Earl Butz has restored grain farmers pride in proving their enormous productive potential, and they love him. 0000066397 00000 n [28], Butz continued to serve on corporate boards and speak on agricultural policy. Ulrike Butz. BY TAKA YAMAGUCHI In 1976, then-U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz coined the now infamous phrase, "food is a weapon.". Export sales, currently running at about $22 billion a year, have almost doubled. 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. As usual, the country dealers and farmers of Iowa got the short end of the stick, says former Iowa Senator Harold Hughes. Even after sales to Russia and Poland were finally resumed, the White House was bombarded with an unending stream of criticism from farm organizations. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal said the original statement was available in the newspaper office; more than 200 stopped by to read it. Eating for Strength . In, Pollan, Michael. 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. Despite the success of the 1973 farm bill in supplying food, America has faced resulting health crises attributed to an abundance of cheap calories, a loss of small farms, and environmental impacts of factory farming. 0000009167 00000 n A number of those present had represented their countries during the famous 1974 World Food Security Summit (Rome) where Butz had led the US delegation. Butz decided that America could sell them 10 million tons right away, then embargo further shipments but possibly resume them in September after the effects of this country's drought could he more accurately gauged. Between 1971 and 1972, crop failure in the Soviet Union lead the country to purchase nearly 25% of Americas wheat. In other words, plow up and plant every bit of land you can get your tractor on. In 1973, he reduced the number of acres set aside or taken out of grain production from 25 million acres in 1972 to 7.4 million acres in 73. At the time, Butz served as a board member for several agribiz firms, including Ralston Purina, then a sprawling food conglomerate. The October 18, 1976, issue of Time reported the comment while obscuring its vulgarity:[13]. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/bdsdcc:@field(DOCID+@lit(bdsdcc, Dimitri, Carolyn, Anne Effland, and Neilson Conklin. When the conversation turned to politics, Boone, a right-wing Republican, asked Butz why the party of Lincoln was not able to attract more blacks. Butz resigned his cabinet post on October 4, 1976. 0000029565 00000 n Twitter, Follow us on 0000009453 00000 n The government would also buy excess grain from farmers and store it. He wouldn't embarrass a Cabinet member. Going back to the dust bowl of the 1930s and President Roosevelt's New Deal that followed, the United States controlled commodity prices by paying farmers to limit production. Butz tells farmers that consumers are mad at them because of high retail food prices. The man was a creep. Many were dismayed the government paid farmers not to plant and even destroy crops while much of the country struggled to purchase food and waited in line at soup kitchens. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Homestead.html, The Library of Congress. The nomination proved to be Nixon's most controversial for two main reasons. Watch Environmental Catastrophe on PBS. 0000065712 00000 n YouTube. Dean reports that this was Butz's response: I'll tell you what the coloreds want. His policies encouraged farmers to plant as much corn and other commodities as they could, o View the full answer Transcribed image text: Briefly explain the relationship of Earl Butz's food policy from 1973 to the meat that we eat today. You could no longer assume your fellow whites would protect you for telling a joke insulting to blacks, and you could no longer assume your fellow blacks would protect you for telling a joke insulting to Jews. 0000029778 00000 n Earl Butz While he was president, it was popular to be a Nixon hater. Earl Butz. As intended, Nixons agricultural policy lowered food prices, but the imbalance of supply and demand manifested in long-term problems. 0000070881 00000 n No, I try not to be a negative thinker. 0000041058 00000 n this enabled the farm kids to do what? 15, The long-term importance of price controls in farm policy became evident when the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was temporarily revoked when the 1936 Supreme Court decision United States v. Butler ruled the act unconstitutional. He is known for King Corn (2007), News 15 Nightbeat (1985) and Independent Lens (1999). 0000053132 00000 n 1973 Farm Bill - Agricultural and Consumer Protection Act [As Amended Through P.L. That was true in the Soviet Union, as well. 0000014845 00000 n 0000061873 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. Author: Earl L. Butz The American Food Machine and Private Entrepreneurship Earl L. Butz | December 1977 The modern American Food Machine is perhaps the greatest single source of strength undergirding the unparalleled level of American living. 0000049967 00000 n Second, Butz was an advocate of modernizing the farm; to many, this really meant doing away with the family farm and promoting bigness in agriculture. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); A nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Earl L. Butz, who orchestrated a major change in federal farm policy as secretary of agriculture in 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 Kensington, Md. Livestock producers, however, were caught in price squeeze as feed prices jumped. Our productive capacity so far exceeds our capacity to consume, he says, that we couldn't even eat all the wheat we grow if it were free. But increasing U. S. exports has taken a certain wheeling and dealing. Indeed, the Agriculture Department has provided little support to those in other branches of the Government who have attempted to investigate the middlemen in the farmtomarket price spread and to probe the monopolies in the food industries, which include proces sors packagers, wholesalers, shippers, supermarkets. Butz was not one of the smarter ones. He took his first federal post, as assistant agriculture secretary under President Dwight Eisenhower, serving 1954 to 1957. 0000071753 00000 n 0000060447 00000 n The Secretary tells American farmers that high price guarantees, or supports, would lead you backward to the days when Government controls dictated what you planted and how much, and in the long run, lead to overproduction. fanners were told: Reelect Nixon or Lose Your Butz. But it remains to he seen hew much help he can he. 8 Due to government assistance, American farmers experienced continued success during and immediately following World War I. 0000067244 00000 n In 1971, President Richard Nixon appointed Butz as Secretary of Agriculture, a position in which he continued to serve after Nixon resigned in 1974 as the result of the Watergate scandal. 