AGRICULTURE: The Heavy Overhang

Not for two decades had there been so much furor about the economic situation of U.S. farmers. There were recurring rumors that Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson might be forced out of the Cabinet; there were shouts for a return to the old, rigid, farm-price supports at 90% of parity. Some pundits even began to write about general "poverty" on U.S. farms.

In the midst of it all, Secretary Benson last week flew into the plains country, stopped to speak at a Farmers' Day program in Moorhead, Minn. (pop. 14,870), and then flew on to Denver. When he came out of President Eisenhower's hospital room after a 30-minute conference, reporters were ready to ask a pointed question: "Are you or are you not Mr. Secretary?"

They never got to ask it. Presidential Press Secretary James Hagerty began the proceedings by reading a statement that placed Dwight Eisenhower squarely behind Benson. Said Ike: "No problem on the domestic front is more demanding of our understanding and best ideas. Still caught under the grinding pressure of price-depressing surpluses, farmers today are not getting a return for their work in line with that enjoyed by other segments of our population. The Secretary and I reviewed what has been done in the past three years. That has been sound. But farm policy is never a completed task . . . I was greatly encouraged to learn from the Secretary the several new steps he is exploring for strengthening and broadening the present program . . . I shall submit my farm recommendations to the Congress in a special message early in January."

Sliding from the Peak. Behind the swirling clouds of political dust that surrounded the farm situation, it was possible to locate and nail down some solid economic facts. Pieced together, they produced a picture of U.S. agriculture that bore little resemblance to the scene of despair conjured up amid cries of havoc.

Although national farm income has been dropping, U.S. farmers—as of fall. 1955—are still generally prosperous. Farmland values have increased 5% in the past year and show no signs of slump. Farm debts are at record-low levels; seven out of ten farms are free of mortgage; the ratio of debts to assets is only 11%, compared to 19% in 1940. Viewing that part of the picture last week, Ezra Benson could say with a clear Mormon conscience: "The facts are that American agriculture is in sound financial condition."

What has been happening to the farmer is a painful but not yet critical adjustment from a decade in which a voracious, war-stimulated world appetite demanded all the food that the U.S. could produce at whatever price the buyer had to pay. Since 1951, when war demand pushed farm income close to its alltime peak, gross farm income in the U.S. has dropped 11%. Because the cost of what the farmers buy has gone up in that period, they have been caught in a squeeze that has pushed net farm income down 27%. But another factor has tended to ease the blow. As a result of technological improvements on the farms and increased job opportunities in cities, farm population has decreased. Consequently, the per capita net income on the farm has been held to a 7% drop since 1951. It is actually 11% higher today than the average of 1947 through 1950.