times 
of dramatically low commodity prices like we are seeing now, all 
commodity prices. However, the first thing we need to do is to realize, 
and my colleagues in this Congress need to understand, that American 
agriculture is in a crisis, and it requires action now.
  Just last week this Congress passed an agriculture bill at a time of 
crisis in agriculture, and what did it do? It cut $102 million out of 
it. That is how we care about farmers. I want my colleagues to know I 
voted against it, because I think it was the wrong thing to do at the 
wrong time. North Carolina farmers and the North Carolina economy 
cannot afford another loss like we had in 1998, and I am going to 
continue to call on my colleagues in this body to stand up and be 
counted, because the farmers of this country cannot be allowed to go 
broke. Another $1 billion loss over last year's economy would put most 
farmers out of business.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to share just a few comments out of an article in 
the Wilson paper this week. It talked about a farmer who was harvesting 
his wheat. He had the best wheat harvest he has had in years on winter 
wheat. He had reduced his production from 200 acres to 160 acres. For 
the folks in the Midwest, that might not sound like a lot of wheat. In 
North Carolina it is a considerable crop. He planted wheat because all 
of the other commodities were so low, and he could double-crop and put 
in soybeans behind it. Well, when he put it in for market this past 
week, it was $2.15 a bushel. A loaf of bread is about $1.65 a loaf, so 
I can tell you who is making the money, and it is not the guy who is 
producing the wheat, it is someone in between.
  Here is what he had to say. He said, all of the other commodities 
were also down other than wheat, but we had to plant something, and 
wheat was a good crop to plant when one wants to double-crop and plant 
behind it. He was fortunate. Even in the drought times we are now 
feeling in North Carolina, he got three-tenths of an inch of rain on 
Sunday and is now planting soybeans behind the wheat. Anyone that knows 
anything about agriculture knows that if it is dry and you get three-
tenths of water, that will settle the dust maybe, but not much more.
  My friends, we have to pay attention to American agriculture if we 
want to continue to eat and have the farmers continue to produce.

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