CONGRESSMEN URGE U.S. SOYBEAN PROGRAM CHANGES Several leading farm-state Congressmen said they will press the U.S. Agriculture Department to implement some kind of marketing loan to make soybeans exports competitive while protecting farm income. Speaking at a House grains subcommittee hearing, chairman Dan Glickman, D-Kan., proposed that Congressmen and representatives of soybean growers meet with USDA on the subject in the next two weeks. "Let's see if we can try to push them (USDA) to do something without legislation," Glickman told the hearing. The current soybean loan rate effectively is 4.56 dlrs per bushel with no income protection, or marketing loan. David Haggard, American Soybean Association, ASA, president said USDA must make changes in the soybean program. The current soybean program "gave us the worst of both worlds," ASA's Haggard told the hearing. The 1987 loan rate is too high relative to corn and is encouraging an expansion of soybean production in South America, he said. At the same time, the U.S. soybean loan rate is too low to provide any income support for soybean farmers, Haggard said. "We need some kind of market loan," he added. The 1985 farm bill provides authority for the Agriculture Secretary to implement a marketing loan for soybeans but USDA so far has resisted pressure to use the authority. Representatives of ASA met earlier this month with USDA, but Haggard said USDA officials gave no indication if they would seriously consider offering a marketing loan. USDA undersecretary Daniel Amstutz yesterday said the soybean situation is a "dilemna" which has been studied extensively by the department. But he did not say what, if any changes, are under consideration. In his testimony, Haggard indicated there are ways other than a marketing loan which should be considered to help soybean growers, such as a so-called producer option payment, or a direct payment program. Haggard said barring any program changes, Commodity Credit Corporation, CCC, soybean stocks, now at 385 mln bu, will rise to 500 mln by the end of August. A further 100 mln bu of soybeans could be forfeited between September and end-year. "Thus, CCC could own the equivalent of Brazil's entire soybean crop by the end of calendar year 1987," Haggard said. However, Haggard said that the U.S. should be cautious in making soybean program changes that might allow the European Community to challenge the U.S. program under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT. He noted that The EC imports one quarter of U.S. soybean production and loss of that market would be devastating. The Reagan administration has given "mixed signals" on whether it believes a marketing loan for soybeans could be successfully challenged in GATT by the EC, Haggard said. While the ASA position is to support a 5.02 dlrs per bu loan rate combined with a marketing loan, Haggard also endorsed a proposal by Rep. Jerry Huckaby, D-La., which would set a six dlrs per bu loan rate and apply a marketing loan. The Huckaby proposal is also supported by the ranking Republican on the House Agriculture committee, Rep. Edward Madigan of Illinois. Subcommittee chairman Glickman endorsed the need to take some action on soybeans, but cautioned that the marketing loan could mean a substantial increase in budget costs. Glickman noted that the Agriculture Committee must cut one to 1.5 billion dlrs from its fiscal 1988 budget and therefore must fit any soybean program changes into the overall budget. Haggard said at a soybean loan rate of six dlrs per bu combined with a marketing loan, the U.S. soybean price might fall to four dlrs per bu initially. This would cost the government a maximum of two billion dlrs. But he said the costs would decline as market prices recovered.