 It is a great pleasure for us to welcome you once again to the State of Missouri. You'll see gathered in this room many of the agricultural leaders in Missouri, representing the Governor's Advisory Council, various agricultural associations, colleges and universities, and the Missouri General Assembly, as well as individual farmers and agribusiness people. I know they share my sincere pleasure in being able to meet with you today. We are grateful for your interest in listening to our concerns for agriculture, which is the very backbone of Missouri's economy. Your concern, sir, is apparent. Your visit today climaxes the continued attention your administration has paid to Missouri agriculture. Within the past year, both Vice President Bush and Agriculture Secretary Block have come to Missouri to meet with our farmers. And we thank you most sincerely. I know you've instructed that you want to do all things to tell you. We have major concerns for agriculture in Missouri, which we do want to share, with many farmers are experiencing extreme economic hardship. While much of the problem is due to adverse weather conditions, as we discussed coming in, over which we have no control and no government has control, equally adverse interest rates have done federal deficit and helped bring interest rates under control, and two, to adopt a farm program that emphasizes increase. Well, OK, thank you, Governor Bond. Before we get started, I want you to know how pleased I am to get a chance to meet with all of you here in Missouri. I know the Vice President, as Kit told us, has met some of you on the Governor's Advisory Council on Agriculture in Columbia last April. And I won't get to see the university on this trip, but I'm delighted to be here at the State Fair. Being a farmer has been anything but easy in these last several years. From our first day in office, we've been trying to help the farm community recover from past policy mistakes, economic difficulties, and I think we have turned a corner. But the task of writing up a new farm bill from 1985 before us, we're looking to get American farmers and agribusiness leaders' thoughts and ideas on the issues that we'll be addressing. Jack Block has already been holding listening sessions in Chicago, Riverside, Atlanta, Syracuse, and Dallas. Plans to hold another on September 6th in Davenport, Iowa. He would have been with me here today, except there's something going on in Dallas. And he's gone down there. But he's heard from over 200 farmers, ranchers, and agribusiness representatives from all over the country. And he's received over 1,000 pages of written testimony. We think this input from those who know the farm business inside out and whose lives are most affected by farm legislation will make our new farm bill the best that we've ever had. And now I'm going to turn the program over to your director of agriculture, Jim Boyle. And I'll listen. Well, thank you, Mr. President. You know, we've been here for a few minutes and have kind of suggested some guidelines that we were each one going to try to make some very brief statements to you that would let you understand Missouri agriculture and its impact. Now, I'm going to ask these fellows and ladies and fellows, and if you will, we've got a lot of farm wives here, too. They're a very integral part of our farming operations. Before you is a group that covers the whole of Missouri agriculture, agribusiness, and agri-industry. It's rural Missouri at its best. And now the mics will open. Let's begin. And who's going to be number one? Mr. President, this is Dick Johnson. I'm going to ask each person to identify themselves. Dick Johnson from the Farm Bureau. Yes, I'm Dick Johnson, President of the Missouri Farm Bureau. Mr. President, last week, the Congress passed legislation authorizing an export commission. And we as farmers for many years have felt that the State Department, the Office of Management Budget, some of these other branches of government weren't really interested in exports as much as farmers. And we'd like you to sign this legislation and help us get an export commission that we can attack this problem, which is so vital to us. Thank you. Don Fisher? Mr. President, what a great day to have you to Missouri and to get to speak with you. I'm Don Fisher. I'm a farmer here in Missouri. I'm a director of Missouri Farm Bureau and chairman of the State Soil and Water Commission. And I would just like to briefly tell you that you're aware that Missouri is the second worst state for soil erosion in the United States. And Missouri has seen fit in the past two and a half years to do something about our problem. We recognize that we have the problem. We've had the bond issue that Governor Bond had two and a half years ago, and we've received money from this. And on August the 7th, the voters of Missouri voted 1 tenth of a cent sales tax, which we receive half of. But what I want to tell you also is that that is not enough money to handle the soil erosion that we have in this state of agriculture. We feel like he's done a fine job for us. And we really appreciate him. We also think that he needs to be congratulated on his fine choice in Peter Maher from Missouri as our SCS chief. Thank you, Mr. President. Joe Sonalmosier. Our agricultural products have been forced to buy elsewhere because of the high value of the dollar. Mr. Boyle has encouraged our state to looking to exporting more of a finished product rather than just the raw materials. I think if we could put more emphasis in this area, this would take some. I think the problem that all of us face now is the high dollar, which is curbing our exports, principles off to their banks. And I'm sure you're going to be doing something on this. And we sure thank you for coming to Missouri. It's been great having you. Thank you, Nick. Ken Christian. Mr. President, I'm Ken Christian from St. Joseph. I'm president of Missouri Forest Products. Can help themselves in their own commodity group. And as you've heard today, the farm situation is getting very bad. And I think that those of us in each individual commodity group has the knowledge to work with our own product and to maybe work with it and kind of maybe keep it out of the politician's laps and let people know something about the product. We as farmers just need the opportunity to make a living. We don't want someone there constantly bail us out. And if we have that opportunity, I think we can do quite well. