NFO-10 (AV10419): Midwest Farm Report: Businessman's Look at NFO

the views expressed on the following paid program do not necessarily represent those of the ownership or management of channel 11 [music] this is your NFO Midwest Farm Report brought to you each Sunday at this time on channel 11 TV by the National Farmers Organization which is completing its 10th year as a major farm organization in its effort to improve the lot of every family type farmer today we have a panel of speakers whom you will meet in just a moment selected to bring you a penetrating analysis of the factors involved in the aims and activities of the national farmers organization which you also know under the name of NF o the appearance of these panelists does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the aims and activities of the national farmers organization similarly the views expressed by the panelists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Farmers Organization today we present a panel including four members representing the public these four members are Mr. Wilbur baton president the Bank of West De Pere Mr. Robert R. Flatly attorney and presently assistant district attorney for Brown County and recently elected District Attorney Mrs. Esther Trudelle homemaker from Green Bay and Mr. Harry R McMann historian philosopher lecturer and analyst now representing the brown county chapter for the National Farmers Organization our four well-known individuals Mr. Irvin Ambrosius president of the brown county chapter Mrs. arlene menon public relations manager Mr. peter bethke the chairman of the dairy bargaining committee of zone 4 in the Wausau marketing area and also chairman of the dairy bargaining committee for brown county and Mrs. Laverne Burt secretary of the Brown County Chapter and finally to moderate the proceedings of the panel we introduce Mr. Oliver Menon your moderator we know who the panelists are as individual it would be interesting to know why they are interested and involved first let's ask the public member why they are interested we start with Mr. Trudelle add the consumer and the homemaker I am vitally interested in the price of food for my family someone said recently that if corporation farming takes over the food production in this country prices will jump forty to 50 percent if this happens I will have trouble feeding my family so I am very very concerned and next Mr. baton will go because the De Pere is made up the family type farms I am deeply concerned with the elimination of the family type farmers in the picture a large portion of our business is dependent on the family type farmers and I can assure you we're deeply concerned about their welfare we in the De Pere area must preserve the family type farm if our community is to survive no Mr. Flatly for better or for worse this effort at collective bargaining is going to have an important effect on public affairs in our area in the future as District Attorney I believe I have a duty to try to understand the methods and objectives of this collective bargaining effort and to work to avoid possible violations of the law and of course as an individual I'm concerned about possible price rises in food costs and finally Mr. McMann on the family side farmers are being destroyed at three to six hundred thirty-two farms they I am greatly concerned to both because these dispossessed people are people and also because they pose a problem for all of us who live in cities and towns when the family type farmers forced off the land he must of course come to town too and he's coming in to compete for employment but in addition that he is panelists then he becomes a burden to our already heavy welfare caseload and even if he does have money we must produce produce and provide for him additional urban facilities such as water supplies sewage supplies recreation schools and fire protection police protection all the other urban service that takes when a population increases so the impact of this is an inevitable overload on our services forces me to show great interest let me ask one question which I know is in the minds of many viewing today is this collective bargaining effort legal yes it is the collective bargaining effort is authorized by the capper-volstead Act which was passed by Congress in 1922 this Act provides that the producers of agricultural products such as farmers or dairy men may act together in collective marketing of their products by forming associations these associations must operate for the mutual benefit of their members it must conform to one of the following requirements either that no member may be allowed more than one vote regardless of the amount of stock or membership capital he may own or that the Association can net pay dividends of more than 8 percent per year also the Association may not deal in the products of non-members and an amount greater in value than the value of the amount of the products handled by it for its members the capper-volstead Act also provides that if the Association monopolizes trade and interstate commerce to such an extent that the price of any product is unduly raised then the Secretary of Agriculture after following certain legal procedures including a hearing can issue an order directing the Association to cease and desist from monopolization a restraint of trade in addition the United States Supreme Court has held that the capper-volstead Act does not replace the Sherman Antitrust Act and a farm organization can be prosecuted under the Sherman Act if it engages in practices against others in order to monopolize trade a restrain or suppress competition thus while the capper-volstead Act does give the farmers the right to bargain collectively there are restrictions and safeguards to protect the public from any abuse of these rights now that is the legal basis of collective bark bargaining effort now turning to the representative of the National Farmers Organization who are you in the farming picture first Mr. Burt we and the family type farmers generally are the little people in the farming business Mr. menon well similarly we are the left outs and the lose outs in the working of the benefits of the other farm organization Mr. bethke we are the initial bargainers with the processors we have secured in our securing processor contracts