Dick Lugar: “as we are in preparation for a debate on farm legislation, I want to call to the attention of the Senate a very useful…”

“as we are in preparation for a debate on farm legislation, I want to call to the attention of the Senate a very useful and, in fact, remarkable publication called ``Food and Agricultural Policy, Taking Stock for the New Century,'' published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture this summer to state the views of the Department, and to offer data for Senators and members of the public as we began the farm debate. I want to quote extensively from chapter 3, entitled ``Farm Sector Policy'' because I believe it gives a very good outline of USDA's opinions on farm policy as it has progressed in our country, and as we hope it may progress through constructive debate on this bill. Mr. President, the chapter begins by saying that: If farmers and farm families all across the country share the same goals and face the same challenges and opportunities, fashioning farm policy today would be straightforward. And, indeed, that is the way it must have seemed in the 1930s, when farm families depended mainly on farm earnings and grew crops and livestock on much the same acreage as their neighbors. Then, policy had a more focused objective--helping to reduce the wide income disparity between farm families and their urban counterparts--and a ``one-size-fits-all'' approach was more appropriate. Supporting field crop prices provided widespread assistance, since most farmers grew some field crops, and helped stabilize the entire sector.…”