60 



The answer to all the aforementioned and to this committee's 

 question of the day, How well are current programs and policies 

 meeting their intended objectives? Not very well at all today. 



As I alluded to before, the citizens of rural America voted for a 

 change last November. I feel it is our duty to fulfill that mandate. 

 We should start by restoring the buying power of rural America. 

 We must raise prices at the farmgate. The only mechanism for 

 doing that is raising the support prices. There are no other viable 

 options that we can see at this time because we can no longer 

 depend upon Federal taxpayer dollars to support farm income, and 

 we never should have. To do so would be foolish on our part and 

 unfair to America's taxpayers. 



It now appears that there will not be a solution to the trade 

 problems facing agriculture for some time to come, with rumors of 

 trade wars dominating the news. And we cannot depend on only an 

 export-driven program. 



Most of you have noticed some better economic news in the past 

 few days. Economic indicators are up. We also realize that the pro- 

 grams and policies of this brand new administration probably had 

 little to do with that. It had a lot to do with consumer confidence. 



What caused the turn-around? People feel better about the 

 future. Let me offer you an example. 



I have a friend who sells automobiles for a living in a large met- 

 ropolitan area. He sold three cars for the entire month of Septem- 

 ber and one in October. But he sold three cars on November 4 and 

 sold seven more before Thanksgiving. 



That is not a great success story, but it does have a point. People 

 are feeling better about the future. They are satisfying pent-up 

 demand. Nowhere in the U.S. economy is there more pent-up 

 demand than that on the farm. America's farmers are attempting 

 to make a living with worn-out equipment. Some surveys show the 

 average age of the newest tractor on the farm today is over 12 

 years old. 



Do you realize that many of the tractors that graced the Mall 

 around the Washington Monument 14 years ago today are the 

 newest ones on those farming operations if they haven't already 

 been foreclosed on and sold? But to get to the optimism, and to get 

 people to purchase those tractors, if every farmer were to buy a 

 tractor, we would need assurances of higher prices supported by 

 higher loan rates. 



Has anyone pondered what would happen to the Nation's econo- 

 my if every farmer replaced just one wornout tractor or one worn- 

 out pickup truck? If nothing else, it would make President Clin- 

 ton's economic recovery program much easier. 



AAM has asked Secretary Espy to increase loan rates since it is 

 within his discretional jurisdiction. We are now asking this com- 

 mittee to make those higher support levels law. 



I want to thank all the members of this committee who have 

 fought for fair prices for farmers and for better programs. Your 

 help has not gone unnoticed. 



Thank you again for this opportunity to present our views. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Mitchell appears at the conclu- 

 sion of the hearing.] 



