The farmers go broke then. What do you have on employment loss of revenues that the treasury that'll be more than the cost of the farm program disillusionment despair broken families people rushing into already overcrowded cities. The way to keep America prosperous is to keep people at work. And keep people as many as want to down on the farm. Senator Hubert Humphrey sounding a theme which was hurt off and during the Minnesota rule youth Institute, which took place at Southwest State University in Marshall last week The Institute brought together about 100 high school juniors and seniors from rural communities all over the state for an intensive week of lectures workshops and field trips intended to expose them to creative and Innovative strategies for agriculture and Rural Community Development in the future are programs this afternoon, and tomorrow will bring you some of the highlights of that week. On today's program. We're going to hear from Southwest State University President John wefald agricultural Consulting the Rodger blough bomb Thomas Wyman president of green giant Corporation, Minnesota 6th District Congressman, Richard Nolan Father John McGrath executive director of the Catholic real life conference. And once again, Senator Hubert Humphrey, the program was recorded and produced by Minnesota Public Radio station. Krsw with the aid of funds provided in part by the Northwestern Banks of Marshall and Slaton and PPG Industries. Don't we fall is the former Commissioner of Agriculture for the state of Minnesota and is now president of Southwest State University in Marshall a post. He has held since mid-june is opening a dress before the Minnesota rural youth Institute set the tone for the entire week Rural America has not been getting its fair share. We fold wefald told Institute participants get at the same time. He said it is the low cost of agricultural Commodities to the consumer which has made our country as prosperous as it is since 1947. We've all said American farmers have produced more crops more and more efficiently. You have received a smaller return for their labor in the last couple of weeks closed down less than $2 a bushel. That's unbelievable. Any other 1947 are Minnesota Farmers got on the average $2.08 a bushel, you know, the dollar was worth in 1947. And you think about what a dollar is worth today? That would be like for $5 a bushel today and that's conservative. You think it was a. Of time in the post-world War II. Where are farmers made a decent income? There's a 10-year. Of time. We're at The Economist would only just kind of open up the book and take a look at it and see what happens. When are farmers and ranchers actually make money a real Community home. You don't see for rent for sale signs on one out of four small businesses in our rural communities are farmers are paying cash for tractors and Automobiles. And not only that the key thing is that when our Farmers make money are states have balanced budgets and the United States government itself is actually able to address itself to an economy at full production full employment on a balanced budget. No, one of these days I hope that there is some member on the Council of economic advisers who understands that our Farmers come that they play a very important role in prosperity for our holy come that are farmers when they sell their corn in their wheat overseas for a fair price. That this means that this country has an excellent chance to have a favorable balance of trade and payments where are dollar is stable. After eight or nine years of good prices my friends after World War II. You know what Harry Truman left office in 1953. you know the unemployment in this country was now it's around 7% 2.9% I mean that's full employment. Four or five times during the Truman years because Truman had an agricultural policy that was balanced and sound and made sense. We're Farmers had an opportunity to have a fair rate of return on investment unemployment during those years on many occasions was 3.8% Like it wasn't 47 or 3.9% Like it was a 1948 with basically is full employment. No matter how you cut does the economist look at it. favorable balance of trade and payments food production the dollar was strong. I've seen this nation everything rolling. Then we going to the 30-year history what we call a cheap food policy that basically were still in today with the Council of economic advisers and other federal agencies. Finally managed to convince succeeding presidents of and that is that are farmers and ranchers should plant fence to fence for little or nothing until for 30 years with very few exceptions like 1973 with very few exceptions. our Farmers have been in a situation that would be completely unacceptable of General Motors in the AFL-CIO you think about those Farm prices of the post-world War II. You think about farm income for earned income in 1947 was upwards of 18 billion dollars we might get back a lot of 1977 or 21 billion I need 17 billion dollars net income in 47 and Farmers made in 77 that kind of net income based on what the dollar is worth we'd be able to report at the end of this year than our Farmers had a net income of over 50 billion dollars in a farmers had a net income of 40 to 50 billion dollars which is what they should have had if they just had a 1% increase in prices from 47 right up to 1977 this country would have full employment full production unbalanced budget I mean, how long does it take for the Wall Street Journal and US News & World Report in Time Magazine to understand that it isn't just General Motors. Certainly they play a very important role or the AFL-CIO were the 3 oz of the Control Data say all play a very important role in America's economic Frank, but here we're talking about an industry. That's even more basic than all of them. You know General Motors has any kind of a dipping sales hits