Thursday, October 8,1987AThe Battalion/Page 9 | SCHULMAN THEATRES
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Sociology head expects to see
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By Deborah A. Haring
Reporter
As many as 25 percent of Ameri-
a’s farmers could go out of business
Lithin the next five years, said Dr.
Iteve Murdock, head of A&M’s De-
|artment of Rural Sociology.
According to the department’s
lurveys of Texas farmers, 4.7 per-
^ lent of Texas producers failed in
farming between 1985 and 1986.
These numbers are similar
[enough to those from other parts of
Ihe country to predict that over the
next five years, up to 25 percent of
|he nation’s farmers will be forced to
Itop farming, Murdock said.
I “We are having — and have had
jin the last few years — rates of fail-
pie among producers that are pro-
lortionately higher than any period
ince the Great Depression,” he said.
The decline of farming has been a
continuing problem for years,
iccording to the most recent Census
f Agriculture in 1982, Texas had
Inly 185,000 farms compared with
|ver 380,000 in 1950.
What is different about those with
current financial problems, how
ever, is their characteristics, Mur-
|ock said.
In the past, those leaving farming
enerally have been falling into two
'tegories. Young adults who have
en more profitable careers have
Bone to college or pursued other op-
p ttunities rather than going into
Arming, Murdock said. Marginal
! Producers, those who were less ef-
ktive, inefficient and unwilling to
■y new technologies, also have left
Arming, he said.
But the current farming crisis is
affecting farmers who ordinarily
would be successful, he said.
“Those who are failing are young,
well-educated farmers in their 30s
who are innovative and use well-de
veloped forms of agricultural tech
nology,” Murdock said. “They are
also willing to expand operations by
taking in things like economics of
scale and production which are nor
mally associated with successful pro
duction.”
for it. And since many had not yet
paid a significant amount of their
debts when their assets and income
fell, they were forced out of busi
ness, Murdock said.
To determine how a producer is
doing financially in Texas, his debts
are measured relative to his assets. If
this debt-to-asset ratio is greater
than 40 percent, the farmer is expe
riencing financial stress, he said.
In 1985, 24 percent of Texas pro
ducers had debt-to-asset ratios of
“We are having — and have had in the last few years —
rates of failure among producers that are proportiona
tely higher than any period since the Great Depres
sion.”
— Dr. Steve Murdock, head of A&M’s Department of
Rural Sociology
Murdock said many of the failures
have occurred because producers
purchased land and equipment in
the 1970s when interest rates and
land values were high. Then in the
1980s, a number of macroeconomic
policy changes led to a decrease in
the export market and interest rates
which resulted in a decline in land
values and assets.
An overabundance of agricultural
products in the market also forced
commodity prices down and lowered
many farmers’ incomes, he said.
These farmers often still had high
payments to make on land that now
wasn’t worth what they were paying
over 40 percent. The largest farm
ing area in Texas, the High Plains,
had the highest debt-to-asset ratio in
the state and Central Texas had the
lowest.
Asset values as a whole declined
by 20 percent for Texas producers
between 1985 and 1986. To better
explain the meaning of this, Mur
dock compares it to buying a
$100,000 home in 1985 and finding
out in 1986 that the home is worth
only $80,000.
The problem is not confined to
farms, Murdock said.
“The important thing to realize is
that this is not simply a problem for
producers,” he said. “It is a rural
problem. It affects banks. It affects
the small-town businessman and in
turn all the employees of that busi
ness.”
Over 70 percent of the approxi
mately 1,000 farmers surveyed in
the random sample agree with Mur
dock. They think this crisis has im
pacted their communities, not only
through the loss of business, but also
through the loss of people from the
area and a loss of community spirit,
he said.
Many farmers also said they have
experienced severe depression, mar
riage and family conflicts and a loss
of possessions.
In Texas, with the decrease of oil
and gas prices and problems of pro
ducers, some people have been un
able to pay taxes. This creates a loss
of government funds necessary to
run community services such as
schools, Murdock said.
Though Texas is not as severely
impacted by debt levels as Iowa and
other midwestern states, many of its
farms are family-run and it is these
middle-sized family farms that are
failing most often, Murdock said.
But even it 25 percent ot Ameri
ca’s farmers go out of business, Mur
dock said, the average urban con
sumer in America won’t know the
difference.
“It probably won’t affect the
amount of products available or the
price paid for these products,” Mur
dock said. “Where it will be most evi
dent will be in rural areas. Many ru
ral towns will fall below the level
where they are still viable as commu
nities.”
Officials to release Saragosa relief records
\
PECOS (AP) — Reeves County, pressured by
Texas Rural Legal Aid, has agreed to release re
cords detailing what was done with donations for
■pirns of the May 22 Saragosa tornado, a state
| official said Wednesday.
That action was prompted by a town meeting
ist week in which Saragosans petitioned visiting
,egal Aid attorneys to file suit against the county
: if it did not release all its records dealing with re
lief efforts for the disaster, Alpha Hernandez,
managing attorney in Legal Aid’s Del Rio office,
laid.
! Saragosa, a small town about 25 miles south of
■ecos, was devastated by the May 22 tornado,
Bhich hit during a kindergarten-graduation
ptercise, killing 30 people. Reeves County and
some private organizations accepted donations to
forward for the relief effort.
There have been several reports of lost or sto
len money and goods. In the latest incident,
Juana Jaquez, the district clerk, reported last
week that someone stole $4,000 of tornado relief
money that she was keeping in her car.
Hernandez said incidents like that have
aroused Saragosans’ suspicions that some county
officials have been negligent or possibly dishon
est in handling disaster donations.
“The request is to find out just \|ho received
the money, how much they reeeiv&d and what
they did with it and on what basis they distrib
uted it,” Hernandez said.
mpted Reeves
County Attorney Scott Johnson to offer Tuesday
to turn over the records later this week, Hernan
dez said.
“We agreed to hold off on the lawsuit until we
could review the material,” Hernandez said.
Legal Aid, which is helping tornado victims
with legal problems, filed an Open Records Act
request Aug. 11, asking the county to release its
tornado relief files.
“We had received only a partial response,” she
said, adding that only county officials peripher
ally involved in disaster relief responded. Offi
cials more heavily involved, such as Sheriff Raul
Florez, did not respond, she said.
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The following scholarships are currently open for competition:
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Terms: Up to $7,000 annually for tuition, fees, room, board,
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Sponsored by: NSF/National Research Council
For: Current college seniors.
Terms: $12,300 annually plus up to $6,000 tuition and fees for
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engineering, medicine, dentisty, and veterinary medicine.
Application procedure: Direct application by student.
Deadlines: Applications due November 13.
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Sponsored by: NSF/National Research Council
For: Current college seniors of American Indian, Black, His
panic, Native Alaskan, or Native Pacitic Islander background.
Terms: $12,300 annually plus up to $6,000 tuition and fees for
three years for minority students pursuing graduate study in the
sciences, engineering, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medi
cine.
Application procedure: Direct application by student.
Deadlines: Applications due November 13.
Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowships for
Minorities
Sponsored by: Ford Foundation/National Research Council.
For: Current college seniors of American Indian, Black, His
panic, Native Alaskan, or Native Pacific Islander background.
Terms: $10,350 annually plus up to $6,000 for tuition and fees for
up to three years of graduate study in the humanities, social and
behavioral sciences, engineering, mathematics, or physical and
biological sciences.
Application procedure: Direct application by student.
Deadlines: Applications due November 13.
Detailed information and applications are
available through the University Honors
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