he bids $0.50 per pound of lint and his bid was accepted, he would be paid $30,000. If he had another tract identified by a farm number of 100 acres and had an actual farm history proven yield of 400 pounds of cotton lint per acre for a total of 40,000 pounds of lint cotton and he bid $0.50 per pound and the bid was accepted, he would receive $20,000 to put the production from the tract into the soil and water reserve program. Once the total volume of each agricultural product that needs to be taken from the market to reduce supplies to equal or to be less than demand has been established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an allocation of the total amount of each agricultural product that needs to be enrolled can be calculated for each state, and then for each county within each state, based on historical production. Utilizing actual proven yields would provide USDA officials the best available data to calculate the volume of each agricultural commodity that needs to be removed from the market place so that supplies would not exceed demand. The volume of production could be reduced to a level that supply could be lower than demand. This would increase agricultural commodity prices, thereby reducing the dollar amount of subsidies that the U.S. Government would need to pay its farmers to be competitive in world markets. Historically, for each one percent of production produced below demand, the market price has increased by about three percent. The length of the contracts for the paid diverted production could be flexible to provide for a small increase in production each year to match the anticipated increase in demand that will occur as a result of the anticipated increase in population of the United States and its trading partners. Those farmers who enroll their production from specific tracts of land by farm number in the soil and water reserve program should be provided the opportunity to grow high residue crops, not to be grazed or harvested but to rebuild the humus in their soil, which will ultimately help restore many of the plant nutrients that have been mined from the soil. Farmers should be prohibited from utilizing ground water produced from under the enrolled acres on other land for agricultural production or for any other use. Another possible aid in preserving our nation's natural resource base is an investment tax credit for landowners to encourage them to invest in the best available state of the art technology to conserve their land and water resources. The wealth of our Nation comes from its natural resource base. Agricultural production historically has been its number one economic asset. Historically, food and fiber has been produced in America in such an abundance that the American public has always had more available than they needed or could pay for. This will not always be true, especially if we do not act now to conserve our natural resource base, including helping our farmers make a decent profit so that they can continue to produce the abundance of food and fiber that we have become so accustomed to enjoying. In 1896, William Jennings Bryan said, "Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up as if by magic; but destroy our farms, and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country." REVIEW OF FEDERAL FARM POLICY FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2000 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in the Agricenter International Amphitheater, Memphis, TN, Hon. Larry Combest (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Moran, Jenkins, Riley, Simpson, Stenholm, Berry and John. Also present: Representatives Bryant, Pickering, Tanner and Ford. Staff present: William E. O'Conner, Jr., staff director; Wanda Worsham, chief clerk; Alan Mackey, senior professional staff; Hunter Moorhead, legislative assistant; Pam Scott, legislative assistant; and Vernie Hubert, minority counsel. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LARRY COMBEST, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS The CHAIRMAN. We try, to the extent possible, to get these hearings started on time and we will certainly try to do that today. I want to thank you all for attending this hearing. This is the second of 10 hearings that the House Agriculture Committee is holding in different regions of the country. I want to thank everyone here for coming to this important event. We were in Lubbock, TX just 10 days ago, conducting our first field hearing, and I think the time we spent there was found to be quite profitable by both the members of the Committee and those in the audience. While the barbecue in Memphis today probably will not compare with that in Texas, I do think the time spent here will no less be valuable. I have the pleasure of introducing seven other Agriculture Committee members and four fellow Members of Congress who are with us this morning. I am Larry Combest, chairman of the committee, and I represent the High Plains of Texas. On my right, is my good friend and neighbor in Texas as well, Charlie Stenholm, who is the ranking member of the committee; Jerry Moran represents the western twothirds of the State of Kansas; Bill Jenkins is from the mountains of east Tennessee; Bob Riley represents the eastern part of Alabama; Mike Simpson represents the eastern and southern parts of Idaho; Marion Berry is from just across the river in northeast Ar kansas; and Chris John represents the parishes in southwest Louisiana. In addition to the members of the committee who are with us today, Chip Pickering is from east central Mississippi; Ed Bryant and John Tanner