0000070129 00000 n 0000055231 00000 n 0000065934 00000 n The move worked dramatically. While controversial, President Richard Nixons 1973 farm bill lessened acute hunger and malnutrition. Donate today to keep our climate news free. 0000048246 00000 n President Franklin Delano Roosevelts passing of the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment enacted an unprecedented and highly successful approach to agricultural policy that defined farming for four decades. 0000064816 00000 n That was Butz's kind of deal, according to the Farmers Union and the National Farmers Organization, groups which advocate moderate farm policies and which, in recent years, have supported Democrats. These policies benefited the burgeoning. Earl L. BUTZ et al., Petitioners, v. Arthur N. ECONOMOU et al. Millions of hogs, cattle and chicken were sold for slaughter as producers reduced their inventories. His policies favored large-scale corporate farming and an end to New Deal programs. A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz Industrial agriculture lost one of its greatest champions last week: Earl "Rusty" Butz, secretary of the USDA under. We believe in our ability to come together to shape the future through policy change. 0000042749 00000 n HV6}W\]l]E6 T@>m3D;6d6}X"9s/~=[*W/2*" ss(vKr>WuPaX@Y6%PWAyR +u] ?`]_E(,a(i He died in his sleep, a quiet end for a man whose career shook the earth, causing untold acres to succumb to the plow. He believed that a free, global market would bring higher prices, and for the few years that Russian agriculture struggled, he was right. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1932, and then a doctorate in Agricultural Economics in 1937. Which of the following characterize carrying capacity. Actually. Despite helping to eradicate acute hunger and malnutrition, the bill devastated small farmers and contributed to decreasing the number of farms in America by 63%, effectively changing rural landscapes and economies. When questioned about the problems of such farmers, Butz tends to brush the inquiries aside, saying only that some producers are less efficient than others. His technique, Foreman says, is to pose as friend of the farmer and try to pit him against consumers. 0000007619 00000 n 0000067829 00000 n There was some question whether or not Butz realized that the Soviets were buying up one quarter of the entire U.S. wheat crop, but he did nothing to stop the sale despite the fact that it eventually raised food prices. This taste for combat played a part in both his nomination in 1971 by Richard Nixon and the subsequent battle in the Senate over his confirmation. In 1948, Butz became vice president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and three years later was named to the same post at the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.In 1954, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Agriculture by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.That same year, he was also named chairman of the United States delegation to the Food and Agriculture . [26][27], On May 22, 1981, Butz pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges for having under-reported income he earned in 1978. <]>> Overall farm income jumped along with grain prices, from $2.3 billion in 1972 to $19.6 billion in '73. The Secretary responded with a line so obscene and insulting to blacks that it forced him out of the Cabinet last week and jolted the whole Ford campaign. Grain farmers are planting fence row to fence row, and the payments to them have nearly stopped. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. During his leadership from 1964 to 1982, Premier Leonid Brezhnev made it official Soviet policy to maintain steady growth in the livestock industry. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. accessLinx is a boutique multimedia production company that communicates your business's messgae with clarity and impact. Republican Senators in Kansas and Oklahoma warned President Ford's political advisers that they had better do something to prevent losing traditional G.O.P. Agricultural policy has supported Americas greatest triumphs. The analysis presented in that case cannot be limited to . 0000061409 00000 n He wouldn't embarrass a Cabinet member. How did Earl Buts (secretary of Ag) change the farm policy in 1973? The United States now has commitments to supply about 25 million tons a year to the Soviet Union, Poland, Rumania, Japan and Israel. These policies did a great job of keeping American agriculture profitable but were very expensive for the nation as a whole. 0000062543 00000 n In terms of 2009 dollars, corn reached the equivalent of over $15 in 1973.Overall farm income jumped along with grain prices, from $2.3 billion in 1972 to $19.6 billion in 73. 0000009125 00000 n He first came out for abolishing private inspection agencies and turning over all inspection to a new Federalstate system. 0000070292 00000 n 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. 0000049217 00000 n [20], Butz returned to West Lafayette, Indiana, and was named dean emeritus of Purdue's School of Agriculture. 0000064563 00000 n He surely loved the way the biofuel boom has farmers worldwide scrambling to plant corn and soy and drench the earth with agrichemicals. The success of expansion-based policy became increasingly evident in the early twentieth century as American agriculture supported global markets and wartime needs. A publication of Hillsdale College Over 6,200,000 Readers Recent Posts 0000009377 00000 n The problem was that most of the countrys grain production was in areas subject to severe winters and droughts. 0000052349 00000 n In addition, consumer food prices jumped. I was speaking the language of food and they understood.. Then they made secret deals with the five biggest American grain companies for 24.2 million tons of grain worth almost $1.5 billion in 1972 dollars $7.6 billion in 2009 dollars. It defined settlement patterns, characterized Americas role in the global market, and navigated the country in and out of economic turmoil. But you've got to make choices, and you're not going to be right all the time. (The habit of stuffing the USDA with industry cronies has proven hard to break. He was a bigot and, even then, at 66, not a young man. Earl Lauer "Rusty" Butz (July 3, 1909 - February 2, 2008) was a United States government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. 0000056400 00000 n In 1970, the Government was paying farmers $3.7 billion in subsidies, mostly as an incentive not to plant. Patron saint of the Fast Food Nation, Butz lived to see his dream realized. BJW -WYFW(.V*(T[)&(?`".\xc;; Earl Butz, who was born 105 years ago today, was one of the worst US government officials ever.He was Secretary of Agriculture in the Cabinets of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. 0000071399 00000 n 0000063693 00000 n I told him, You've got too many instant experts on agriculture in the White House They're brilliant people, but with no judgment. Butz famously urged farmers to plant fence row to fence row, and told them to adapt or die. 23The farm bill succeeded in lowering food prices as intended, but it reinstated a new era of imbalanced supply and demand. 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