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Tom. Norwood Crescent. Mr. President, I'm Norwood Crescent Bramer, chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Missouri House of Representatives. And as you can see from what you've heard here, that there's a lot of Missouri farmers who are in trouble. In my area, we've plagued with floods. Our levees broke with anybody in the time that our schedule is drawn to a close. Oh, dear. You can't take it anymore at all. Well, Roger Mitchell, we'll stretch it a little bit. We might. Let's do it. The man said we ought to stretch it just for you. And I appreciate his judgment. At least one of those farm-wise. Mr. President, I'm very proud to be there. I would very much like to hear from one of those farm-wise is what you said aside to me right behind the d- Preserve the- Thank you. Let me just say here, I'm sorry that we've run out of time in hearing these. And as you've seen, I've been making a few notes up here. We intend to have and are going to have a very comprehensive approach to this whole thing but now that we're coming to the time for a new farm program. And I told you of what Jack Block has been doing, the other information that he's been gathering, and I can assure you that all of these matters are going to be very much in our minds as we try to find an answer to this. The one question there with regard to the deficit. Believe me, I've been making speeches out in the Mashed Potato Circuit for years about deficit spending. It was a regular part of government policy over the last 50 years. Now all of a sudden, it isn't a part of government policy, it's mine. And I'm responsible. But we recognize the threat in those and we are embarked on a program. We believe that as this economic recovery continues, I am optimistic about what we're going to see in that regard and the increased position government revenues and so forth. I want you to know in spite of all the things that you've heard where someone has said that a tax increase is the first resort, tax increases in my book will always be a last resort. We have no plans for a tax increase. We are going to continue along the lines that we have and trying to get further government reductions in spending. We don't think that we have begun to get eliminated all the fat that is in government. Now I know that some people on the other side say, well, what would you eliminate if in the line of spending? Well, I think that's an argument they've been using for again about 50 years to justify their spending. My approach to it is how do we get government programs administered more efficiently and more economically and with less overhead and still fill the government's responsibility. Right now we have before us 2,478 specific recommendations by the Grace Commission. Peter Grace headed up a group to do something that we did in California and we had 2,000 leaders from every activity volunteer to help in that. And that is the result. These recommendations, we have a task force working virtually around the clock on this to we've already been able to implement some that we can just simply do administratively. Many will take legislation. But to see what of these, we don't say that all of them are going to turn out to be things that are practical, but to see how much we can implement these and as I say, the goal is to get rid of the inefficiencies and the uneconomic things that government is doing. You've spoken on a number of things that I've had some familiarity with myself, soil erosion, so forth. All of these, as I say, are going to get our best thinking on how we approach the new farm program. And there aren't any of us that are not aware of the basic importance of agriculture. It is the very basis of an economy, any place. And the remarks about a subsidized competition, believe me, we have been leaning on our friends from abroad quite heavily on this very matter and even have taken advantage of some opportunities like one with regard to flour in Egypt recently that to show them that we weren't going to stand back and let this go on. We believe in free trade, but we believe in fair trade and we're going to keep on. I think we have a friend in Japan that is doing everything he can to meet some of our problems there with regard to a farm marketing in Japan. Like the president, he can't just issue an order. He's got a legislature too. But I think we are making some headway here. And I do know of the seriousness of your problems, not only from nature in the last few years, but the seriousness of the economic problems. The one of the problems, we're all very proud of the fact and I think it's a great advantage that we've been able to reduce inflation. But in the other hand, when you had runaway inflation over the long period of time that you had, you had an economy that became geared to a continuing inflation. And the come down from that has difficulties as well just as you have spoken here with regard to appreciating land values once inflation has gone under the downward trend. But we're gonna keep on staying ahead of that and as to interest rates, I think there's been some indication just recently that the long term notes there has begun to be a certain slide. I have said before and I'll say again, I think the only justification for the high interest rates right now is the inability out in the money markets and the business community to believe that we really have gotten a handle on inflation. They're looking over their shoulder and they're charging interest rates accordingly. And maybe the market recently is an indication that they're beginning to become true believers. But we're not going to resort to a quick fix and try to get back to the old fashioned way that we've had over the seven or eight recessions since World War II of an artificial stimulant to try and end the so-called recessions and all they did was bring on another inflation or another recession a few years later that was worse than the one before. This time I think we're on the way to a real recovery and a solid expansion. And you've got to be able to share in that too and we're gonna do our utmost to see that you do. Now I know that I'm holding you up from that sale of champions that's already underway over there in the Coliseum and believe me all these things that I've heard here will be acud upon it. Thank you very much. ... All in, all done. Solding $3,000 on them. The buyer please.