September 1, 2000 / By ASHLEY H. GRANT, Associated Press Writer
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. -- A group of farmers gathered at the Minnesota State Fair Friday to launch a petition they hope will spur more discussion of agricultural issues during the fall campaign.
"I have some serious concerns about the lack of attention on agriculture this election year," said David Frederickson, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union.
The Midwest is being called the battleground for the presidential election. That means farmers should be pushing agricultural issues such as reopening the Freedom to Farm Act, he said.
The petition seeks:
- Changing current U.S. farm policy so that family farmers can earn a fair price from the marketplace,
- Strengthening antitrust laws and enforcing them,
- Implementing trade policies "that put people first."
Once signatures have been collected, candidates for federal office will be asked to sign a petition promising to support those goals endorsed by Farm Aid, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the Land Stewardship Project and Farm Wrap.
They already have at least one celebrity working for the cause: Willie Nelson, president of Farm Aid.
"Farm Aid supports all the folks in Minnesota working to tell every politician there's a crisis going on in farm country," Nelson wrote in a letter to the Minnesota Farmers Union that arrived Friday. "These folks need to know the truth, and they need to pledge their help."
Since the Freedom to Farm Act took effect in 1996 to end a Depression-era system of production controls and price supports, direct government payments have increased from $7.3 billion to a projected $22.7 billion this year, according to statisics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Since 1996, commodity prices have dropped 45 percent for wheat, 49 percent for corn, 35 percent for soybeans and the floor price for milk has fallen 13 percent. During that same period, the surpluses of wheat and soybeans have grown 250 percent while the corn surplus has increased 512 percent.
"Farmers want a price from the marketplace - not a check from the government," Frederickson said.
The Farmers Union, which generally supports Democratic candidates, wants Congress to raise marketing loan rates, extend the period in which farmers can repay those loans, increase the dairy support price and enact measures that stop market and corporate concentration.
Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., said there was nothing inevitable about record-low farm prices.
"The only inevitable thing here is the inevitability of a stacked deck," he said, referring to the law as "freedom to fail.":
