The Nation: Plowshares into Swords

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Facing such prospects and resentful of the seeming indifference of the rest of the country, farmers are understandably in the mood to beat their plowshares into swords. Talk of a farm strike began last July as grain elevators filled to capacity; excess wheat spilled into the main streets of rural towns and prices began to slide seriously. Disgruntled farmers staged impromptu demonstrations. In Clarkfield, Minn., a tractor caravan of 500 farmers spearheaded a protest. Jon Wefald, a former Minnesota agriculture commissioner, urged the protesters: "Do like the sheiks did with the oil. One day they sat down and said: 'It's all over, boys. We're going to start charging you.' I'm waiting for you to do the same thing."

In mid-September dissenters met in Springfield, Colo., to launch a new national organization called American Agriculture. Ten days later, 2,000 farmers from 19 states gathered in Pueblo, Colo. When Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland came to address the group, some farmers greeted him with boos and catcalls. The farmers told Bergland they were supplying food for a nation that either did not understand their problems or did not give a hoot about them. They demanded that the Federal Government boost price supports to 100% parity, a figure based on the prices that farmers received in the relatively prosperous period from 1910 to 1914. Calculated in today's terms, such price supports would boost wheat to a whopping $5 per bu., a figure that would outrage consumers and spur inflation.

Bergland is sidestepping the parity issue. He argues that the new farm bill, signed into law in September, will benefit farmers more than they think. It raised price supports for corn from $1.75 per bu. to $2, and the target price of wheat from $2.47 to $3. Both programs distribute money to farmers when prices fall below certain levels. In November $1 billion in Government checks will begin going out to wheat growers for their summer crop. When that happens, Bergland believes, the farm heat may simmer down.

Farmers do not agree. They argue that the extra subsidies will still not fulfill Jimmy Carter's campaign pledge to cover their production costs. So far, American Agriculture, operating out of a small one-story building in Springfield, has spent a modest $20,000, raised from farmers' donations, to print leaflets, make telephone calls and send out proselytizers. "You can't believe the response," says Dan Yokum, a Colorado farmer who helps man the phones in the organization's headquarters. Argues Bud Bitner: "This thing is cooking all over the U.S."

Farmers' wives have also joined the action. Michigan-based American Agri-Women, representing some 12,000 farm women, dispenses information, delivers pep talks, and lobbies state legislatures and occasionally the U.S. Congress.