a headline on the New York Times. It's the front page story in the Minneapolis Tribune Walter Cronkite finds that that's the number one item for that day. But look fine prices go down like they did 1973. You don't hear anything at all about that PO only time you hear anything about fire prices if they go up like they didn't 73 and 74. And then all the complaint started here the American people being fed better. In terms of quality and quantity and variety of the lower price of any people on the face of the Earth. We are to be looking right now. It's $7 toy being $5. We can $3 corn at least 55 a piece for Hogs and beef on a parody. They're not even close to 100% of parody. You don't farmers are the only group in America today that accept less than what they should get talked to John. We fall president of Southwest State University addressing delegates at the Minnesota rodeos. Institute wefald went on to tell his audience that it would be up to Farmers to work together in the future to obtain a fair price for their commodities. Another major Topic at the Royal use Institute was energy and the changes that agriculture can expect one to go as a result of the higher price of energy in the future Rodger blough bomb is an agricultural consultant to operate his own firm in Creston, Iowa among many other things. He's been involved in the small farm energy project in northeast, Nebraska in which 25 Diversified relatively small farm operators are taking part in a project and discover how much energy and money can be saved by applying fairly simple low Energy Technologies to a number of farm tasks which are now carried out on most farms in an energy-intensive way. Vicky sturgeon and I spoke with Mo Bamba after he addressed the rural youth Institute and he told us that he thinks it is important to provide Farmers with technical assistance for such a project and even more important to convince them that they are just as capable as they ever were of doing things for themselves. I think the farmer today is accustomed to having a backup system from the people that he buys things from. You know, he buys some kind of a machine and something that goes wrong why he expects of the salesman or somebody to be available to come out and this is true of the feed, you know, all sorts of things to the farm revised. And so I think that in the absence of locally available technical assistance of the farmers are just going to wait until complete systems are available with backup from companies. Before they they go into this and I know that there are methane generating systems available. Now that are very expensive but the farmer has to do nothing but look it up in a plug-in and I should say and the same as is true of some solar crop driving and it's now a farmer has to do is plug it in well, but he's paying for that one way or another he's paying for the development the advertising the salesman for the for the materials and certainly not at the wholesale. And anyway, these are expensive systems, but that's the way the farmer has been accustomed to doing things in the past and I would hope the farmers would not do no wait on this sort of thing in terms of of many of these Innovations and then are all the simple things that they can do like minimum tillage rotating their crops and and producing some of their own nitrogen in that way. I'm much more efficient to utilization of their manure. Repairing the other windmills. They're just a whole range of a very simple energy saving things that farmers can do I read without much help from anybody. So so easily in as if they were so simple and yet they do run counter to the grain the trend of farming for the past. What is it now 40-50 years. Maybe that's too long. But certainly of the recent decades that we're reaching a turning point in agriculture and that this turn is not going to be taken by choice, but it's a Turner we're going to have to make To some extent I think people will will want to conserve energy and to generate some of their own and so forth. I partly as a as maybe a patriotic response because our country obviously is is in trouble in terms of energy, but I think more importantly and I think this is true of most Farmers. It'll be a response to do we conomic how they're going to be increasingly concerned about increases in the price of purchased energy quickly. Fossil fuels are going to become increasingly nervous. I think about being so vulnerable to embargoes and things of this kind anise. The Library of Congress study showed a few weeks ago the energy package that was just passed by Congress is going to increase the cost of nitrogen fertilizer to agricultural producers in one year by 1.3 billion dollars just because of the increased cost of natural gas. I'd there just no end to the kinds of them a price increases that we're going to see in agriculture iic Norway that there will be any leveling off now in terms of shortages. If we if we do run really short of natural gas and I think that's probably a little way off. SS it gets shorter in supply. Of course, the price will go up but there is another there are other ways to make nitrogen fertilizer. You can make it out a call and there is there's coal gasification process systems and we're going to see those but in my judgment the price of fertilizer produced from coal under these under these new systems, it's going to be so high that the Farmers can't afford it and certainly can't afford the amount that they put on now, so I think that fertilizer nitrogen fertilizer eventually is going to be just Priced Right Out Of Reach of her Farmers the priority then would be on fuel for tractors and Machinery rather than for fertilizer. I don't need fuel for fertilizer. But I mean that usage of the material. Well, I think that if if Farmers had had to make the choice of giving up fertilizer giving out tractors that they certainly I'm moving