THE PLIGHT OF OUR FARMERS

A 14-member joint House-Senate committee of the General Assembly has made a series of recommendations to try to address the troubles plaguing Missouri's small, independent agricultural producers. The Joint Interim Committee on Small Farms and Value-Added Agriculture programs released a report containing 17 recommendations ranging from direct subsidies for fuel-ethanol plants to tax incentives and low-interest loans.

It is by no means certain, even were all 17 recommendations to be adopted, whether they would have much impact. Most proposals, as if recognizing the limits of state government's ability to affect the course of events, tinker at the margins.

Certainly the problem is real. Farmers and ranchers are suffering through historically low commodity and livestock prices as a bout of severe deflation has hit American agriculture. The pork industry is of greatest concern. Prices for hogs to slaughter have fallen to 7 cents a pound, while the cost of producing hogs is about 40 cents a pound. Our agricultural producers are among the first to feel the so-called Asian flu: the whole gamut of economic troubles plaguing our trading partners in the Far East. Add to this the challenge represented by increased corporate competition, and small agricultural producers are pressed almost as never before.

The blunt truth is that there isn't much state government can do to alleviate the plight of agricultural producers suffering through the latest round of depressed prices. As the committee's members indicated, most of whatever answer government can supply will have to come from the federal level. And that should take the form of redoubled efforts to promote American exports and open foreign markets, rather than still more spending boondoggles. It is nonetheless good for state lawmakers to be paying as much attention as they can to the problems faced by agribusiness in our state.