Statement About Agriculture and the Economy

THERE are few occasions which reflect the strength and spirit of America more impressively than a great State fair in our Nation's agricultural heartland. In 1952, I had the pleasure of visiting the Illinois State Fair in Springfield--and I am happy for this opportunity to come back this year.

I am especially glad to be making this visit at a time when our Nation is giving new attention to the economic challenges it faces around the world. For in meeting those challenges, one of our greatest strengths is the productivity of American agriculture--a quality which is most impressively displayed at this great celebration.

The new economic policies I announced on Sunday were designed to provide new jobs, to provide increased purchasing power, and to curb the rise in the cost of living here at home, and also to improve America's position in world trade. Our agricultural exports are extremely important not only to the prosperity of America's farmers but also to our efforts to maintain and improve the Nation's trading position.

Only a few years ago farm exports were dropping. In the last fiscal year, however, they reached the $7.8 billion level, an all-time record high. To mention just one example, exports of soybeans---of which Illinois is the country's number one producer-have climbed 45 percent in the last 2 years; $1.9 billion of our $3 billion soybean crop now goes into exports. What is more, we intend to see that these and other agricultural export figures go on rising in the months and years ahead. In this and many other ways, we will be working constantly to increase the prosperity of the American farmer, to enhance the quality of rural life, and to give the farmer the better break he deserves.

Here I would underscore again our determination to call a halt to the relentless rise in the cost of living and--what is of special importance to the farmer--the cost of doing business. America's farmers know, perhaps better than anyone else, the devastating effects of the cost-price squeeze that has dogged our economy since the early Vietnam years. Again and again as I have talked with farm families across this country, they have emphasized one overriding need--the need to put a lid on prices: prices of equipment, of seed, and of fertilizer for the farmer, and prices of every item in the household budget for his wife. Inflation has penalized the farmer coming and going. We mean to lift that penalty, and to replace it with a new prosperity that will reward him coming and going.

In both an economic and a spiritual sense, the pride and the energy of rural America have provided a firm foundation for our national strength since our country's earliest days. Now, as we enter a new era of testing, we will again be relying heavily on the skill and the resourcefulness of America's farmers.

No other segment of America's economy can match the rise in productivity of American agriculture during recent years. I am confident that American farmers and American agriculture will continue their remarkable performance in the months and years ahead--and will continue to set an example for our Nation. That is one important reason why I am confident that our country will continue to hold its place as the economic leader of the world.