Wellstone on Farm Bill

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

GILFILLAN -- U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) took a swing at agricultural conglomerates Tuesday in a Farmfest Forum tent full of sweltering farmers loved it.

A large, water-cooled fan whirred at the west end of the Forum tent, drawing a crowd of hot onlookers.

"I'm on fire," Wellstone said. "I'm sweating like I just got out of wrestling practice, but I'm also on fire about this. Listen, when you go to an auction and there are two bidders, you don't get a very good price. If there are a lot of bidders, you get a decent price. I want anti-trust action. I want to break up these monopolies. I want farmers to get a fair shake. That will be part of the new Farm Bill on the Senate side."

Wellstone said oil companies got $15 billion of the $33 billon in tax credits in the Farm Bill that recently passed in the House, on top of $40 billion of profit.

He'd rather see less money for the oil companies and more for producers. He also talked about the need for wind, saved and renewable energy in the Senate Farm Bill.

He is also upset about the growing spread between what producers make and what consumers pay for food.

"You can't tell me there isn't a lot of profit made in between," Wellstone said. He wants higher loan rates and a farmer-owned reserve so producers have more market leverage.

Wellstone also stressed the multiplier affect of farm dollars and rural economic development.

He said he felt a compulsion to get on the U.S. Senate Farm Committee because of the importance of the new Farm Bill to be written in the Senate in the next six months.

"If we don't get it right this time, I believe we will lose the family farm structure of agriculture," Wellstone said. "I've seen the shakeouts before. I saw what happened in the mid '80s and late '70s."

He noted concern about 1996-2001 Minnesota farm statistics that showed a 50 percent drop in farm income.

"It's not just statistics, but personal lives," Wellstone said. "It's a lot of hard-working people that deserve a decent price to be able to farm. Because of a lousy "freedom to fail bill" (current farm bill), family farmers got out of agriculture."

Wellstone said the U.S. House did good conservation work on the bill, but he would like to see environmental conservation credits for land in production in the Senate version.

First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht, (R-Minn.) said there are problems with the current farm program but that some farm problems would be around no matter what was done with farm policy.

He stressed the need for continued farm subsidies.

"Farm subsidies are really about national security," Gutknecht said. "We can't afford to take the risk of losing an entire generation of younger farmers. They aren't on a level playing field."

Gutknecht said part of the problem is that the American economy has been running rings around the rest of the world for the past five or six years, creating a very strong dollar compared for other currencies. It puts farmers at a 23 percent currency disadvantage, making it very difficult to compete in world markets.

Poor trade policy over the past eight years compounded the problem. Foreign trade sanctions have given American producers the reputation as unpredictable suppliers. Poor trade agreements made things worse.

"We signed some pretty stupid trade agreements," Gutknecht said. "We agreed to allow the European Union to subsidize its exports to the tune of almost $6 billion per year and limited our exports enhancement programs to about $200 million."

Second District Congressman Mark Kennedy (D-Watertown) said too much of the world doesn't pay attention to American agriculture. He said the new farm bill should provide a producer safety net and open new markets.

"I'd rather have a policy this year than politics next year," Kennedy said. "We need to get the new farm bill done this year."