Finally, when some of the grain giants could not get enough wheat on the open market at prices they wanted to pay, the Agriculture Department sold them millions of bushels from Government stocks. 76-709. Help us continue to bring you the best of the archives without the dust! The program that Butz inherited worked like this: When farmers began to produce too much and prices began to fall, the government would pay farmers to leave some land fallow, with the goal of pushing prices up the following season. 2027, 36 L.Ed.2d 912 (1973). At height of the so-called Green Revolution and firmly in the Cold War mindset, he was referring to the American policy of fighting famine worldwide to defend against political unrest and the spread of communism. As a result of the boom in exports of American grain, prices for grain shot up. 0000063920 00000 n [4] In 1968, he also ran for Governor of Indiana, but came in a distant third at the Republican state convention to eventual winner Edgar Whitcomb and future governor Otis R. Bowen. Earl Butz stayed on as Secretary of Agriculture after Nixon was impeached and engineered legislation sharply reducing federal subsidies for farmers. The changes implemented since the eighteenth century exemplify the need to reform policy in accordance with domestic and international circumstances. Philpott describes farm policy from the 1930s until Butz as a sort of Nirvana for both farmers and consumers, as it paid farmers not to farm and kept corn prices high. Argued Nov. 7, 1977. . D. in agricultural economics (1937) from Purdue University. He left both of the aforementioned posts in 1957, when he became the Dean of Agriculture at his alma mater, Purdue University. ), The feisty Earl Butz is now being drawn into Presidentialcampaign warfate as he was in 1972, when ??? At his death, Butz was the oldest living former Cabinet member from any administration.[30][31]. 2023 U.S. History Scene, all rights reserved. Reader support helps sustain our work. Meanwhile, interest rates had spiked, making all of those loans farmers had taken out in the 70s into a paralyzing burden. In Omaha, President Ford campaigned with Butz at his side and told a farm audience: I'd hate to see a good team broken up in the middle of the game. Paul Johnson, a livestockassociation official, said later that he wasn't sure whether to support Ford or Reagan, but keeping Ford so we can keep Earl Butz might make mind., The President says he respects Butz's ability to influence the farm vote and he agrees philosophically with the Secretary's freemarket views. There are those who regard him as the leader of the Great American Farm Revolution, those who regard him as Gerald Ford's greatest political asset, and there are political experts who can't decide whether Jimmy Carter is being smart or being dumb when he says he would dump Butz if he were elected President. [26][27], On May 22, 1981, Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges for having under-reported income he earned in 1978. A side goal was to go easy on the land. It gives farmers access to consistent income. No. "[11] A spokesman for Cardinal Cooke of the New York archdiocese demanded an apology, and the White House[11] requested that he apologize. This led to the domination of the bigger farms over the smaller farms . " I understood public relations and always maintained a high profile. 0000058905 00000 n The obituaries for Earl Butz who went to his reward Feb. 2 at the enviable age of 98all note that he will be remembered less for his accomplishments as Agriculture secretary under Presidents. Butz attempted to end. 0000043106 00000 n Later, as technological innovations increased crop yields and international demand declined, policy curtailed production to regulate supply and demand. 0000018904 00000 n 0000071573 00000 n 0000029423 00000 n 0000058450 00000 n l6 =w)[PXrYq4VWDmlM_8oCH^IKd}$!s( xp}@_o1PxuROpy4.t8z|Pe+oX,*Db30L.G+Q/KA^3xG=fa=b$D=f50;u+nYc%d!EEslOYK]ZEPURlWHwIM And the best way to become a Senator is to get on TV and demagogue the food issue.. Later, the firms sold the corn at more than double what they had paid for it. Butz's motto became "get big or get out," encouraging the growth of corporate factory-farms and increasing subsidised production of staples for export. Agricultural policy has supported Americas greatest triumphs. The move worked dramatically. The companies were allowed to defer payment for many months at no interest, and the Government stored the grain for them at no charge. That was true in the Soviet Union, as well. 0000009377 00000 n What did Ian and Curtis purchase to inject into the soil? All but 30 days of the term were suspended. 