The well being of our 160 million people demands a stable and prosperous
agriculture. Conversely, every farmer knows he cannot prosper unless all
America prospers. As we seek to promote increases in our standard of
living, we must be sure that the farmer fairly shares in that increase.
Therefore, a farm program promoting stability and prosperity in all
elements of our agriculture is urgently needed.
Agricultural laws now in effect successfully accomplished their wartime
purpose of encouraging maximum production of many crops. Today, production
of these crops at such levels far exceeds present demand. Yet the laws
encouraging such production are still in effect. The storage facilities of
the Commodity Credit Corporation bulge with surplus stocks of dairy
products, wheat, cotton, corn, and certain vegetable oils; and the
Corporation's presently authorized borrowing authority--$6,750,000,000--is
nearly exhausted. Some products, priced out of domestic markets, and
others, priced out of world markets, have piled up in government hands. In
a world in which millions of people are hungry, destruction of food would,
of course, be unconscionable. Yet surplus stocks continue to threaten the
market and in spite of the acreage controls authorized by present law,
surpluses will continue to accumulate.
We confront two alternatives. The first is to impose still greater acreage
reductions for some crops and apply rigid Federal controls over the use of
the diverted acres. This will regiment the production of every basic
agricultural crop. It will place every producer of those crops under the
domination and control of the Federal government in Washington. This
alternative is contrary to the fundamental interests, not only of the
farmer, but of the Nation as a whole. Nor is it a real solution to the
problem facing us.
The second alternative is to permit the market price for these agricultural
products gradually to have a greater influence on the planning of
production by farmers, while continuing the assistance of the government.
This is the sound approach. To make it effective, surpluses existing when
the new program begins must be insulated from the normal channels of trade
for special uses. These uses would include school lunch programs, disaster
relief, emergency assistance to foreign friends, and of particular
importance the stockpiling of reserves for a national emergency.
Building on the agricultural laws of 1948 and 1949, we should establish a
price support program with enough flexibility to attract the production of
needed supplies of essential commodities and to stimulate the consumption
of those commodities that are flooding American markets. Transition to
modernized parity must be accomplished gradually. In no case should there
be an abrupt downward change in the dollar level or in the percentage level
of price supports.
Next Monday I shall transmit to the Congress my detailed recommendations
embodying this approach. They have been developed through the cooperation
of innumerable individuals vitally interested in agriculture. My special
message on Monday will briefly describe the consultative and advisory
processes to which this whole program has been subjected during the past
ten months.
I have chosen this farm program because it will build markets, protect the
consumers' food supply, and move food into consumption instead of into
storage. It is a program that will remove the threat to the farmer of these
overhanging surpluses, a program, also, that will stimulate production when
a commodity is scarce and encourage consumption when nature is bountiful.
Moreover, it will promote the individual freedom, responsibility, and
initiative which distinguish American agriculture. And, by helping our
agriculture achieve full parity in the market, it promises our farmers a
higher and steadier financial return over the years than any alternative
plan.