Dick Lugar: “the dilemma for the small farmer is compounded because, in essence, as overproduction occurs, prices remain very low.…”

“the dilemma for the small farmer is compounded because, in essence, as overproduction occurs, prices remain very low. That hurts large farmers, too. But, as a matter of fact, many large farmers are large because they are efficient farmers. They do the research. They learn about the marketing tools available in futures contracts, forward contracts. They employ the proper conservation procedures and have the capital to do so. As a result, it is not surprising that despite each of our farm bills--and the argument has been made every 5 years or 6 years, or however often we do this, that we are going to save the family farm-- that in fact there are fewer family farms each time around. That, some would point out, has been true from 1900 onward--perhaps before that time. One of the strange things about farm statistics presently--and I will not analyze this in depth--is there has been an increase in farms that are fairly small. These apparently are farms that are purchased by professional persons who want some room around their residences. If they produce on those premises at least $1,000 worth of agricultural produce or animals, then they qualify as a farm in the sense of this definition. So this has led to a certain expansion, in some States, in which this would be counterintuitive.”