Block Quits Cabinet, Sees ‘Better Times’ for Farmers : No. 1 Goal Achieved, He Says

Agriculture Secretary John R. Block, who presided over the most difficult times for American farmers since the Depression, announced his resignation today hailing “better times ahead” for farmers.

Block, one of the few remaining members of President Reagan’s original Cabinet, said he will leave in mid-February.

He told a news conference that he had accomplished his primary objective, pushing through Congress a new five-year farm bill designed to gradually wean farmers from federal subsidies and return agriculture to a more market-oriented basis.

“These have been stressful times for our farmers,” Block acknowledged. “I do believe we are starting to turn the corner. We’ll see better times ahead.”

Block declined to say what he will do next. Speculation has been that he plans to join a Washington food-industry association.

With his wife, Sue, at his side, Block told the news conference that “there comes a time when you think you’ve served the time you think you should and you look to new challenges.”

‘Given Something Back’

Block, a farmer with vast holdings, said, “I think I’ve given something back” to agriculture. “I’ve surely tried.”

Sources on Capitol Hill said they expect his successor to come from within the department, but speculation also included the former No. 2 department official, Richard E. Lyng, who left a year ago to start his own consulting firm. Lyng was California director of agriculture when Reagan was governor.

Another who has been mentioned is Block’s current No. 2 official, Deputy Secretary John R. Norton III, who has extensive agricultural interests in Arizona and California.

But Norton has threatened to quit unless he gets permission to participate in this year’s farm subsidy programs, saying he stands to lose $1 million unless federal ethics rules are waived so that his farming operations can share in federal cotton and wheat “deficiency” payments.

Still another possibility is U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter, who in the past had expressed interest in the USDA post.

Block has presided over the Agriculture Department during one of the most tumultuous periods in recent U.S. farm history.

Tightest Since 1930s

Land values have plummeted since 1981, when he took office, and have helped trigger the tightest financial squeeze on farmers since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Exports, a mainstay of the farm economy, have continued to slump, depriving American farmers of foreign markets for huge crops.

Block has been rumored many times to be ready to quit, particularly in the last year. But each time he had denied the reports, saying that he would stay on to help push a new farm bill through Congress and to implement its provisions.

The farm bill, signed by Reagan on Dec. 23, has been viewed by Block as a steppingstone away from strict government controls on farmers toward more “market-oriented” policies.

Although the bill fell far short of what Block wanted, it does provide for a lessening of federal price supports on major commodities such as wheat and corn. One of the aims is to make U.S. commodities cheaper and more attractive to foreign buyers.

Block’s resignation leaves only three of Reagan’s original Cabinet secretaries still on the job--Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige and Housing Secretary Samuel R. Pierce.

Block came to Washington after serving three years as director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

As a farmer, Block expanded his father’s hog-breeding operation in Illinois from 300 acres with 200 hogs to 3,000 acres producing 6,000 swine a year.