Political Quotes

“the farm bill has become a focal point now for legislation in Washington and not too soon. I think it is the first time in 40 or 50 years we have failed to enact a farm bill in the year that the farm program expired. So we are a year late, and this is what my distinguished friend from South Dakota is saying. I worry about the Freedom to Farm Act because that is a check that goes to the farmer, and, basically, some farmers are referring to it as welfare. You can lock your door, go to Florida, and still get your check and not raise any grain, not raise any crop. Therefore, your local fertilizer dealer, local equipment dealer, local feed and seed people no longer will be selling. So, therefore, it worries a lot of folks that the so-called payment, regardless of whether you have a high price or a low price, will be received. That does not seem quite fair to me, where under the present program you stabilize the market. If you go under, the prices are lower than the set price, then you get some help. If it goes above that, then you make a profit and you do not need the money. So somehow or another, it has stabilized, in my mind, the market. What is so frustrating now to the farmers is it appears that it is this or nothing. In the beginning, the Freedom to Farm Act was opposed by the American Farm Bureau late last November. We have copies of the letter where they oppose the freedom to farm act.”