the direction of giving up fertilizer and I think that's probably the kind of choice it or we're going to see in the future. I do not see agriculture in this country going back to horses as people say I think that will continue to have a highly mechanized agricultural system moving more to diesel because it's more efficient than gasoline. And I also think you were going to see Farmers making some of their own fuel now. Some of this will be from methane. We're probably going to see a sort of the gasohol approach taken and places and we're also going to see alcohol made on farms from my from biomass and they're already our systems at where this is already successful. And so that time you know out to Behind The Barn at Farmer may very well be making alcohol for the tractor. I think that's so reasonable to assume that well into the future. You said during your talk that that's where it should be made out behind the barn aren't very at the very least and I in a neighborhood co-op in some kind seems to be kind of a theme that runs through a lot of what you have to say. I'm all right about that. Yes. Yes. I think that one of the casualties of the energy shortage and vulnerability that we have developing high is going to be the large centralized production and distribution systems in this country a lot of things that used to be done at a local. And in a local area or at least in a let's say a small a small City. I all of these have been moved to centralize places. When energy was cheap and plentiful it really didn't matter one study has shown for example that the average Chicken on the way to Market a travel 1200 miles is just ridiculous, but it's it's very common in in the food system. So that I think is the energy thing that tightens up. And again, it'll be economically is more than shortages that we're going to see a lot more decentralized at production of food. And there were also going to see more decentralized processing. You know, I can like Southwest Minnesota. He right. I believe that almost everything produced here by Farmers this ship somewhere else for processing that doesn't make any sense. A lot of that could be processed right here and then at least as much as you are should be processed here. And the song again some of the things that we might consider to be casualties of the energy crisis. I think are really good things for people and good things for the country to meet at the implications of what you just said for both domestic and international food and grain Trader really tremendous. We're beginning to read a lot these days about how American aggregate agribusiness is still one of the major Colonial powers in the world, but it would seem that if what you say is true that Colonial hegemony can break down in an energy crisis situation. Yes, I think that we're going to see much more emphasis on an international basis on self-sufficiency in terms of food production. I think my own judgment is if that's that's for a sound. I don't know if you're familiar with the food first the new book by Joe Collins and Francis lappe, but it does an excellent job. I think of analyzing what has happened in other countries particularly those that are more or less a colonized and the colonization is not by countries anymore. It's by companies. And I think that one of the answers to the world food crisis that we face is a much greater emphasis on self-sufficiency in food production. I am greatly influence personally on my way. What I saw in the People's Republic of China on two trips where this this country of about 10, very close to a billion people is for all practical purposes now self-sufficient in food and extremely decentralized in terms of production and processing and whole whole the whole food distribution system the system the 11 or 12 million people in the city of Shanghai for example, are are completely fed by 10 real counties that surround at Metro area and where the waste from the city is recycled on the land in a very sound ecological system. And I think that we're going to see that sort of thing developing in in some of the cities in our own country. I think we're going to see your location of urban waste on a closing in land and I think we're going to see solar solar heated the greenhouse so production of vegetables out of season, and I think we're going to see just a lot more closing production. It's going to be difficult time now, isn't it? Because of the major food companies? The multinationals have really just reached the peak of their worldwide marketing abilities just at a time when the agriculture win the win the fuel shortages really coming up on us. One of the problems is that the large multinational companies and particularly the grain companies are losing public trust and support, you know, you hear so much grumbling now, not only from just casual observers, but the farmers themselves and I even hear it among church people, you know church people a couple of years ago were saying we ought to have all our production. We are to produce as much as we can and a way will be plowing to get it to Hungry people in HR responsibilities. Now, I hear church people saying I'm wonder if we were right about that because here we went without all these surpluses in the United States and we've still got hungry people. And a Joe Collins points out in in his book. We are not providing food to Hungry people. We are providing food too well-off people around the world either to improve their diets or to feed their livestock. That's where a lot of the American grain is exported is going until it's not a solution under the present system. So I think that multinationals and particularly the grain companies are going to be under you know staying pressure and I don't need from people in our own country, but elsewhere to either modify their systems or I think that you know, there be some steps made to bring about