The State of Wisconsin is trying to enact legislation to preserve farmland by loaning the farmers money to pay their taxes. I say let's pay the farmer for his product. Then he can pay his own taxes.

We farmers do not want Government subsidies or loans, we want a fair price for our product. We want real farmers setting policy for agriculture. Farmers are the most honest people in the world and they will not let this country down.

Mrs. ROHL. My name is Jeanne Rohl. When I was a child many of my hours were spent on my grandfather's farm near Spring Valley, Wis. I cannot begin to tell you the memories I have of those years. They left such an impression on me that throughout my entire youth I dreamed of marrying a farmer and raising my family on just such a farm.

Needless to say my dreams came true and I came to rural paradise with great expectations and hope for the future. Through the years I have watched those hopes and dreams come continually closer to a nightmare. Little did I realize then that I would be here today fighting to preserve that dream for my children and grandchildren.

You see we have a very serious problem in this country. We are losing the most valuable, wholesome atmosphere God ever created--the family farm.

It was a great man who once said. "To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men." That is why I am here today, to protest the absolute unjust and disrespectful treatment of not only the dairy farmer, but all tillers of the soil. I am saying here today that the rich are not listening to the cries of the laborers in the field and to plead with you to help save the American family farm from extinction.

I would like to ask you if you would work 365 days a year, Sundays and holidays, on the average of 15 hours a day in below zero temperatures or 100 degree heat for nothing. That is in fact what the American dairy farmer is asked to do. Is it any wonder that we are losing on the average of 2,000 dairy farms a year in our State alone?

We talk about price supports, but what we need in order to insure a stable family dairy industry, with a future in our State, is 100 percent. of parity at the farm level.

If the manipulating of imports and distribution of our products was done for the good of our farmers and our country, instead of a few big money interests, the farmers could have a fair price for their products. We have talked with people from Kentucky, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and several other States who cannot even get good bulk cheese, only processed cheese foods, and poor quality butter.

If there is such an oversurplus, why do they reduce the butter fat content of milk down to such an extent that it almost tastes like water? Why are they stopping the milk programs in our schools, why are they taking the milk machines out of our cafeterias? Strange tactics with such an oversurplus, I'd say.

Yes, there is a grave injustice being done in this country and someone must pay for it.

When I followed my farmer home in subzero weather, with no cab on his tractor, huddled into the steering wheel to keep warm after our first tractor demonstration, my eyes filled with tears and over and over

I thought of these words by another great man, one we profess to believe in, "Give us this day our daily bread". Who will give us this daily bread, who will clothe the naked, who will feed the hungry when we are gone? Will you?

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much for an eloquent statement. As an ex-dairyman, I can testify to the fact that the dairy farmer needs no Sunday clothes and damn few everyday ones.

Mrs. ROIL. That is right. We have been told, Senator, that dairy farmers shouldn't want a fair price for their products, they ought to be satisfied with a new pair of white socks and bib overalls every year. Senator HODGES. I can't add to what the chairman said, except I think you have given one of the most eloquent statements I have heard and you will not find deaf ears in this committee. I am afraid in the administration and in parts of the Congress there are deaf ears, and it is a sad thing to me and terrible commentary on where we are in this country.

Mrs. ROHL. Well, sir, in our area of the country, where we live, the people don't trust Government any more. We don't believe a word the USDA says.

Senator HODGES. I don't either.

Mrs. ROIL. And I tell you something has to be done about this. Senator HODGES. I think there is good justification for that. I speak, only having been here a short time, but having been involved in farming for about 11 years. I feel and am now more convinced now than ever, that we are manipulated, those of us involved in agriculture, by the USDA and by those who are interested in cheap food; and by those who, when they see prices go up, manipulate the stocks to drive them down or as a last resort put on an embargo. If you don't think you are tools, all you have to do is look at our foreign trade agreements that the Chairman mentioned a few moments ago and you will see that when they trade off agriculture is in the back of the bus time after time after time.

I didn't mean to get into a statement or take away from your time. That is all I have.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Dole?

Senator DOLE. I don't have any questions, but I just left a hearing upstairs where they have problems with the school lunch programs on the other end, the eating end, so it is not just a problem of the production end. We have been up trying to figure out how to get more money for school lunch programs and nutrition education and things of that kind, and at 10 o'clock there will be another meeting where we will be talking about the very thing Senator Hodges just mentioned, and that is where does agriculture fit into the trade pattern, and hopefully we will have a chance to run over there and back to at least express our concern to Mr. McDonald, who is supposedly the expert on agriculture, to make sure we don't get shut out.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you yield there?

If Senator Hodges will take over the Chair in a few minutes, both you and I need to go over there and let them know our interest in these matters.

Senator DOLE. Then we will come right back.

Senator HODGES. Those farmers that are here should know there are no deaf ears on this committee. You have friends on this commit

tee and you are not being manipulated by this committee and the people that work on this committee. That is not the source I have reference to, and you shouldn't think that. These people are your friends.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much for your contribution. We appreciate it.

The next witnesses are Mr. John Young, Mount Hope, Kans.; Marcellus Lingg, Andale, Kans; and Larry Matlock, Burton, Kans. Come around, please, gentlemen. We are delighted to have you. You may divide your time as you wish.

I will preside for a few minutes, before I have to leave, and then I will ask you take over the Chair, Senator.

We are delighted to have you with us. I will ask you to insert your statements in full in the record and summarize them. You will have 10 minutes.

STATEMENT OF JOHN YOUNG, MOUNT HOPE, KANS.

Mr. YOUNG. Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the committee, I wish to respectfully submit the following testimony regarding the situation confronting American farmers in 1978:

My name is John Young and I have actively managed and operated a farm at Mount Hope in south central Kansas since I was 16 years of age. Upon my father's death, I took the responsibility for the operation of 320 acres of land, 160 owned by my parents and 160 acres leased.

