1990 Farm Bill Forum 



Proceedings 



job developing a farm plan for the Fort Peck 

 Tribes, but still has questions regarding its 

 implementation. Development of an overall 

 "Indian p>olicy" would aid local decision 

 makers and planners. 



Addressing the CRP title as a whole, the tribes 

 endorse an increase in allowable acreage. The 

 tribes have seen a substantial increase in upland 

 game bird population as well as small game. 

 However, the tribes believe that limited grazing 

 and hajing would be an appropriate attraction 

 to the CRP regulations. Benefits from this action 

 would be ecological as well as economical. 



Groundwater contamination is a major concern 

 for the tribes. High sodium levels as well as 

 high nitrate levels in groundwater can be found 

 within the reservation boundaries. Although 

 some high sodium levels are naturally occur- 

 ring, high nitrate levels are almost always 

 directly attributed to agricultural practices. The 

 legislators from farm states, operators, and 

 business sector must address this problem 

 themselves as a whole or someone outside the 

 agricultural community will address it for us. 



Grain Growers Association 

 Larry Johnson 



President 



The Montana Grain Growers Association 

 continues to support the basic concepts of the 

 1985 Food Security Act and believes the 1990 

 Farm Bill should carry on these concepts. 

 Voluntary acreage reduction to keep supply 

 and demand balanced, an aggressive export 

 program, income support through a target price 

 system, and adjusted loan rates significantly 

 below world market prices should all be incor- 

 porated in the 1990 farm legislation. 



The 1985 Act, while expensive, has been very 

 successful. Ag exports are up, stocks are down, 

 prices are stronger and the financial condition 

 of most farmers has improved. However, times 

 and conditions have changed. Some modifica- 

 tions must be made to the 1985 Act to keep it 

 effective. 



The 1990 Farm Bill must perform a fragile 

 balancing act. It must balance supply with 



demand, give U.S. farmers the ability to meet 

 the demands of our customers while not 

 producing excesses that depress prices, provide 

 commodity prices that stabilize farmers' income 

 yet do not stimulate new production in non- 

 traditional areas, help in reducing this country's 

 budget deficit but in a way that does not erode 

 agriculture income and require a massive 

 bailout later, and address food safety and 

 environmental issues while not reducing the 

 productivity and efficiency of our producers. 



Eventually an open and free market could 

 accomplish all these things. However, world 

 agriculture policy does not allow that to happen 

 today. We need to de\'ise fragile ag policy in the 

 United States that allows U.S. farmers to be a 

 productive and effective segment of our 

 economy.With that in mind, the MGGA would 

 make the following suggestions: 



Target Prices: The 1990 Farm Bill should be 

 used to review and examine target prices. 

 Target prices should be well balanced, reflect- 

 ing relative value and cost of production of the 

 various commodities so that one commodity is 

 not favored over another. If one commodity is 

 supported to a larger degree than another, 

 farmers are encouraged to produce for the 

 "farm program" rather than the market. It 

 should be a priority of this farm bill to correct 

 those inequities and assure that target prices, 

 which are a "cornerstone" of current ag fX)licy, 

 are accurate and reflect a reasonable balance 

 between commodities. 



MGGA believes that target prices on most 

 commodities have been reduced as far as 

 possible and should not be further reduced in 

 the 1990 Act. Further reduction would only 

 erode producer income support and participa- 

 tion in commodity programs. While target price 

 reductions are an easy source of USDA budget 

 savings, they should be resisted. Rather, we 

 should look to judicious management of acre- 

 age set-aside programs (ARP) and aggressive 

 use of the Exf)ort Enhancement Program to 

 reduce budget exposure. If supply of grains in 

 the United States are kept at reasonable levels, 

 prices can be maintained at a level where 

 deficiency payments are eliminated or mini- 

 mized. 



MoDtau Chapter, Soil and Watar Coniervatlon Society 



15 



AuguatZS, 1888 



