Charles W. Stenholm: “Mr. Chairman, that last exchange was truly amazing. If my colleagues would only stop for a moment; when we talk about…”

“Mr. Chairman, that last exchange was truly amazing. If my colleagues would only stop for a moment; when we talk about the consumer, and I want my colleague from New York to listen very carefully, look at what has been happening in the marketplace for cereal in the last 2, 3, 4 weeks. The price of cereal has dropped from $4 a box to $3 a box while the price of grain has doubled to the farmer. Why? Because the manufacturing interests that the two sponsors of this amendment are carrying the water on today have decided that they do not need to take $2 from the consumer for advertising in order to sell more of their product, that by lowering the price they can sell more. That is what is happening in the marketplace, and the same is true for peanuts. You can find and document the exact same facts in the manufacturing side. There is more cost in the container of a jar of peanut butter than the value of the peanuts within the peanut butter. So the argument that was just made by the gentleman from New Jersey, better go back and check the facts. Let us review what the Committee on Agriculture did in the farm bill this year. We, much to the chagrin of the small producers that many of us represent, agreed to cut the price to the producer from $678 down to $610.”