1990 Farm Bill Forum 



Proceedings 



reduce chemical use. If a farmer wishes to 

 practice sustainable methods, then is should not 

 be required that they increase chemical use in 

 order to comply with the SCS-administered 

 farm plan. 



Furthermore, if the law requires greater in- 

 volvement by the SCS in the administration of 

 farm programs, the SCS should not be criticized 

 for increasing staff numbers. 



Recommendations for the 1990 Farm Bill 

 Debate 



• Raise the loan rate on program commodities 

 to cover the cost of production. 



• Allow farmers to manage production on a 

 bushels marketed quota rather than by acres 

 planted. This would allow a producer the 

 flexibility necessary to manage their cropland in 

 such a way that their quota could be raised on 

 whatever acres the farmer deemed appropriate, 

 and allow for more sustainable farming prac- 

 tices. 



• Allow rotation of crops and planting of 

 legumes without losing crop base acres. 



• Delay any further increase in CRP acres until 

 a thorough evaluation of current levels is 

 completed. This should include both positive 

 and negative effects to farmers, their local 

 communities, and the state's economy. 



• Establish guidelines for realistic farm plans 

 sensitive to field achievability with a goal of 

 sustainability. 



• A fundamental prindple of authority by 

 Congress for the writing of the 1990 Farm Bill, 

 which is not subject to revision by the 

 administration's appointed trade representative 

 to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. 



Farming must not be reduced to a series of rules 

 and regulations to comply with, but rather, a 

 profession which assumes the awesome respon- 

 sibility for using the land to bring forth the very 

 sustenance of life, for today and for future 

 generations. Helen Hoover said it best, "Man 

 thinks of himself as a creator instead of a user, 

 and this delusion is robbing him, not only of his 

 natural heritage, but perhaps of his future." 



Women Involved in Farm 

 Economics 

 Esther Ruud 



Past President 



Women Involved in Farm Economics' (WIFE) 

 goal is to obtain not only a cost-of-production 

 for all agricultural producers, but also to be able 

 to receive a reasonable profit for those products 

 at the market place, which we have been unable 

 to do for many years. 



In 1950, 1 received $150 per month as head 

 bookkeeper, and we received $1.98 per bushel 

 for our spring wheat. You could buy a new 

 pickup for about $1,500. Now, 49 years later we 

 have received $3.61 per bushel for our wheat, 

 and will probably get about 30 cents additional 

 deficiency payment, which means we will get 

 about $3.91 per bushel, or $1.93 more per 

 bushel than we did 49 years ago, a little less 

 than double the amount we got then. 



However, a new pickup now costs about 

 $15,000. Do you think that a busy office could 

 hire a head bookkeeper for $300, which is 

 double what I got in 1950. The pickup costs 

 about 10 times the amount it did 49 years ago, 

 the bookkeeper gets between seven to ten times 

 what they got 49 years ago, however, the 

 farmer is supposed to be able to make it by only 

 getting double the amount he got 49 years ago. 

 Have your own wages only doubled in the last 

 49 years? Is there any wonder that more and 

 more farmers and ranchers are losing their 

 farms and ranches? 



Since most members of WIFE live on "family 

 farms, I would like to give you WIFE'S defini- 

 tion of a "family farm." "A form of business en- 

 terprise in which the management decisions are 

 made by a family engaged in the production of 

 food or fiber for profit, which is intended to 

 provide the major source of income and capital 

 for investment. Afterall, what business can 

 continue without making a reasonable profit? 



I would like to stress this about conservation. 

 Many of us would gladly do a great deal more 

 conservation at our own expense, if we were 

 making a profit. 



Montani CtiaptBr, (oD and Witar Conservation Society 



34 



August 28, 1888 



