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TESTIMONY OF 



GRANT BUNTROCK 



DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON OFFICE 



NATIONAL FARMERS ORGANIZATION 



I am Grant Buntrock, Director of the National Farmers Organization, 

 Washington Office. 



On behalf of the National Farmers Organization (NFO) , I want to 

 thank the Chairman and Members of the Committee for holding this 

 most appropriate and timely hearing concerning the economic outlook 

 for agriculture as the 103rd Congress gets underway. 



The NFOs entire membership includes active farm and ranch 

 operators. We have significant membership in 27 states. The first 

 priority of NFO is collective or group marketing on behalf of its 

 members in dairy, livestock and grain. 



Mr. Chairman, based on USDA's projections, and discussions with our 

 members in most of the agriculture states, the overall economic 

 outlook for production agriculture, as we enter the 1993 crop year, 

 could best be described as very fragile. 



Many of the mid-range and even larger farming operations who 

 survived the recession of the mid-eighties, have never fully 

 recovered. For many of these producers, a few cents a bushel or 

 lb. drop in price will literally make the difference between 

 survival or loss of the entire farming operation in the coming 

 year. 



