wfn.org | GAC Directs Letter to the President on Crisis Facing Family Farmers

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19-February-1999 
99075 
 
    GAC Directs Letter to the President 
    on Crisis Facing Family Farmers 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Throughout American history, the family farm has been the 
nation's cornerstone. Today, however, many rural families are facing 
financial ruin. 
 
    The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has hundreds of congregations 
serving rural areas, is planning to call attention to the worsening crisis 
by directing letters to President Bill Clinton and Secretary of Agriculture 
Dan Glickman. 
 
    The General Assembly Council (GAC) approved a recommendation during its 
recent winter meeting here that the church's Stated Clerk, the Rev. Clifton 
Kirkpatrick, correspond with Clinton and Glickman on the farm crisis as 
soon as possible. The Office of General Assembly said Kirkpatrick will be 
happy to comply. 
 
    "This will bring attention to the current plight of family farmers, and 
advocate and support legislation that will provide just compensation to 
family farmers so that they, too, might enjoy a safe, healthy and abundant 
life," said Donetta Wickstrom, vice chair of the National Ministries 
Division (NMD) Committee, which made the recommendation as part of its 
report Feb. 12. 
 
    Kirkpatrick was also asked to issue a statement on the crisis on behalf 
of the PC(USA). 
 
    The GAC also urged the denomination's Office of Communications to help 
keep church members well-informed about the crisis. 
 
    "Today the continuing existence of the family farm is in question 
because of an escalating economic crisis that exists in many rural 
communities throughout this nation," Kirkpatrick said in his letter. 
 
    All these measures originated in the seven-member Rural Ministry 
Advisory Committee of the National Ministries Division, which claims that 
large multibillion-dollar conglomerates are manipulating agricultural 
markets by undercutting prices for certain goods, to the financial 
detriment of the ordinary farmer. 
 
    Advisory committee members are elected by the General Assembly and are 
individuals involved in rural ministry on a daily basis. The members are 
accountable to the National Ministries Division and have been studying the 
rural crisis with Kirkpatrick for several months. 
 
    Farmers understand and accept the risks inherent to their business and 
are asking only to compete on a level playing field against these 
agribusinesses, said Fred Brust, chair of the Rural Ministry Advisory 
Committee, a grain farmer from Union Mills, Ind. 
 
    "The big conglomerate producers can produce even when they are losing 
money," he said "They can take some of that hit and make it up on the 
retail end or the wholesale end." 
 
    In recent decades, low prices have had a negative economic impact on 
producers of many farm products, including corn, oats, wheat, beans and 
cattle, according to the advisory committee's report. Damage in one market 
can create a chain reaction that drives down demand and prices in other 
markets. 
 
    Brust said an oversupply of hogs is adding fuel to the rural crisis now 
by driving pork prices down and weakening demand for other products, such 
as grain. 
 
    Declining foreign markets are also contributing to the U.S. crisis at a 
time when much of the American economy is prospering, the committee noted. 
 
    "Hopefully the church can be on the cutting edge of lifting up this 
issue to the whole church," said Diana Stephen, associate for rural 
ministry with NMD's Evangelism and Church Development Program Area. "We're 
all affected by this, whether if we live in urban areas or suburban areas, 
because the production of all the food we consume begins on the farm." 
 
    The advisory committee said farmers throughout the Midwest have 
gathered at public forums to share stories of their own attempts to deal 
with catastrophically low prices. 
 
    During one such gathering last December in Sioux Falls, S.D., more than 
700 producers shared their stories, including one young farmer who said his 
was the sixth generation on his family farm, but he doubted there would be 
a seventh. 
 
    Agriculturally prosperous North Dakota anticipates negative growth in 
1999, the committee said, while South Dakota officials predict a weak year 
for revenue generated from a sales tax. 
 
    The Rural Ministry Advisory Committee urged public officials to call 
attention to the current plight of farmers and to support legislation that 
would provide "just compensation" to family farmers. 
 
    The committee also urged all PC(USA) congregations - urban and rural 
alike - to: 
 
     * Pray for farmers and their families, who produce our abundant and 
inexpensive food supply; 
     * Be informed about the challenges faced by family farmers today; 
     * Provide a "safe place," in churches and communities, for discussion 
of these issues; and, 
     * Support the development and implementation of policies, in church, 
government and marketplace, that will strengthen family farmers. 

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