Political Quotes

“several issues have come up, but I would like to start out with agriculture, what the Federal farm policy should be in this country and the advantages and disadvantages to the farmer and the consumer. Since the early 1930's, we decided that by controlling production we could guarantee a stable supply of food in this country. However, what has happened in the last 30 years is the consumer interests, the White House, the consumer interests in Congress have started dictating farm program policy, and what has happened is we have driven more and more of the small family farmers out of agriculture. Here is how farm programs have worked: We tell the farmers if they will grow a certain amount of crop and slightly have a policy that encourages overproduction, we will give those farmers subsidy payments. So what we have done, in effect, is encourage slight overproduction, keeping the prices down, which has been good for agriculture in this country because it has become lean and mean. But in the process, we have disadvantaged the small family farmer in the United States. That is why, and I as a farmer from Michigan, I am now suggesting that we move to the market economy to give the rewards to the producers of this Nation so that the farmers and ranchers can make their own farm management decisions based on their best interpretation and understanding of what the market is demanding for those special crops.”