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Show Strikes, parades not answerto farmers' woes As much as we might "feel" for their problem, we are having a hard time getting too emotional or too involved in the various trac-torcades trac-torcades popping up and stringing along the highways of the country, and here in Utah. As important as it is for every worker to feel like he is getting his fair share, we doubt very much if parades and strikes are the answer for the food producer. One reason we can't accept the strike as the answer is that farmers far-mers themselves are still split on the subject. And when the market points to good prices next year for one commodity or another, it can be expected to see the farmer drop the placards and begin planting. Farmers can drive their tractors into towns in mass from one end of the country to the other but they cannot plow under the forces of supply and demand or escape the risks of a free market economy. Not yet have we heard a pro-striker pro-striker adequately explain how the planned "no-plant" will not be inflationary. It could very well be a boomerang, this inflation, that will come back and haunt the striking farmer. Inflation has shown in the past it will not stop with just one item but sweeps across the board, including gas, fertilizer and other products the farmer says are too high already. Be careful, tractorcade promoters, with that boomerang. It exists. The goal pro-strikers are asking for is not going to be obtained without strict government control of agriculture. And thereby hangs one reason the strike will not be successful-too many farmers do not welcome that trade-off. Most consumers don't enjoy the idea either. |