On the recordOctober 2, 2001
Farmers are in a predicament right now in terms of low commodity prices. In fact, some of those commodity prices are the lowest they have been in 20 years. So we are seeing a lot of farmers go out of business, go into bankruptcy, especially because the land value for recreational use, for use by people that want a country estate, is bidding up those land values far more than can be accommodated by current commodity prices for those farm products those farmers are producing. The question this Nation is facing is do we want to maintain a strong agricultural industry in the United States so that we do not have to be dependent on importing our foodstuffs, our feed, our food, like, for example, we have in energy. I think it is important that we do not let that happen to agriculture.
Source
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