Submitted February 3, 2010 to The Washington Post

Readers Have the Right to Know the Truth About Agriculture

Dear Editor:

Your obsession against agriculture aside ('Agri-hypocrites' attack Obama's cuts in aid to farmers), readers are owed greater balance.

Readers concerned about deficits should know cuts to farm policy would not save taxpayers a dime since the savings would be funneled into government programs, as they were over a year ago.

Readers should know that farm policy constitutes less than 0.25% of the budget and 16% of the agriculture budget. If farm policy was eliminated, it would take the savings 100 years to pay off this year's deficit.

Readers should also know that, according to economists, farm and ranch families are profoundly important to our economy and balance of trade. Yet, proposed cuts would undermine long-term investment needed to create jobs and compete against countries like China in a global market dominated by the same foreign subsidies and tariffs that stole our manufacturing.

Finally, your gratuitous attacks aside, the people who borrow more money every year than most Americans borrow in a lifetime to feed and clothe our nation in a manner unrivaled in history deserve stable policy from Washington and a modicum of respect from its newspaper of record. So do lawmakers with views different from the Post's.

Sincerely,

Steve Verett
Executive Vice President
Plains Cotton Growers Inc.
Lubbock Texas 79423
806-745-1107 (H)
806-773-0710 (C)
sverett@suddenlink.net

DeVonna Zeug
President
Minnesota Corn Growers Association
16640 - 220th St
Walnut Grove, MN 56180
507-747-2100 (H)
507-828-7188 (C)
tdzeug@means.net