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to receive a more equitable share of the value of commodities we 

 produce. Frozen and declining farm-gate prices and target prices 

 are compounded by increasing costs for all our purchased inputs 

 which jeopardizes our survival. We face the same problems with 

 inadequate health coverage and weakened infrastructure as the rest 

 of the country. Something is fundamentally wrong when Kelloggs and 

 General Mills can implement 3% increases on every box of cereal 

 while the farm share continues to decline and consumer purchasing 

 power is not keeping pace with inflation. Kraft, Inc. controls the 

 Green Bay Cheese Exchange, as recently documented in a Milwaukee 

 Sentinel investigative report; this directly impacts both the 

 cheese price and our milk price. Dairy prices are again dropping 

 and the existing "dairy program" needs emergency attention. The 

 squeeze is on us both as farmers and consumers. 



1993 will hopefully provide Congress and the new USDA with a unique 

 window of opportunity to develop actions and push policies to 

 change the face of rural America. There needs to be a new 

 commitment and leadership by the Agriculture Committee. Real 

 issues, trends and changes in the countryside need to be dealt 

 with, not ignored or left to the illusory "free market". 



We urge review of Congressional oversight and investigative 

 hearings that have exposed and documented the myriad of agency 

 problems. These concerns range from low farm income, lack of civil 

 rights enforcement within USDA, lack of enforcement of the Packers 

 and Stockyards Act, failure of the USDA appeals process, among a 

 myriad of other concerns. For farmers and farm advocates, these 

 hearings have been an opportunity to state the problems, yet the 

 solutions have been consistently ignored. There is now a chance to 

 put these reams of hearings into action and see improvements in the 

 delivery of existing programs and new programs that have been 

 consistently ignored. 



We urge the House Agriculture Committee to join with us in urging 

 the new USDA to implement policies that begin to reverse the 

 devastating losses facing our nations' rural communities. The first 

 challenge is to use the discretion within the 1990 Farm bill to 

 provide "flexibility" that will start to promote changes for family 

 farmers and their communities. We also urge the Committee to 

 consider new initiatives and policies to accelerate the progress 

 that is so critically vital to our future. 



I have enclosed a brief review of the most important issues that we 

 feel need to be addressed by USDA. These are all areas where the 

 Congress can play a major role in ensuring true economic 

 development to our rural communities. This commitment involves 

 both changes in domestic policy and a re-examination of the 

 implications of the NAFTA negotiated agreement and the ongoing GATT 

 negotiations. 



Conclusion 



The task ahead is great for us to sustain our lives and livelihood 



