Reeder, Clinton B., president, Oregon Wheat Growers League-Continued Schlueter, Jonathan F., executive vice president, Pacific Northwest Grain and Prepared statement Prepared statement Schwerin, Bill L., president, Washington Association of Wheat Growers.. Tate, Merlina D., second vice president, Washington State, Women Involved in Farm Economics.... Prepared statement Trevino, Tom. M., executive director, Idaho Grain Producers Association Prepared statement Webb, Robert N., national legislative chairman, Washington Association of Witt, Terry L., executive director, Oregonians for Food and Shelter. Prepared statement SUBMITTED MATERIAL Baldwin, Pam, president, Idaho Rural Council, statement... 540 542 Peck, C.K. and Lucile Peck, producers, Peck and Son, Lexington, OR, letter of 544 Rietmann, Joe, producer, Ione, OR, letter of August 29, 1989 545 Seachris, Carolyn, producer, Touchet, WA, letter of August 28, 1989. 547 Smith, Hon. Robert F. (Bob), Oregon, Second Congressional District, news release of August 28, 1989.. 548 Wysocki, Don, extension soil scientist, Columbia Basin Agricultural Research 551 AUGUST 30, 1989, BILLINGS, MT Glickman, Hon. Dan, a Representative in Congress from the State of Kansas, opening statement.... 555 Marlenee, Hon. Ron, A Representative in Congress from the State of Montana, opening statement 556 Smith, Hon. Robert F. (Bob), a Representative in Congress from the State of 557 WITNESSES Anderson, Larry D., farmer, Chester, MT. 562 Barnett, Ronald A., vice president, Montana State Beekeepers Association 614 719 Bernhardt, Donald W., agriculture manager, Western Sugar Co... 574 Prepared statement 650 Buhmann, Robert L., president, Montana State Beekeepers Association. 613 Prepared statement 717 Crowell, Charles W., executive secretary, Northern Plains Safflower Growers 602 Prepared statement 703 Danbrook, Jeremy J., State president, Montana Association of Future Farmers of America..... 563 Prepared statement 626 Dwyer, Joe, president, interstate council, Teamster Sugar Workers.... 575 Prepared statement 653 Farmer, Dan, chairman, legislative affairs committee, Billings Chamber of 582 Prepared statement 678 Forsness, Jo Ann, Montana president, Women Involved in Farm Economics..... 588 685 Fritz, Kirk M., first vice president, Montana Future Farmers of America.. 564 611 716 Herzog, Donald L., on behalf of the Montana Pork Producers Council 610 Prepared statement Johnson, Larry M., president, Montana Grain Growers Association Prepared statement 712 597 691 Page Prepared statement Jones, Calvin K., vice president, agriculture, Holly Sugar Co. Prepared statement Kuntz, Edwin J., president, Mountain States Beet Growers Association of Langley, Pamela J., executive director, Montana Agricultural Business Association..... 572 641 Prepared statement Prepared statement Siroky, Kenneth J., board member, Montana Farmers Union 586 682 Prepared statement Snortland, Everett M., director, Montana Department of Agriculture. 560 623 Steinbeisser, Donald J., president, Montana-Dakota Beet Growers Association. 570 634 Prepared statement Thuesen, Jerry V., Montana district, U.S. Durum Growers Association 600 696 Waller, Helen M., on behalf of the National Family Farm Coalition and the 588 689 Prepared statement Wilson, Jimme L., spokesman, agricultural policy, Montana Stockgrowers 607 705 Prepared statement SUBMITTED MATERIAL McClure, David L., president, Montana Farm Bureau Federation, statement.... 722 FORMULATION OF THE 1990 FARM BILL TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1989 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON WHEAT, SOYBEANS, AND FEED GRAINS, Logansport, IN. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice at 9 a.m., at the Holiday Inn, U.S. 24 East, Logansport, IN, Hon. Dan Glickman (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Jontz and Long. Staff present: Greg Frazier and Anne C. Keys. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DAN GLICKMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF KANSAS Mr. GLICKMAN. The subcommittee will come to order. Thank you all for coming to this hearing of the House Subcommittee on Wheat, Soybeans, and Feed Grains. I am Dan Glickman, I am the chairman of this subcommittee. I am from the great State of Kansas, from the central Kansas area, my home is Wichita and I am delighted to be here in your great State of Indiana with your two outstanding Congressmen. Your local Congressman is Congressman Jim Jontz, who has been a member of this subcommittee for about 3 years and has done a splendid job in a variety of areas from improving last year's disaster bill to legislation involving yields, updating yields and to a whole assortment of veterans' legislation education issues. He has been a most outstanding Member of the House as well as this subcommittee. As we develop legislation to rewrite the 1990 farm bill, he will be an invaluable addition. I would also welcome my colleague, my new colleague, from the State of Indiana, Congresswoman Jill Long who is also a welcome addition to this subcommittee. She has been in Congress now--Ms. LONG. Four months. Mr. GLICKMAN. Four months, so she has become a veteran. [Laughter.] She has passed the test. I want to know that and we, in fact, just recently worked on legislation involving a reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission where she was very instrumental in amending that legislation to ensure that the Futures Exchanges, the Board of Trade, Mercantile Exchanges have some limits in what they can do to close out positions on soybeans and other commodities which would have a tendency of bringing prices down and hurting American farmers. She will also be an extraordinarily valuable addition as we rewrite the 1990 farm bill. This hearing is one of several we are scheduling in the country by the end of this year where we will get input on the direction farm policy ought to take in 1990 as we write the next farm bill. The 1985 farm bill represented a fairly significant change in American farm policy. The administration felt strongly that we ought to move to a market oriented farm bill and as result of that, we began a policy of rather dramatically lowering loan rates and target prices in the posture of making us more competitive in world markets and we took on an export oriented policy. This was controversial. I voted against the 1985 farm bill myself. I worried that it was going to lower prices too fast too quickly and it would cost the Government an extraordinary amount of money, and it would create havoc in rural America. In fact, in my part of the country I think it did do that. But now we're in the fourth year of that farm bill and it does seem to be having some success now where the first couple of years it was problematic. The question is, what do we do from here? Do we continue on the current course, do we change farm policy, what should we do in export matters, what should we do in farm credit matters, how do we deal with rural development initiatives? All these kinds of things that make it so important for us to sustain life in rural America. I have always believed that a healthy farm economy was just as important for America's national security as any weapon system the Defense Department puts out because we can only sustain ourselves if we retain our food and fiber production capability in our natural resource space. That is one of the reasons America has remained strong all these years; is that we have never been wanting for food and so our job is to keep that happening and to make sure that we permit farmers and ranchers not only to survive but live productive lives and that we don't see the further depopulation of rural America which has happened fairly dramatically over the last 20 years. So this hearing will give us a chance to examine these issues, and I am just delighted we have such a great crowd here today to do that. Now, I would like to turn over for an opening statement to your distinguished Congressman from this district, Congressman Jim Jontz. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JIM JONTZ, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF INDIANA Mr. JONTZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I want to welcome you and welcome Congresswoman Long to the Fifth Congressional District and thank you for your willingness to schedule a field hearing here in Indiana. It is an honor to have both of you in the district and I believe we are going to have a very productive session this morning. I also want to welcome the audience which includes a number of representatives of agribusiness, of the press, production agriculture, and the witnesses we will hear today. Your participation today is what makes this hearing a success. I want to thank all of you for your willingness to take time from your busy schedules to come today and to participate. |