[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 46 (Monday, November 18, 1996)]
[Pages 2373-2374]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6952--National Farm-City Week, 1996

November 8, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In 1840 Daniel Webster said, ``when tillage begins, other arts 
follow. The farmers therefore are the founders of human civilization.'' 
We pause each year at this time to express our gratitude to American 
farmers and the millions of Americans working in agriculture-related 
jobs, and we recognize the importance of agriculture and the essential 
role that farmers play in our national life. Intertwined with our 
national history, culture, and economy, American farms continuously sus- 


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tain us and people around the world with rich produce and crops. Thanks 
to the professionalism and care of American farmers, we enjoy an 
abundance of quality and affordable food.
    American agriculture is among our Nation's most vital industries, 
alone generating more than 15 percent of our gross domestic product. 
Bolstering our economy with a bounty of healthful foods, American 
agriculture supports more than 21 million jobs, and agriculture-related 
industries continue to expand, producing good, high-paying jobs and 
creating $1 trillion for the American economy each year.
    The success of American agriculture is a testament to the benefits 
of farm-city partnerships that stretch all the way from the farmer to 
the consumer, with thousands of participants in between--researchers, 
extension agents, scientists, agribusiness companies, shippers, 
inspectors, processors, manufacturers, marketers and retailers, all 
helping to guarantee Americans a safe, abundant food supply. For more 
than 40 years, Americans have observed National Farm-City Week in 
celebration of these partnerships.
    During National Farm-City Week, we celebrate Thanksgiving when 
Americans will gather around the dinner table to count our Nation's many 
blessings. Among them is America's agricultural richness and the 
collaboration between rural and urban communities that helps guarantee 
our rich quality of life.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 
22 through November 28, 1996, as National Farm-City Week. I call upon 
all Americans, in rural and urban communities alike, to join in 
recognizing the accomplishments of our farmers and all the hardworking 
individuals who cooperate to produce an abundance of affordable, quality 
agricultural goods that strengthen and enrich our country.
    In Witness Whereof,  I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of 
November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., November 13, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on November 9, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
November 14.