The Presidency: 'Formidable! Formidable!

• Share

(2 of 2)

> Prepared to send to Congress a sugar-sweet farm bill that would give U.S. farmers a $100 million-a-year income boost. Under the measure, federal farm spending would fall by $200 million annually, but consumer prices of bread, bakery products, flour and rice would rise by an estimated $300 million, in effect, shifting part of the cost of the $3 billion-a-year farm program from the Government to the housewife. To accomplish this, Johnson proposes raising the support price for wheat grown for domestic use from $2 to $2.50 a bushel. Farmers who comply with acreage requirements would receive a $1.25-a-bushel support payment direct from the government, just as they do now. The remainder of the payment would be borne by flour millers, who currently pay the government a 750-a-bushel grinding fee and, under the new plan, would be charged $1.25 instead—and could be expected to pass on the cost hike to the consumer. Beyond that, the bill calls for extension of both the feed-grains and wool-stabilization programs with modifications, also a new rice-support program similar to that for wheat, and a cropland-retirement plan designed to remove 40,000,000 acres from production within five years.