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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Bob Stallman,
president of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), told a
gathering of sugar farmers and processors today that he supports
government help for sugar farmers because ``extra assistance is
needed in extra bad times.''
Stallman made the remarks at one of the closing sessions of the
International Sweetener Symposium being held here. The annual event
is sponsored by the American Sugar Alliance, a national coalition of
producers, processors, and refiners of sugarbeets, sugarcane and
corn for sweetener.
Stallman, who took office as the head of AFBF at the beginning of
the year, said he supported recent action by the Department of
Agriculture to purchase surplus sugar in an effort to restore some
stability to plunging wholesale sugar prices. Wholesale refined beet
sugar prices have dropped about 34 percent since the start of the
1996 Farm Bill.
He also said he supported the announcement last week by USDA that
a payment-in-kind, or PIK, program was being offered to sugar
farmers. Under this type of program, farmers would be given
certificates for sugar held in storage by USDA in return for not
harvesting a designated segment of their current crop.
In his address, Stallman emphasized the need for unity among all
segments of agriculture. He said all segments are connected. ``We
don't exist in a vacuum,'' he said.
He also took a shot at government ``regulatory overkill'' in the
farming community, and said he would work to try to alleviate that.
On trade, he said the Farm Bureau is opposed to the unilateral
sanctions the U.S. has with certain countries. He said his
organization, the largest farm organization in the country, favors
opening trade with Cuba, a significant sugar producer. Any new sugar
import quota for Cuba, he said, would need to come out of existing
quotas and ``not on top'' of what is already required to be imported
into this country. The United States imports about 15 percent or
more of its sugar needs each year from 41 different countries.
Stallman promised Symposium participants that he is committed to
``protecting the sugar industry and sugar policy with at least the
current loan rate.''
For more information about U.S. sugar policy, visit
www.sugaralliance.org.
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