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Text of Remarks by the President to be delivered at a Farm Forum [Ford Speech or Statement]
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7343896
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Text of Remarks by the President to be delivered at a Farm Forum [Ford Speech or Statement]
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White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
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1976-05-07
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1976
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Digitized from Box 25 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE
MAY 7. 1976
UNTIL 6:00 P.M. E.D.T.
(5:00 P.M. C.D.T.)
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
TEXT OF REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO BE DELIVERED AT A
FARM FORUSI
Holiday Inn Resort Complex
Omaha, Nebraska
It's great to be in Omaha and I hope the feeling is
mutual.
Before getting to our question and answer session, let ne
make a few comments on my Administration's agricultural
policies.
First of all, those policies have been successful.
The average American farmer has had a higher net income during
the last three years than ever before in history and it will
be just as good or better in 1976.
This very successful record has been achieved without 2. lot of
bureaucratic interference from Washington and I don think
that's just coincidence.
You no longer have heavy farm surpluses hanging over the market,
depressing your prices and costing the government a million
dollars a day in storage fees.
Instead of storing grain in government bins we are selling it
in record volume.
Farm exports totalled 21 billion 600 million dollars in the
last fiscal year. and it will be around 22 billion dollars this
fiscal year.
We will export an estimated 3.1 billion bushels of wheat and
feed grain in this marketing year an all time record.
Me will export about one and a half billion bushels of corn,
1,2 billion bushels of wheat, 250 million bushels of grain
sorghum. and about 50 million bushels of barley and oats.
Within the last two weeks we have announced the sale of almost
five million metric tons of corn and wheat to the Soviet Union,
which brings the total sale of grain to the Soviet Union from
our 1975 crops to 16.5 million metric tons.
Beyond that, we have sold grain from the 1976 crop as part of
the agreement my Administration negotiated with the Soviet
Union, to ensure the sale of at least six million metric tons
of grain to the Soviet Union every year through 1981. I hope
we can sell them even more.
more
2
This long-term agreement was a direct and beneficial result
of the negotiations pursued by this Administration last fall.
Last summer, a short Soviet crop brought the Soviet Union
to the American market -- for 375 million bushels of grain.
Our wheat harvest was nearly completed by July, but dry
weather had already caused damage in the Western Corn Belt,
and we could not discount the possibility of another drought
or an early freeze, as in the previous year.
To protect our livestock producers, our regular customers
overseas, and the American people, we were forced to inter-
vene to learn the Soviets' intentions.
With the greatest reluctance we put a temporary hold on
further grain sales to the Soviet Union.
Pressures mounted in the Congress to halt all private grain
sales and put agricultural exports in the hands of a govern-
ment management and control board, as Canada and some other
countries have done.
But you and I know that the last thing we need is the government
running your business 365 days a year, year in and year out.
The situation, however, did require corrective action and a
long-term solution. The solution was the negotiation of a
five-year agreement, and that agreement is working very,
very well.
Now we have a steady market, not a boom and bust cycle that
can't be controlled or predicted.
The prospects for grain and soybean sales this year are
excellent. Carry-in inventories are much higher than a year
ago.
As of April 1st, wheat stocks in the United States were up
42 percent from last year, corn stocks were up 27 percent,
and soybean stocks were up 31 percent.
Early production forecasts indicate this year's crops should
be bountiful. Thus, our inventories and production should be
fully sufficient to satisfy all our anticipated domestic and
export demand.
Therefore, I foresee no prospects whatsoever of any government
interruption of the exports of the American farmer.
These good sales and glowing prospects are the fruits of free
trade. They are also the fruits of peace, of aggressive,
successful negotiations, and of your own hard work. Further-
more, they are a major force behind America's rising prosperity,
and I congratulate you and thank you.
I have no intention of exploiting the American farmer by
using farm exports as a pawn in America's foreign policy,
nor do I intend to see America's farm export market
jeopardized by corruption or inefficiency at the grain
inspection station.
more
3
I have directed the Department of Agriculture to do everything
it can to maintain the confidence of our export grain customers
through proper certification.
In addition, I favor legislation providing more careful
supervision of grading and weighing of grain for export.
But turning over more of your business to one more government
bureaucracy --- federalizing the entire inspection system -
is going too far.
It is not necessary to extend Federal participation to
interior points - where no hint of impropriety has been
reported.
But I intend to see corruption in the grain inspection business
stopped. Period.
I also intend to reduce the excessive government regulation of
farm operations. For that reason I was glad to sign the
legislation exempting custom combine operators and other
skilled farm workers from the provisions of the Farm Labor
Contractor Registration Act.
I would like to sign an amendment shortening the title of that
Act, too, but I guess you can't have everything.
I strongly favor Federal regulation when it is necessary, as in
the case of the proposed Packer Bonding Legislation, which
is needed to protect livestock producers from losses
suffered as a result of bankruptcies and other serious
financial problems in the livestock packing industry.
The future success of American agriculture depends in part on
striking a better balance between providing Government
assistance where it is needed and removing Government restric-
tions which are not needed.
My Administration is working to strike that balance, because
I know that the future of America depends so much on you
and your work and your success.
I have taken steps to enhance that future by recommending
in my latest budget proposal a 21 million dollar increase in
funds for new fundamental research efforts in the agricultural
sciences.
Research has been the key to the American farmer's miraculous
production revolution. If we are to double world agricultural
output in the next 25 years -- as we must --- both new technology
and better use of existing technology are essential.
Your own University of Nebraska has benefitted from our research
programs, and returned the favor. In a joint effort with the
Department of Agriculture, the University has developed a
rugged new strain of winter wheat which now accounts for a
major portion of our total winter wheat crop.
Finally, the future depends on the new generations of Americans
who will take your place on the farms and fields of America.
more
4
I want to preserve the family farm, one of America's greatest
resources. I want those farms to stay in the family, rather
than be sacrificed to pay the tax collectors.
Accordingly, I have proposed legislation to increase the estate-
tax exemption from 60,000 to 150,000 dollars, to stretch out
estate-tax payments at low interest rates over a 25. year
period, and to exempt from taxation transfers of property
between husband and wife.
My policy, then, is for you to grow all you want and sell all
you can, for the American consumer to have a plentiful supply
of good food and quality fiber, for our agricultural exports
to sell at record volume, for the government to stay off your
backs and off your farms as much as possible, and for family
farms to stay in the family.
I am proud to have Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz working
with me to make our farm policies successful.
To reflect the Secretary's dominant role in all farm policy.
I have appointed Earl to serve as Chairman of my Cabinet-level
Agricultural Policy Committee. But he is the first to admit
we need the advice of the farmer as well as the government
official.
I can assure you this Cabinet Committee in no way replaces the
many committees sponsored by the Agriculture Department,
through which farmers give us guidance on everything from
grazing problems to commodities and research activities.
You have helped us make the farm policies we have followed
in the past 21 months. More importantly, you have helped make
those policies succeed. We're a good team and I would hate to
see a good team broken up right in the middle of the game.
That is why I am asking for your support next Tuesday, next
November, and in the years ahead.
Thank you very much, and now let's get to the questions.
# # # #