some system of change and I think that church is church people as well as politicians and farm leaders and all kinds of people will be involved in that kind of an effort cuz they're dissatisfied with it as it is Rodger blough bomb of Rodger blough Bauman Associates in Creston, Iowa. Also present at the Royal youth Institute was Thomas Wyman president and chief executive officer of the Green Giant Corporation in an interview with Vicky sturgeon. Wyman said that green giant only Excursion into multinational food production is a corn and pea processing plant recently opened in France nevertheless. He disagrees with critics who say that large multinational corporations should not be growing relatively exotic crops on third-world soil if labor is being exploited or improper prices are being paid. I would have more concerned about that sort of exploitation then the fact that time You know if a company goes into produce so tomatoes, for example, there are some very substantial tomato production operations in parts of Africa. It's people like Del Monte do it. But if they didn't and I go there to store some because it's the conditions are good. But if they didn't do it You can criticize him for not growing a sweet because I don't have to be in the week. They wouldn't know what to do with weed if they had it other than sell it on the open market. so I I I I think it's a it's a it's a charge that is made by people who don't have much knowledge and it's not meant to be defensive. I think they're there other more serious kinds of concerns about overseas activities, but I don't think that one really a crowding-out other agriculture because or producing essential food stuff for the countries concerned. Who is going to make the investment to do that as the is the question and then and that comes under under the heading of a whole nother subject should the food industry food processors, even the distribution trade the government the foreign aid programs that we we spend so much money abroad. if there if we could find the waist together the right kind of collaboration between the University's the food processors and then and some thoughtful government policy about how to develop local production for local consumption and Export because almost all of these countries are really desperately need foreign exchange and they need foreign exchange to be able to purchase equipment and to develop a broader base economy so that they can afford to buy better food and it's that's that's the way I think the cycle should go You mentioned several different corporations. I'm wondering is there a big difference between the kinds of or the ways in which different food corporations operate in foreign countries? All right. I don't think there's any question that there's some very large differences. I think the differences. happily are less today than they were 25 years ago if you take the You'll have to forgive me for not. being Critically specific, but the the companies that were in the banana business and Central America. We're really gross in terms of some of their labor practices their housing practices there their whole philosophy of extraction as opposed to contribution, but one of the things that's happening in the international census as it's happening even more specifically here is that the climate is changing so that the public response, you know, even the uninvolved American public Having nothing particular to do with with Costa Rica or Honduras. consumer groups church church groups thoughtful responsible people Add shareholders meetings in various through various communication channels are really saying. but they don't think it's right just in terms of justice and that it's improper and I think in general companies, you know, you you can say it's not the noblest of motivation but I think companies are for both reasons one defensively and also because There is an an element of a real concern on the part of lots of Business Leaders today. And of course, there are also many companies that have behaved, you know, impeccably there have been no companies like a not so much in the food business, but companies like a Eastman Kodak and an IBM and Xerox and end with in the food business General Foods heinsohn in other really fine companies have been many of them have behaved very well in that respect but it's changing and I sort of like the the migrant labor question which little more immediate to what happened 25 years ago in terms of a Mexicans Texas Mexicans how they were treated when they came to Minnesota and Wisconsin that Southwest you know from the 17th century, but the combination of I halfway companies like ours and and and the outcry of the public has led to legislation in some cases and then pin better practice is another's but to you. How the laws are not perfect today, but they really do migrant labor situation, Minnesota. And Wisconsin is really quite good because it's it's you're out of Step. If you if you do the sorts of things that were done 25 years ago, Minnesota Congressman Richard Nolan also address the real youth Institute and in a discussion after his talk we to find ourselves getting around to the topic of International Food marketing practices it began when Nolan was discussing revisions. He would like to see in some future farm bill and he mentioned among them tighter import restrictions upon some agricultural Commodities in our Cattlemen have been in real serious trouble as has our sugar industry been in real serious trouble and one of the problems there has been a very very cheap Imports. and I think you can make a case for a discouraging that first of all from a humanitarian point of view these developing nations that are producing a cheap sugar and nnn cheap cattle for export to United States should be putting that land in the production of food and vegetables and fiber to feed the hungry people in their