are from districts just to the east of Memphis in Tennessee and Harold Ford, we think will be joining us, actually who is representing Memphis and would be our host today. Today, we plan to hear about 20 people who have built their life around the industry of agriculture. We have sought to bring folks representing the different types of agriculture in this central region of the United States, and representing a variety of thoughts on issues facing our industry. It is my hope that everyone in this room can identify with at least one of our witnesses and I would certainly encourage anyone who would wish to submit additional written testimony to be made a part of this record can do so and we would readily accept that and that testimony will weigh equally as heavy as anyone who gives verbal testimony. I might mention to you that the audio portion of this hearing will be carried live over the House Agriculture Committee's internet site. We do that on every hearing that we have in Washington and are also carrying that into the field. I do not wish to speak long because I want to emphasize that we are here to listen to you. I do want to say that I think all of the members at this table know that we have problems in agriculture. What's more, we are all fundamentally of the same belief, that it is in the best interest of this nation to maintain and foster a diverse and strong agricultural sector for the future. So the question we want to answer today is how do we best do that. We want to find out what real producers think is working and what is not working in Federal farm policy. We will be going to all regions of this country asking these same questions with the hope that we can find a consensus among producers for farm policy changes that you need. Again, I would like to thank everyone who is here today for your participation and would like to recognize Mr. Stenholm for any comments he would want to make. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES W. STENHOLM, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS Mr. STENHOLM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I am delighted to be here in Memphis, look forward to hearing from the 20 witnesses today from this region of the country. As the chairman has stated, this is the second of 10 field hearings the full committee will be conducting for purposes of gaining input as to how we deal with the current short-term problems of agriculture, which are well known to everyone, but also to begin laying the framework for the committee as we look at the Y2K2 problem-where we go with the next farm bill and how we deal with all of the multitude of problems. So I look forward to hearing from the witnesses. I am very appreciative of the number of our colleagues from the committee and those off the committee, who by their attendance here today show their interest in the dilemmas of agriculture. With that, Mr. Chairman, I would yield back the balance of my time. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Moran. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF KANSAS Mr. MORAN. Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me to join this committee at this hearing. I think it is a very useful exercise for those of us on the Agriculture Committee as well as other Members of Congress to gain insight from farmers across the country. I come from wheat, cattle, and corn country and I am very much interested in learning about the agricultural pursuits of the folks in this area of the country and look forward to working with my colleagues from Tennessee and Arkansas and Louisiana and Mississippi, as we try to find solutions to bring some profitability back to production agricultural. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Berry. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARION BERRY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARKAN SAS Mr. BERRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for holding these hearings. I think it is absolutely essential, as you have already stated, that we hear from farmers, and that is of course why we are here today. Three of the people that will testify today-Gary Sebree, David Hillman and Jim Dupree, Gary Sebree and David Hillman and I grew up together. Jim Dupree has probably put in more time than anyone I know studying this issue and I am anxious to hear from all of them. I think one thing that is absolutely critical is that we, as a Federal Government recognize the national security interest of agriculture and how critical it is to the security of this country. We cannot possibly afford to allow this country to get in the shape with food that we are in with oil right now. So I again appreciate you having these hearings and look forward to hearing from the people that are going to present the testimony. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Jenkins. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM L. JENKINS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE Mr. JENKINS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me say again thanks for holding these hearings and thank you for coming to this location here in the State of Tennessee. I knew Congressman Ed Jones, both as a Congressman and as commissioner of agriculture in the State of Tennessee. This auditorium bears his name and he was a great contributor to agriculture across the United States of America. Thank you for getting this impressive list of witnesses that we are going to hear from. We are here in the western end of the State, we are pretty far removed from the eastern end that I represent, where tobacco is |