Dick Lugar: “these agencies, including the American Farm Bureau and the sheep, broiler, beef and pork producers have made the…”

“these agencies, including the American Farm Bureau and the sheep, broiler, beef and pork producers have made the essential point with regard to the removing of the cap on the marketing loans. Inevitably, the signals go out and the supplies increase. Even under the marketing loan concept, in which it is unlikely that there will be the buildup of forfeitures and the buildup of governmental storage that characterized previous situations, there still is a glut on the market. The surplus does not disappear. Price signals were out there for a purpose. They indicated who wanted to utilize the commodity, who could utilize the commodity. Tragically, in this country, we are utilizing commodities about as well as we are going to. The up-side potential that we talked about today on the export side is the difference. That is where the thrust has to occur. To have a domestic transfer of income simply hides the problem; it doesn't market the commodities. The costs do not decrease for farmers in the field, although much that we have done this year in terms of our research bill might assist people in bringing about lower costs. I commend all of my colleagues who have spoken to this issue today for their concern. They have spoken with sincerity. They are advocates of producers in their States and of American agriculture generally.”