own in your own countries, and and I think we can develop a good rationale for discouraging those kind of imports and that to the extent that we do that we would then encourage our own people to be our own country to become self sufficient for our sugar and livestock and I think that would have the effect of moving our market prices up and we could we help our own produce serious as well as help the people and these underdeveloped nations at the same time seems to be becoming evident that many of the multinationals now are going in To these countries are been there for years and encouraging the export of certain fairly exotic crops like coffee and and as you say sugar is another one of them in livestock exports to the detriment of the production of food for the population. Would you be willing to to say that that's it in general a bad kind of a practice and should be discouraged. I got a terrible practice in the should most definitely I'll be discouraged. I'm in the process now writing some legislation that would require all of our a developmental assistance of programs to the developing nations to a submit to a hunger impact statement before they're implemented. We're also trying to get the President to establish a national Commission on world hunger has so many of our so-called development to programs with the best of intentions. I think I've had very very detrimental effects on four people and hungry people in the devel. What else by going in there and encouraging the development of the so-called the Exotic luxury crops for export under the mistaken assumption that the income derived from those crops is put back into social and economic development in the developing country. That hasn't been the case. It's been those profits have been used to enrich the the wealth of some multinational corporations and Wealthy individuals that would make the kings and queens and Lords and Barons of yesteryear look like real pikers and I mean, well the most fertile in the most productive in the most valuable of lands and that these developing nations is controlled by a very very handful of people. And the to produce exotic luxury crops for export when that's land. To be put into production of food and fiber for the hungry people in those Nations. So the whole answer obviously is not simply to improve production in third world, but it's to improve distribution throughout the world. It's to encourage Land Reform so that you have more human involvement in the production systems in developing nations of the world to improve the utilisation of the land so that it's being put into production of food and fiber for feeding people instead of the as we said the luxury crops for around export around the world and I think if we do did the primarily those two things that we would strike it a great victory for a rub fighting the problems of world hunger, but at the same time and also saw some of our own problems in this country, People got to stop to think if we have the most modern most efficient sugar beet processing plant in the world and we can't do it here for less than 17 or 18 cents a pound, you know that if they're producing sugar and some developing nation and making money on a date since a pound why it's coming out of somebody's hide and it's coming at the expense of one heck of a lot of malnutrition and starving and the economic oppression. And so I think it all of our import export policy should be geared to discourage them. Minnesota 6th District Congressman Richard M Nolan in an interview recorded last week during the Minnesota rodeos Institute will hear more from Congressman Nolan on tomorrow's program. The ownership and utilization of Natural Resources was the subject of an address given at the Thursday session up the row youth Institute by Father John McCrae executive director of the Catholic real life conference, Grace told the delegates that agricultural land is one of the last natural resources still controlled by middle-income Americans and that Diversified land ownership is essential to our democracy many of you. I'm sure can identify with this. We've always had a lot of them. Good talk about the life on the land and the sacredness of land and all that. If you look down through history, the people have been ripped off the most were always those were closest to the land. And who depended on the land? If we really thought land was that precious. The people who are responsible for the land would be treated perhaps with the greatest. Oven parts but you know, that's not true. Are small farmers family farmers are small town business people that service them and keep them going our Farm Workers migrant workers and Swan. These are our Native Americans and sounds these are not people that were treated with a great deal of reverence in our society size question letter. How much do we really think of the important? The land is any way around country we've seen land used to develop the West for example to develop the country land was given land was given to Courage. The railroads to come land was used to settle disputes internationally and nationally land was used to build colleges and educational institutions. Land has been used in our country for many many things and many good things. But we always had a lot of dealing with that whole thing of Go West Young man, go west. Well, then if you've ever been to Los Angeles, you know, that doesn't pay to go west anymore. They're all out there. We got to come back. Soul and is always been there's always been more of it until after the second world war. Now. We're beginning to see with a population of 4 billion people going to seven or eight billion in this world. The land is a much more scarce and much more precious resource than we ever thought it would be Land is always been a source for corruption. As you all well know that. In the days of awe of the Homestead Act and the