Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Opportunity For Farmers, Clayton K. Yeutter

Clayton K. Yeutter, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Papers

I am very pleased to be here in the Missouri Delta, among some of the people who are really making our farming decisions these days. I think one of the most effective economic decisions we have made recently was to turn farmers loose to manage their own farms, and to stop trying to manage them by long-distance from Washington. The wisdom of that decision is on display here in the Missouri Delta.

Improving A Harsh Climate, Clayton K. Yeutter

Clayton K. Yeutter, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Papers

America's livestock industries currently are facing a harsh climate. I refer not just to the weather problems that lowered feedstuffs production this year -- though the weather has certainly been bad enough. We started the year with drought in the Southwest that hit grain sorghum production and a good bit of feed wheat. Then the heavy rains delayed corn planting -- and the long, hot dry spell struck those late-planted crops and nearly finished some of them. Now we have had problems with early frost.

A Sense Of Pride, Clayton K. Yeutter

Clayton K. Yeutter, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Papers

It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning, and to congratulate you in person for the outstanding work that your Committees have done in the past 5 years. You have helped American farmers achieve remarkable economic progress. You have helped make a resounding success of the shift to a market-oriented farm policy. That success is bringing major benefits to American farmers, to American rural life, to consumers and taxpayers across the country and to people all over the world who are seeking better diets and a more rewarding existence.

Agricultural Policy In The Years Ahead, Clayton K. Yeutter

Clayton K. Yeutter, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Papers

The whole basis for U.S. agricultural policy is changing.

Agricultural policy in the years just behind us has been dominated by the technological revolution in agriculture. Beginning with the late 1920's, new technology that had a tremendous impact on productivity and employment began to enter farming. The gasoline tractor and hybrid corn were just a couple of the new developments that helped move farming out of the horsepowered era and into the nuclear ago.