0000009453 00000 n He envisioned a hyper-efficient, centralized food system, one that could profitably and cheaply feed the world by manipulating (or adding value to) mountains of Midwestern corn and soy. 0000017516 00000 n 0000069351 00000 n Yet the criticism that Butz favors big agribusiness continues unabated. Eighteenth and nineteenth territorial expansion had tragic consequences for displaced Native American populations, and many still face the ramifications of mass removal. 0000011491 00000 n 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 0000046462 00000 n Farm costs, per unit of production, then would rise. Expansion efforts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries resulted in western migration that led to agricultural prosperity in rural areas. 2. BY TAKA YAMAGUCHI In 1976, then-U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz coined the now infamous phrase, "food is a weapon.". To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Providing a grand example of how his vision might work, Butz engineered a massive grain sale to the Soviets in 1972. Increased production contributed to deforestation, higher emissions of greenhouse gases, and a greater need for fertilizer and pesticides that contaminated water sources and accumulated in the food chain. Farm income stayed high for most of the decade. 0000055617 00000 n Subsidized foods became less expensive, yet were higher in energy than unsubsidized crops such as fruits and vegetables, so Americans were financially inclined to purchase them. fanners were told: Reelect Nixon or Lose Your Butz. But it remains to he seen hew much help he can he. He was featured in the documentary King Corn, recognized as the person who started the rise of corn production, large commercial farms, and the abundance of corn in American diets. You Are What You Grow.. 0000029636 00000 n 10Despite a surplus of agricultural commodities, farmers increased production to compensate for low prices, worsening the imbalance of supply and demand and further devaluing their crops. Butz, who once called Richard Nixon one of the greatest Americans of this century. now says he has very good rapport with Gerald Ford. As usual, the country dealers and farmers of Iowa got the short end of the stick, says former Iowa Senator Harold Hughes. With his closely cropped gray hair and self-assured drawl, Earl Butz was the spitting image of a Southern patrician. 0000029154 00000 n 0000071753 00000 n 13Three years later, as grain prices dropped to an all-time low, the Federal Farm Board declared, its efforts to stem the disastrous decline of farm prices had failed, and called for legislation to provide an effective system for regulating acreage or quantities sold, or both, ending the American tradition of agricultural expansion. No, I try not to be a negative thinker. In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed him the 18th US. 0000048619 00000 n http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0297_0001_ZS.html, Markham, Jerry W.. New Economic Policy and New York City. In, Levine, Susan. The Butz farm policy is one that involves risk. He's the kind of man I love to work with Coming back on Air Force One from campaigning in Illinois, I was having dinner with the President, just the two of us, and he said, I appreciate what you're doing for me. I said, Look, I'm not doing this for you I'm doing this for America. As their desperation grew, farmers failed to practice sustainable farming methods, which exasperated the Dust Bowl. Butz resigned within days, saying that "the use of a bad racial commentary in no way reflects my real attitude." Earl Lauer Butz was born on a farm near Albion, Ind., on July 3, 1909, and grew up guiding horse-drawn plows. The Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (P.L. But the ag policies of the day encouraged restraint. 0000049389 00000 n 0000067244 00000 n 0000068943 00000 n 0000055830 00000 n The United States now has commitments to supply about 25 million tons a year to the Soviet Union, Poland, Rumania, Japan and Israel. Butz, who lived in West Lafayette, Ind., was 98. I think many educated consumers understand that most farmers often do very poorly financially and have only a small return on their investment. She points to the Secretary's recent creation of an eightmember Agriculture Department advisory committee to evaluate regulaLions affecting the food industry. ), To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. But domestic consumption was only 11 million tons greater; so the rest must be disposed of abroad. 0000049770 00000 n But Butz is more interested in private trade (which usually means trade by a halfdozen large grain companies) and cash sales than in humanitarian giveaways, a view that has led to charges that he is oblivious to world hunger. October 11th, 2021. Some world food organizations are concerned, not only because of American fuzziness at Rome but also because of the tendency of the United States to sign longterm supply agreements with people who pay cash for grain. Beginning in 1973, policy changes promoted by Nixon Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz deregulated the corn market. 