Upon finishing 2 years of college, I entered into full-time farming and have now expanded that operation to 1,240 acres which includes approximately 300 acres under irrigation, along with a beef cow and calf program.

I have had 32 years' experience as a farmer. I am now farming in partnership with my 26-year-old son and a younger son age 16, who is presently in high school and a member of the Future Farmers of America. He, too. would like to remain in farming.

The dilemma which confronts us today is, in my opinion, brought about by a combination of factors, some of which farmers brought on themselves, and some of which can be attributed to the actions of the Federal Government under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

With the end of the previous farm program, farmers unwisely followed the advice of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz and produced "fence row to fence row food for a hungry world."

The policy of "freedom to produce" has long been touted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, which claims to represent a majority of American farmers. This philosophy, combined with shortsightedness on the part of the farmer who was told that the law of supply and demand would sooner or later make everything all right, produced the present economic disaster in agriculture. I feel that this philosophy, based on "cheap food" and "uncontrolled production," must be abandoned immediately.

Other ludicrous actions such as grain embargoes, interference with loading and transporting of grain, corrupt inspection practices must be outlawed and never again permitted in the United States.

Needless to say, these pathetic acts have cause many of our best grain customers to doubt the reliability of the United States as a dependable supplier.

The family farm system which has made the United States the most efficient food-producing nation on Earth cannot be permitted to collapse in favor of the corporate tax writeoff approach.

Family farms bear their share of the tax burden when they are permitted to operate at a profit. They have no other income from which to write off their losses.

As a family, we all work as many hours per day as it takes to get the job done. We are proud that we have earned the reputation of the world's most productive agricultural nation. Our income is passed on for supplies of all types, which, in turn, stimulates the entire national economy, but we cannot survive the economic blows delivered to us for much longer.

The present farm bill is the most complicated example of unqualified bureaucracy ever to be unleashed on the American farmer. It includes a tangled mess of regulation in the set-aside program, with no compensation to offset the cost of maintaining the required practices. At the present time it appears that participation in the program will be very low.

Studies released by Kansas State Agricultural College of Manhattan, Kans., indicates that a wheat producer may lose approximately 75 cents per bushel by signing up for the program. Feed grain producers, for the most part, are not even considering complying with the program.

Price supports, set at unrealistically low levels, far below the cost of production, will force the farmer to continue to pursue the race to destruction by producing even more bushels to try to keep up with the ever-increasing land taxes, machinery and repair costs, as well as fuel, fertilizer, and all production inputs. Farmers can no longer subsidize the domestic consumer or the foreign consumer by continuing to produce grain far below the cost of production.

We are entering the first stages of what I believe to be the second agricultural revolution. As the first agricultural revolution signaled the change from manual labor to machine power, the new agricultural revolution will signal the end of uncontrolled production, the repudiation of the hogwash handed out by some of our own organizations about more efficiency and the long since antiquated law of supply and demand. It will also signal a forced reversal of the cheap food policy of the Government and an end to a market system where the producer exercises absolutely no control over the prices he receives for his products.

Until a workable solution to this problem can be developed, immediate steps must be taken to prevent the total collapse of the family farm. The Congress should pass, and the President should sign bills providing for:

1. Higher price supports for grains.

2. Higher deficiency payments.

3. Temporary credit relief.

4. Immediate all-out effort to export additional grain by setting up more favorable credit lines and other aspects conducive to foreign purchases.

We would hope that Congress, having recognized the need for a permanent farm program, would then proceed with a workable food production policy for agriculture embodying some of the following points:

1. A mandatory floor under grain prices at or near parity;

2. A sane and workable system to produce only what the domestic and world market can absorb at that price level.

3. The storage of surplus grains neither by the Government or by the producer, but instead "in the land" as unproduced reserves for future generations throughout the world.

4. An arrangement with other grain exporting countries whereby this commonsense approach could be acceptable to them, as well as the United States.

5. A guaranteed supplier for the food deficit countries of the world where they may come in advance and place their orders for future needs and share the responsibility of maintaining an ample reserve in their own warehouses to cover their time of short crops.

6. Soil conservation costs shared by all citizens to maintain the land for future generations.

7. An agriculture advisory board to be selected by farmers. This board would consult with the Secretary of Agriculture and assist in recommending needed changes or improvements in the national farm program.

The American farmer does not want to be dependent on the U.S. Treasury for his income. He does not desire being paid by the taxpayer for not producing. He does not want to place hardships upon the urban dweller or force starvation on the world.

I believe farmers have a strong basic sense of responsibility to the national interest and will cooperate with any national program which demonstrates a sincere movement to help farmers get a fair financial reward for their labor and investment.

American farmers respect the freedom which we as Americans all cherish and will do nothing to act contrary to the long-range welfare of all American citizens. We want to continue providing Americans with the world's best food and the entire world a constant and dependable supply of the basic necessities of life. That is our deep conviction. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF MARCELLUS LINGG, ANDALE, KANS.

Mr. LINGG. Mr. Chairman, Senator Dole, members of the Agriculture Committee, my name is Marcellus Lingg. My wife and I and our five children, two of whom are in college, live in Sedgwick County in central Kansas. We farm about 800 acres dryland farming wheat and milo and we irrigate some corn. We also finish pigs and feeder lambs for market.

I am not here as a member of any organization or company. I must say I am very supportive of the American Agricultural Movement. I am also very enthused with the American Agricultural Movement. You might say I am in farming because of a tragedy possibly two tragedies. When I was 19, my father died, leaving me to take over the family farm. A few years later my wife's father also died. As a result, we are farming both family operations, which made a fair living for

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