people would go down and get some for person off of off of skid row and get them to sell some land and and they buy it from them credit for a bottle of wine all kinds of Empires and put together across the country like that soul and is always to find some corruption unless you unless you're careful. Talk about land in terms of being reclaimed irrigated drained. There was a strong policy in our country historically though of having the land in the hands of as many people as possible. This is the part. I never can understand. How we could forget that? 200 years ago I didn't that 200 year history. Often talked about the farmer being the backbone of our society. We know that what we mean by that is that system of ownership was the backbone of a free Society. As they Envision the United States of America there were certain things certain principles that they said had to be there if it was going to be a free Society with the freedom to seek liberty and justice for all. Liberty and justice for all if we're going to have that kind of a free Society we had to have freedom of religion. Speech assembly and so on. But another one was that these resources would be in the hands of as many people as was reasonably possible. Oh God knows we have strayed from that. outside of Natural Resources outside of to move into the present situation natural resources outside of egg of agricultural land is by and large in the hands of very very very few wealthy people. We know that. We know that it has problems with it. We know for example in our own country at I have any of you ever had the opportunity to go to Appalachia. Well the greatest pocket the poverty in the United States. But it's also extremely wealthy. terms of coal Timber Do you know who owns that. The people who live there? A handful of coal companies the railroad companies and so on. The wealth is taken from the area. That's all we know also in looking at other countries. The problem of that ownership and how it relates to Freedom. There's a lot of people worried whether our system of government weather this whole United States going to hang together or not. Let me to tell you that that that I think that who owns that land. And who controls will determine more than anything else in this country as to whether or not it will be a free Society. I just talked to him. Classmate of mine who has been in Guatemala for Central America for 15 years the other day. And he said absolutely the source of Oppression in that country was absolutely tied to the ownership of that land. Now what's happening in our own country? Land I was in Indiana. The other day land was cell is selling for 43 and $4,500 an acre. And $4,000 is not all that uncommon. And we know that other prices of land. South southern Minnesota has extremely high upwards of $3,000. What does that tell you as young people? in terms of future of energy in food tells you one thing then and now Does anybody who wants it and and and it's theirs are not ordinary folk anymore? Secondly that the necessities of life are going to be very expensive exactly what they've got in Guatemala. And the people that didn't there wasn't the whole missionary effort at the present time in that in that area is to get people enough land. So they can grow a little food and therefore than bargain with the big landowners. We can't imagine that happening here. But go to Appalachian you can imagine it. I know people who want to build houses in those poor areas and they can't get any land because the coal company owns the land and they won't sell him enough to build a house on. That's what happened. In terms of ownership of the end of this week and you look at all that land out there is that land is going into the hands of very few people being a corporation of being individuals. Minnesota thank God does have an anti corporate law. But it also needs. a law to limit even individuals It doesn't make much difference to me if I'm run out of southern, Minnesota by John Wayne or General Motors. I'm gone in either case. And whether is John Wayne Corporation or General Motors doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Remember that four out of the five biggest grain companies are family held corporations. They're not on the Board of Trade or anything. I might add that when 15 years ago land in Guatemala was $5,000 an acre, and I thought they were crazy. Land here was $500 an acre. Now 15 years later. Our land is $4,000 an acre in more their land is up to seven and $8,000 an acre. So how land is owned and how it's used as off a lot to do with your future and the future of this country? So I would say that one of the things that we need and I will close with that. We desperately need. Would be a new attitude and how your heart with that attitude be I think at the present time we have always seemed natural resources beard oil or food or whatever. It's always been seen as something to make money with. Not an obvious truth about Justice there has to be Justice in all of the dealings in this I understand that in there at that means there has to be a reasonable profit. But are you and I both know that incredible fortunes have been made off of Natural Resources. Got to begin to develop an attitude the number one. But these are indeed gifts from God. We call him commodities. the really GIFs tonight I've been asked to give the invocation before the meal. I'm not likely to ask Almighty God's blessings on these commodities. I talk to God I call him gifts cuz I don't want monkey around with him. No, he knows where they came from. He knows what they are. But when we start dealing with one another some other we can't we use the word gifts. Just because it was a gift and I've done something to it. I have a right to a reasonable profit. But if it's a gift I'd hardly have the right to God you with it. Would I a new attitude toward these resources That's number one. It