| Congress needs - and wants to pass - a farm act which is fair and
workable for various farm operations. U.S. Sen. Baucus, U.S. Sen. Burns
and U.S. Rep. Rehberg are asking Montana farmers to come up with one plan
that would accomplish this goal.
So far Congress must search further for a fair and workable farm plan.
HR 2646 shows a gross disregard for the small operator - the family farmer
- who is on the level of the small town businessman. He seems to be a
non-entity in the estimation of the "controller" group; but the
facts should startle those legislators who, with HR 2646, are threatening
and endangering our nation's most productive farmers and community
builders. These figures tell the story loud and clear; our legislators
should listen!
For Montana, two-thirds of our wheat comes form the farms of under
2,000 acres for 117 million bushels; 54 million bushels come from the
larger farms. For the U.S. nationally, 1.9 billion bushels (out of the 2.2
billion bushels produced) come from farms below 2,000 acres by 900 million
bushels (enough to satisfy domestic consumption needs) come from farms of
under 500 acres. (1997 Census of Agriculture - United States data).
The same picture holds true for corn, soybeans, milk, etc.
Much attention is focused on conservation programs, but these are less
effective without the family farmer-rancher on the land to carry out the
programs.
Why can't Congress stop the discrimination against the small farmer?
Why can't the smaller farmer be supported up to his cost of production for
his share of that production needed for domestic consumption?
Farming or ranching is a way of life as well as a business. To function
and to survive, it must produce income above expenses. For community
survival, each farmer must be concerned for his neighbor's welfare. We
believe that production of food is more essential than a public utility,
and reserves of food are critical to peace and harmony world-wide.
Therefore, keeping our best producers on the land must be a top priority.
We believe that the plan which the Family Farmer Organization, Inc.
suggests would bring this about and, with stable farm income, would
immediately stop bank foreclosures, make overproduction unattractive, let
farmers use only the most productive land, enhance conservation program
effectiveness, revitalize our communities and increase tax revenue from
flourishing businesses. |