0000063118 00000 n He was married to Mary Emma Powell. The New Deal policymakers had seen how high-production agriculture could devastate lands productivity. The dust bowl was a fresh memory. 14. He first came out for abolishing private inspection agencies and turning over all inspection to a new Federalstate system. You are the most productive part of America! The events that really led to Butz's predominance in the United States Government's internationalagriculture decisions began early last summer when it became clear the Russians would need grain. Known as one of the greenest commercial buildings in the world, since it opened its doors on Earth Day in 2013 the Bullitt Center has been setting a new standard for sustainable design. 0000069937 00000 n 0000063693 00000 n The International Food Policy Research Institute reported recently that such deals will make less food available to poor countries. 0000060185 00000 n The Agriculture Department's cozy relationship with the halfdozen big grain exporters is in some ways the most troubling aspect of Butz's reign. 0000056620 00000 n 0000041878 00000 n 0000056225 00000 n 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 0000053344 00000 n Instagram, Follow us on 0000062543 00000 n Blocked by White House budget officials and by President Ford's uncompromising stance against further Government regulation of business, Butz tried to patch up the graininspection system by adding more Federal supervisors. 0000004416 00000 n Butz fanned their frenzy. Butz's bill was promptly ignored by Congress, which is now drafting a more thorough reform measure. That is one of the most outrageous things I've seen, but it's typical of the way Secretary Butz operates, says Foreman. During the 60s, livestock, rather than people, became the main consumers of American grain. He was 98. Facebook, Follow us on Describe that change. To read Franklin D. Roosevelts Statement on Signing the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, click here. It was also epochal. A partial bibliography of sources is here. He graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette in 1932. From February 1993. Feb. 3, 2008 12 AM PT. Harvest failures came repeatedly and were usually severe. 0000019559 00000 n 0000046066 00000 n In a 1973 speech, he accused the housewives of America of having a low level of economic intelligence, and in his office he kept a sculpture of two copulating elephants that he delighted in showing off to visitors. The policy of prohibiting permanent roads and of restricting commercial logging in accordance with the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act was continued. Plant fence row to fence row, he exhorted from his bully pulpit. 0000005254 00000 n Earl L. Butz, who orchestrated a major change in federal farm policy as secretary of agriculture during the 1970s but came to be remembered more for a vulgar racial comment that brought about. 0000055445 00000 n " Sometimes my quotes may be too colorful. 0000013599 00000 n [29] He is buried at the Tippecanoe Memory Gardens in West Lafayette, Indiana. 3By the end of the nineteenth century, agricultural policy contributed to the settlement of 80 million acres of farmland. Now, with 61 million more acres in production, subsidy payments have fallen to about $500 millionmostly to cotton, peanut, rice and tobacco growers. 0000070129 00000 n While conservatives have consistently pushed more aggressive, pro-agribusiness policies, liberals have often responded with pro-agribusiness policies of their own, even when that meant undermining their own natural allies: small and mid-sized farmers, farm workers, rural minority . Butz died in his sleep on February 2, 2008, in Kensington, Maryland. The successes and failures of each installation of land and agricultural policy emphasize the understated influence each wave of policy has extended over American welfare. At the time, Butz served as a board member for several agribiz firms, including Ralston Purina, then a sprawling food conglomerate. Butz had helped to arrange that sale in the hope of giving a boost to crop prices to bring restive farmers tempted to vote for George McGovern into the Republican fold.[10]. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Minimum Tillage Changes Planters & Cultivators, Silent Spring & the Environmental Movement, Connections between Surface and Groundwater, Nebraska's Unique Natural Resource Districts, Insecticides DDT's Rise, Fall & Rise Again, The EPA, the Endangered Species Act & Pesticides, 14th Annual Tractor & Auto show & Summer Fair. document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Industrial agriculture lost one of its greatest champions last week: Earl Rusty Butz, secretary of the USDA under Nixon. "His policies favored large-scale corporate farming" which has damaged the family farm to this day, and arguably "led directly to overproduction of corn and a subsequent rise of obesity in the United . [citation needed], For example, he abolished a program that paid corn farmers to not plant all their land. 0000052718 00000 n But if youd like to know precisely what those two jokes were, youre out of luck. In other words, plow up and plant every bit of land you can get your tractor on. What policy did he promote in 1973? 93-86, also known as the 1973 U.S. Farm Bill) was the 4-year farm bill that adopted target prices and deficiency payments as a tool that would support farm income but reduce forfeitures to the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) of surplus stocks. "Federal Farm Policies Hit". Secretary Earl Butz was the was the Secretary of Agriculture during President Nixon ' s term . He believed that a free, global market would bring higher prices, and for the few years that Russian agriculture struggled, he was right. series; Purdue officials responded that he had grown too frail. Earl Butz, 2006. Earl Butz, who served as Secretary of Agriculture under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, is widely regarded as a pioneer in modern American corn policy because he emphasized selling . Instagram, Follow us on To make the policy shift palatable in the Midwest, Butz needed to convince farmers that they werent risking a return to Depression-era conditions: vast overproduction, low prices, and foreclosures. Current agricultural policy has proved this as well, as America can no longer sustain the health and environmental implications of subsidy fueled factory farms. " He no playa the game, he no maka the rules. Twitter, Follow us on Food and food production is no exception as now only 2% of Americans are farmers and most live in urban spaces where they have limited access to food in it's natural form. He has antagonized or alienated food shoppers, environmentalists, labor leaders, social reformers and religious and ethnic groups. Earl L. Butz, Self: King Corn. 28 0 obj<>stream Land Ordinance of 1785. Stanford University. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. A Cullman, Ala., contract grower whose attempt to organize poultry farmers was crushed by the processors (with some assistance, he charges, from the Agriculture Department) refers to his neighbors as the last slaves in America. Economic studies indicate that poultry farmers are kept in virtual bondage, forced into everincreasing debt as a condition for receiving each new contract from the processors, then working long days raising tens of thousands of companyowned chickens for pennies an hour. 0000061409 00000 n Actress: Swedish Lessons in Love. He rejected criticism that these ties might compromise his performance as USDA chief. In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. 0000052562 00000 n 20In response to the unanticipated prices, Nixon declared a war on hunger, and promised the American people, I not only accept the responsibility for ending hunger and malnutrition, I claim the responsibility. 21. 17The threat of another depression hastened the reinstatement of crop regulation through the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, which restored financial security to farmers. 0000044995 00000 n 0000008397 00000 n Earl L. ButzEarl L. Butz, who orchestrated a major change in federal farm policy as secretary of agriculture during the 1970s but came to be remembered more for a vulgar racial comment that brought about his resignation during the 1976 presidential election race, died Saturday in Washington. That same year, he was also named chairman of the United States delegation to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. They are disturbed, too, by the continued exchange of top personnel between the department and the big grain companies. In King Corn, Butz argued that the corn subsidy had dramatically reduced the cost of food for all Americans by improving the efficiency of farming techniques. He wouldn't embarrass a Cabinet member. 7. In 1972, the Soviet Union, suffering disastrous harvests, purchased 30 million tons of American grain. It took a while to convert President Ford and Butz's remarks about that are revealing of the manner of this man who has become the nation's top agriculture policy maker: I told the President that a year ago we had the whole Midwest in the palm of our hand and we piddled it away with interference with grain exports. Exports sustained high grain prices, leading the United States Department of Agriculture to describe the years between 1910 and 1914 as the golden age of farming. 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