is a gift number to that the best way to handle it and I repeat again. The most of the natural resources of the hands of very few people agricultural land is not the best way to handle this gift of land is what we commonly call the family farm system or the dispersed ownership. The trouble is nobody believes in that politicians don't believe in a generally church people don't believe in a generally Farmers don't believe in that generally. Very few Farmers believed in the family farm system. They believe in their family farm. But are they bleed really in the system? Then you wouldn't have going on the kind of things that I see all over the country and I hear it over and over again or somebody who already has five hundred or a thousand or 2,000 acres of land or more. And have that kind of background will come in and bit it away from somebody your age or a little older. And had it on to his little parcel that fits so nice. It was just 80 acres laying there and just fit right in where I needed it. Know anybody who believes that system then would say no I have enough. If I believe in family farm system that we got a family farmers and that means that I can order. We got to really believe in that sister. That means we have to accept a principal than number three of limitation. We have to accept the fact that the size is got to be limited. Cuz if we don't there's always somebody bigger than we are the what you decide up probably John McCrae executive director of the Catholic real life conference. our program concludes now as we return to the same with which it began namely that Affair Farm Price benefits, not only the farmer but society as a whole That's a speech Senator Hubert. Humphrey could probably give in his sleep, but he was wide awake as he spoke to the young delegates at the Minnesota rule youth Institute banquet last Thursday night. is income that's the best thing you can do for Rural Development a fair price for a good product. The farmers entitled to that. Is government asked him to produce what is government asked him to produce because the farmer never knew it was so there's going to be a good or a bad crop. He never knows what he's going to be some kind of infestation that will destroy he never knows what the weather is going to be and therefore there has to be some kind of protection insurance. That's what we call our price support system are Target prices on minimum prices are crop loans. And when I read every once in awhile to paper to the farm program cost for billion dollars. It said to the New York Times. And I said, that's the biggest bunch of hogwash that I've read. Since I heard about master liquid hold an acid liquid to hog-tie make way back in the days of the thirties that they used to sell in Yankton over here at wnax. What do you mean what it cost for a billion dollars? Why they said look there's a couple of billion dollars in there for crop loans. I said loan I said a loan you get collateral you loan a farmer a dollar $0.85. You got the we just collateral. When a banker loans you some money the loan who gets him he gets a loan against a mortgage on your house that's listed in his books as an asset not a liability, but in government bookkeeping a crop loan is listed as if it was an expenditure as if nobody was ever going to repay it. Do you know that your government has made over a half a billion dollars on crop loan since 1945? We have lost any money on Farmers Co-Op loans, we've made money. But the kind of interpretation that comes out gets people to think what an expensive program. I'll tell you what's inexpensive program the farmers go broke. Then what do you have on employment last loss of revenues that the treasury that'll be more than the cost of the farm program disillusionment despair broken families people rushing into already overcrowded cities. The way to keep America prosperous is to keep people at work. And keep people as many as want to down on the farm. producing modern agriculture, which takes Capital technology education dedication and guts Soda takes mr. Tom Beach. I'm Georgia. Had this to say the rural development Act of 1972. Will enable this nation to help to develop more and better jobs income earning opportunities in rural communities to relieve the pressure is a population overcrowding and environmental pollution in our cities. However, the legislation is only a beginning the executive branch must do an aggressive dedicated job of implementing and administering the law if the intent of Congress is to be honored. I regret to tell you that we've had a long battle to try to get the implementation of a wall. This year we have provided sums of money under the rule development act that if properly administered will start to make a dent on some of the problems that we have. And those problems are the ones that everybody knows. We got some deeper ones you talk about the energy problem. I want to remind my young friends out here that the most serious problem in America today the two more serious problems. Is soil erosion and subsoil moisture the water table? the drop in the water table you can get by without oil but you can't get by without water and I water tables going down down down not just in Minnesota, but Across the Nation. And yet we know what to do about it. We know that certain types of conservation practices will rebuild that water table. When I was a young man, like some of you out here at Franklin Roosevelt was President of the United States. During that time, we had this incredible dust storms, but off the top soil ruin the land and he came forth with what we call a shelterbelt program and over 40 million Acres were planted in fries in America to prevent wind erosion. You know, what's happened in the last two years. We have bulldozed out 28 million Acres of those trees to plant in a week or something else. robbing the future In the hopes of making