Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 4


 
 

                                                                  DAY 233
 
                                                  HOWARD LYMAN, Examined:
 
 
 
     1        tilth of the soil had changed from a living soil to soil
     2        that appeared like asbestos.  In the hospital, reflecting
     3        on that, I had to admit to myself that I was the cause of
     4        that happening; and I believed the reason for it was the
     5        type of practices I was using on the farm.
     6
     7   Q.   Were they unusual practices or -----
     8        A.  No.  Those practices were the ones that -- they were
     9        unusual prior to the 1960s, but they became more and more
    10        usual as we went along.  They were the standard of the
    11        industry, and are the standard of the industry today.
    12
    13   Q.   Now, from 1983 to 1986, you were an agricultural advocate
    14        on farm foreclosures.  Can you just tell us what that
    15        involved?
    16        A.  After I sold my farm in 1983, I spent the majority of
    17        my time consulting with other farmers in their production
    18        practices.  I worked with them as far as organising
    19        co-operatives, changing their practices to farm more in
    20        accordance with nature.  I spent almost full-time
    21        travelling round the States, going to hundreds of different
    22        farms, working with farmers, making changes that I believed
    23        would have been more cost beneficial to them.
    24
    25   Q.   So, in terms of actual practical running of farms, did you
    26        have involvement after you closed your farm in 1983
    27        or -----
    28        A.  Absolutely.  I probably spent more time in management
    29        of more farms after I sold my farm than I did in my own
    30        when I had it before.
    31
    32   Q.   Then two down from that, we see that you were a senior
    33        lobbyist for the National Farmers Union from 1987 to 1992.
    34        Can you explain what is involved in that?
    35        A.  At that time, I was basically stationed in
    36        Washington DC.  When Congress was in session, I spent the
    37        majority of my time up on the Hill working with
    38        legislation.  When Congress was out of session, I spent
    39        almost all of my time travelling around the entire country,
    40        meeting with farmers that were members of the National
    41        Farmers Union.  I worked with them on organising co-ops.
    42        I worked in depth on the analysis of whether they had the
    43        financial ability to come together to form co-ops and form
    44        their own businesses.  In that time, I probably visited
    45        thousands of different farms, met with thousands of
    46        different farmers, looked at financial statements,
    47        different methods of farming, and was very involved in the
    48        modern methods of agriculture at that period of time.
    49
    50   Q.   The farms that you visited, were they just in one or two 
    51        states, or were they right across the United States, or 
    52        what? 
    53        A.  The entire United States is the area that I covered.
    54
    55   Q.   Have you also visited slaughterhouses and processing plants
    56        or just concentrated on the farming side of things?
    57        A.  I have been to hundreds of slaughterhouses, probably as
    58        many as 50 processing plants.  When I was in the business,
    59        I made sure that I went to every slaughterhouse that I ever
    60        consulted with as far as selling cattle.  It was a normal
 
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