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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 1995)
Farmers form united front against bill LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)—About 300 fanners confronted U.S. Agricul ture Secretary Dan Glickman and a panel of other civic leaders Sunday in what may be the final public forum on a controversial Farm Bill that would reduce spending for family farms. “We’re tryingto do something here that doesn’t happen enough in Wash ington,” said Carolyn Mugar, the ex ecutive director of Farm Aid. “We’re going to listen to the real experts—the family farmers and not those agri-business lobbyists who are more interested in fingering dollars than dirt,” she said. L>asl ween, uie ocimic /\gi itunuiai Committee approved more than $ 13.4 billion in spending cuts from farm programs over the next seven years. Congress must now choose between two tracks for cutting spending and changing farm policy that has been in place since the Great Depression. Farmers from California, Georgia, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska were among the group assembling a few hours before Farm Aid’s lOth-anni versary concert was to begin in nearby Cardinal Stadium. i In addition to Glickman, the panel included U.S. Rep. Mike Ward, D Ky., Kentucky Agriculture Commis sioner Ed Logsdon, poet and author Wendell Berry, along with represen tatives from various agricultural groups. Farmers formed a united front at the forum in opposing the government action they felt would concede their land and livelihoods to agricultural big businesses. Represented interests ranged from agricultural education to race in agri culture to protecting the environment. But the basic message echoed by every agricultural interest group seemed to be the same: protect small, family-owned farms from corporate agri-business. “Many farmers feel it’s not how big you are, but how well you get the job done,” said Sue Weant, a repre sentative from Mothers and Others, a consumer education group. “The consumers must pay farmers enough so they can keep their farms, so in years to come, children won’t think that broccoli comes from the frozen-food aisle at the grocery,” she said, “or that chicken is something you find in styrofoam, wrapped in plastic.” The owners of those family farms agree. “(Corporate interests) are destroy ing our industries socially, environ mentally and economically,” said Roger Allison, a Kansas farmer and representative of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment. “This industrialization is not about efficiency or quality,” he said, “it’s about huge amounts of capital in con trol of the marketplace who are un fairly forcing country farmers out .of business.” G1 ickman answered the farmers by saying the national trend was moving away from agriculture. America has largely become an urban society and, as a result, mostly urban interests are represented in Washington, he said. “We are fighting to resist farm policy that will wreak havoc on rural America,” Glickman said. “But all of this is going into a budget reconcilia tion bill, which is going to have hun dreds and hundreds of other kinds of programs. That makes it extraordinar ily difficult to deal with farm policy, which deserves special attention. “We are fighting to resist farm policy that will wreak havoc on rural America. ” DAN GLICKMAN U.S. Agriculture Secretary “I don’t know what that means down the road,” he said, “but it’s dif ficult with a Congress that wants ex traordinary changes in such a short period of time.” With more than 50 voices heard throughout the forum, it was one young girl who put a human face on the farmers’ plight. Katie Godfrey, 10, said she lives near a newly industrialized hog farm in Powersville, Mo. She read a poem about the stench given off by the farm and the waste material polluting a stream near her rural home. Godfrey received a standing ova tion — the loudest of the forum — when she finished reading. “I know you maybe don’t think this affects kids,” Godfrey said directly to Glickman. “But it does.” Get a terrific FREE gift when you open any personal checking account at FirsHer. We have seven smart checking plans to meet your needs, including our popular No Service Charge Personal Checking Account. Keep a low $100 minimum balance, and there are: • No monthly service fees • No per check charges • No limit on the number of checks you write! And for 24-hour access to your money, every FirsTier checking account comes with a FirsTier Teller ATM card. With FirsTier Account Line, you can do your banking from any phone, seven days a week, and your satisfaction is guaranteed in writing. FirsTier Student VISA® Card A credit card with no annual fee. 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Beadle Center for Genetics and Biomaterial Research. The facility will be home to researchers studying and modifying proteins. Ann Smith said her husband wanted to improve the quality of life for oth ers, and that motivated him to become active in food technology research. “My husband wanted to help solve the hunger problem of the world by conductingprotein research,” she said. Smith earned his bachelor’s de gree in agricultural economics from the University of Nebraska in 1940. He became internationally famous as a pioneer in the food processing field. Irv Omtvedt, vice chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natu ral Resources, said in a statement that the Smith Research Facility offered new opportunities for the university and its students. It will allow researchers to address problems that dramatically affect the agricultural and food industries, Omtvedt said. “With Smith’s assistance and gen erosity, the future of food processing, food technology and protein research looks promising as the University of Nebraska continues to search for new knowledge,” he said. Engineers manufacture guardrail From Staff Reports UNL engineers and a Texas steel company have developed a new type . of guardrail designed to reduce inju ries. Beam Eating Steel Technology (BEST) was one of four guardrail ter minals recently approved for use on high-speed roads, said Dean Sickiag, director of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the College of Engi neering and Technology. Sicking said the system was reus able, making the price competitive and one of the safest for interstates. Upon impact, the BEST rail will capture the front of the car, dissipate the energy of the impact and bring the car to a stop. Earlier guardrails, de- - signed to stop the car, resulted in a high number of injuries and deaths, he said. Nebraska recently stopped using the old guardrails and is considering the BEST system for the interstates. The system already is used in Texas. The University of Nebraska-Lin coln worked withinterstate Steel Cor poration of Big Springs, Texas, to develop th& BEST system. Sicking said researchers tested the system in a full-scale vehicle crash testing facility at the Lincoln Munici pal Airport. UNL has applied for a patent on the system. Once the patent is granted, Sicking said, the university will re ceive royalties from the sale of the system. “We hope that a significant amount will be used to enhance our research program,” Sicking said. “I expect that will happen.”