a quick game today only to find out what? We've got over a billion bushels of Wheat and surplus the price of Weights less than $2 a dollar $85.90 a bushel below the cost of production. We took away 28 million Acres of trees, which did something to the soil which did something to the water table. We planted it up and wheat and corn and we've got an overproduction and now we have low prices and no trees. We're going to have to shift. You're going to have to see something done about that. I made this speech in Congress don't think I convinced anybody yet. But somebody better get convinced. Listen to your friends were 15 years behind and reforestation in this country one know why because your governments over these past years haven't had the courage to put up the money to plant the trees. I don't make any difference to me. I'm not going to live that long. But your children and you will pay the price. We have no right to Rob another generation. That's what we've been doing. We are supposed to be stewards not thieves. We're supposed to be Builders not Destroyers. We're supposed to be sharers not takers. And that's what this institute is here to tell you. and their friends think about the world in which you live. Cuz in a world of constant want there is no. Peace. And it's Pope John 1 said the new name for pieces development. All over the world. There are hungry. Thank God we have revised our foreign aid program and John knows that I spent. 3 years of my life getting it done. So did 60% of everything we put into foreign assistance today is to help under undernourished people with better diets. Twin prove their little agriculture their primitive agriculture to help take care of themselves. And somebody's going to say about mr. Hump. It does not mean that we won't sell him anything. Not at all. We don't sell them anything now they're too poor. We have to give it to him. When we teach others how to help themselves and they become customers. More importantly, it's morally right. We need to wage a war in this country. We need to declare a war and we need to try that wore on Hunger. Because we have the technology. We have the tools. We have the know-how. We have the Heritage we have everything that we need to win that war. We can't do it alone with our production to be sure but we can set the guidelines we can set the standards and we have today the tools if we put them to work and your generation will help us get it done. To see to it that never again will a child go to bed crying from Hunger. That's what's needed. Last year this crazy mixed-up world of ours. This crazy mixed-up world of hours spent almost 700 billion dollars on armament. The total amount of foreign assistance to the poor in the impoverished in the entire world are in that same. Of time was 16 billion. 16 billion to help people lift themselves out of Filth and degradation and disease and hunger and malnutrition. Uber 787-800 billions of dollars Or instruments of Destruction that become obsolete even before they're produced. I beg of the young men of America in the young women of America. Look ahead. Think on the good things have faith in the future. Remember this country has produced incredible Miracles and it can do it again. Don't you listen to people tell you that our best days I've been live because they haven't. And don't you listen to people that tell you that there's no sense of purpose or dedication and public life because there is there's always a scoundrel to be found me sure. There's always someone that will cheat there's always someone ever cut the corners, but you do not judge. The church or the corporation or the university by the fact that one student cheated? Or a couple of professors didn't do their job. You judge it on its overall performance. And this great nation of ours has got a great record. I heard a leader of a country the other night say that Americans should be so proud. humbly proud and the question was for what? For being so generous. You've been generous and isn't it interesting the more generous if we've been and we've been very generous that better we've lived there's no part of the world that lives as well as we do. As we share somehow or another Divine Providence sees if we haven't to share again. Be of good faith. Put your trust and high goals and Noble principles. And have confidence in yourself. And go away from these institutes not as if it were just a week to be away from home. But a week of regeneration. coming alive a dedication and going back I'm saying I'm my time will come and I will lead and when you do you'll make a better world of its. Thank you very much. Minnesota senator Hubert Humphrey addressing the Minnesota rural youth Institute at their banquet at Southwest State University in Marshall last Thursday. Earlier in the program you heard. Dr. John wefald president of SSU agricultural consultant Rodger blough bomb Thomas H Wyman, president and chief executive officer of green giant Corporation, Minnesota 6th District Congressman, Richard Nolan and Father John McCrae executive director of the Catholic real life conference material for this program was recorded during the Minnesota Bureau youth Institute, which took place at Southwest State University of Marshall, August 8th through 12 tomorrow will conclude our coverage of highlights from the Royal youth Institute with excerpts from Talks by Minnesota 6th District Congressman Richard Nolan former Congressman John's walk Calvin Beal leader of the population studies group of the US Department of Agriculture, and dr. Charles rinard professor of physics at Southwest State University. Funds for the recording of this material were provided in part by the Northwestern Banks of Marshall and Slaton and by PPG Industries, and the program was produced for Minnesota Public Radio in the Worthington Studios of krsw by Vicky sturgeon and by Yours Truly Kim Hudson.