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“THE PLIGHT OF SMALL FARMERS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1096-H1097 on March 11, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE PLIGHT OF SMALL FARMERS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to urge my colleagues to be a part of legislation that will help many farmers and ranchers who are struggling to survive. There are two initiatives that I and others will introduce to respond to serious problems confronting this Nation's farmers and ranchers, particularly small farmers and ranchers.
First, the onerous provisions of the 1996 farm bill that ban family farmers and ranchers from receiving a loan from the United States Department of Agriculture if a previous loan had been written down are causing many farmers and ranchers to go out of business. We must correct the credit barriers created by the 1996 farm bill.
Farmers who have had credit problems under that bill are treated worse than persons who are declared in bankruptcy. Work is in progress for the legislation to fix this problem.
Another damaging problem is the continuing and very real threat by the Department of Justice to issue an opinion stating that the complainants in discrimination cases that did not file a lawsuit within 2 years cannot get money damages even if they show discrimination. The Department has taken that position because of its interpretation of the law regarding the statute of limitations.
When that decision is issued, and if it holds, complainants in many of the pending cases are at risk of getting nothing for a lifetime of suffering. Again, without relief in cases where relief is merited, small farmers and ranchers who have been discriminated against will be driven out of business. We cannot tolerate that result.
Farmers have been important to this Nation's past and farmers are vital to this Nation's future, especially the small family farmers and ranchers.
American producers, who represent less than 3 percent of the population, provide more than enough food and fiber to meet the needs of our Nation as well as many nations overseas. Our Nation's farms have changed greatly since the late 1950s. In 1959, there were more than 2.4 million small farms, those less than 180 acres in the United States, and over 172,000 farms in North Carolina, representing 6.9 percent. By 1978, the Nation's number of small farms had declined to a little over 1.3, a loss of 1.1 million small farms. In that same period, North Carolina lost 106,262 small farms, bringing its total to 66,091 small farms.
It is important to note that by 1990, almost a quarter of all small farmers had income below the poverty line, more than twice the Nation's average. And by 1992, there were only 1.1 million small farms left in the United States, a 45 percent decline from 1959. North Carolina had only a little over 39,000 farms left in 1992, a decline of 23 percent.
Several factors have accelerated the demise of small producers: globalization of commerce, economies of scale, limited access to capital and technological advances. The existence of worldwide markets for all commodities, not just agriculture commodities, have created unique market forces and pressures that producers of the past did not have to compete with. But now American producers have to cope with the substantially larger and less accommodating world markets in which to vend their merchandise with competitors who play by sometimes significantly different rules.
With regard to technology, inventions have paved the way for substantial high-level mechanization and modern agriculture, but the technological advances usually come at a very high price and one that most often small farmers are unable to afford. Often small producers are also limited-resource producers. These disadvantaged farmers many times have severe constraints in access to capital for various reasons, including the sheer lack of collateral, the inability to demonstrate the wherewithal to repay a loan and the paucity of funds made available by such lending institutions.
However, all these have had an even sharper influence on minority farmers and ranchers. Indeed, we know that we must correct this issue, Mr. Speaker.
I urge my colleagues, as they will consider this legislation as it comes before them, that we cannot allow small farmers and small ranchers not to have this legislation.
Economies of scale are factors as many small producers do not have the tools necessary to achieve the most efficient methods of production as they frequently are priced out of the market for implements, land and other inputs. Also one must be cognizant of the impact of vertical integration, concentration and contract farming on the role of the twentieth-century producer.
However, the aforementioned factors have had an even sharper influence on minority farmers and ranchers. In 1920, there were over 6 million farms in the United States and close to sixth--926,000 were operated by African-Americans. In 1992, the landscape was very, very different. Only 1% of the 1.9 million farms in the United States are operated by African-Americans.
One-percent--18,816, is a paltry sum when African-Americans comprise 13% of the total American population. In my home state of North Carolina, there has been a 64% decline in minority farmers, just over the last 15 years, from 6,996 farms in 1978 to 2,498 farms in 1992.
There are several reasons why the number of minority and limited resource farmers are declining so rapidly, but the one that has been documented time and time again is the discrimination in the credit extended from the Department of Agriculture, the very agency established by the U.S. government to accommodate and assist the special needs of all farmers and ranchers.
Mr. Speaker, at the end of each day, those of us in government must be honest and answer the question, by our policies, who have we helped and who have we hurt?
The priorities of the United States, make a statement about who we are and where we stand. It signals to our citizens and to the world the principles by which our lives are governed.
I urge each of my colleagues to be continually dedicated to the small farmers and ranchers of our great nation by becoming an original co-
sponsor of legislation that will soon be introduced to fix the credit and statute of limitations problems.
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