with a pricing structure hope to activate the same to provide orderly marketing for our products Mr. Rosas comment we are a membership organizers and we have recruited our friends and neighbors into the NFO we invite all family type farmers and dairymen who have not joined to investigate the advantages and benefits in joining and helping us in our efforts to secure collective bargain for all family type farmers do you have any additional comments yes I do we are a bargaining organization exclusively for producers what is that you want in other words what do you seek we want in other words what we seek when we want cost of production plus a reasonable profit to improve the working conditions and the lives of our own families and the families of other family type farmers all without injuring anyone Mr. Burt we want to live and let live if all you want is to live and let live then the question becomes why can't you do it let's ask our economist members on the panel to describe the economic conditions which affects themes and activities of the NFO Mr. Baton the price costs squeeze is forcing the little people out for example they cannot afford to buy the large machinery with which to cut the cause another example in 1945 there were in round numbers six million family type farms today there are only 3 million in a few more years is estimated that there will be only one and one hand me several years ago there were typically four families farming on a section each one make a living today they are only two and in the tomorrow as projected there will be only one in other words the economic trend of the times has already destroyed three million family farms of the six million that we had at the beginning of the of the period and this trend will destroy half of those family farms which remain today unless the trend is checked this means half of the family type farmers where are listening today will be out of the farming business if the trend goes unchecked are they any destructive or unfavorable factors let's ask Mr. Ambrosius it yes there are certain social economic factors that are destroying the family type farm first there are people who make money even when the family type farmers go broke for example the biggie land holder who gobbles up the land an over increasing for example a big land owner who gobbles up the land over increasing cooperation farm proud members and employees and especially the manager of the rival farm organizations and supply services public officials called them writers TV commentators who are in sympathy with big agribusiness example one food chain made $100 profit per [unclear] on beef last spring while the feeders lost $100 per head leasing corporations in Iowa formed to capitalize on cooperation farming are there any positive or favorable factors yes just as the economical trend is unfavorable the one sociological trend is favorable all over the world the little people are successfully improving their lives but also the people the very importantly and politically trend that atmosphere is the most favorable in many years incidentally is not the cost factor alone that is destroying the family type farmer rather it is the price and marketing factor because in the past and is a large extent even to the present the fact the farmer when he gets ready to sell his product must sell at auction and captive market since he could not enforce the selling price he has an effect at the money of the organized but at the mercy of the organized buyer so it is the family farm marketing situation even more than the cost situation that is destroying the family type farmer another favorable factor is shown in the famous Wisconsin study at the average gross farm income of any NFO in Wisconsin is fifteen thousand five hundred and eighty dollars compared to twelve thousand eight hundred and thirty dollars for the second farm organization and eight thousand eight hundred ninety dollars for the third farm organization similarly the average farm acreage for NFO members in Wisconsin is two hundred and forty two acres compared with 181 acres of the non-members the number of dairy cows for the average NFO members at 33 and three tenths percent 33 and three tenths compared with twenty four and seven tenths for non-members the average number of market pigs at seventy-three for the any a full member compared with twenty-three for the none members and a percent of selling market pigs for any of four members is sixty five percent compared with 34 percent for none them members these figures mean that the average NFO members in Wisconsin is a bigger operator in the average non-member so that our bargaining representatives have a larger bargaining base because it will represent the larger operator and therefore members Mr. McMann let me ask you a question why don't you significantly consider supplying demand well I'm not an economist as such and so I cannot answer your question completely but I can give you some clues first of all there is a basic general relationship between supply and demand on the one hand and the price on the other but this relationship is not as ironclad as you and I were taught when we studied economics in school there are some amazing developments that turn up let me show you what I mean long about ten years ago one of your fellow bankers down at Audubon Iowa dreamed up an operation called Operation T-bone in which he talked a whole bunch of features into producing and shipping marketing all at one time all of the fat cattle in the community I was down there on one of these Saturdays when they were loading out and they loaded up 45 car loads which would be about 1,000 cattle now the cattle reached Chicago on the following Monday morning and the normal workload in Chicago is about 10,000 so that means that on this particular Monday instead of having 10,000 they had 11,000 now you're asking me so let's find out here what do you think happened to price well the price should fall yes indeed the price certainly should fall but did it no it did not on the contrary the price went up and went up sharply and my friends at Audubon were very pleased because they figured they'd struck a bonanza and they have now this has been going on every year since well I have not watched this every year since every year that I have watched it every year without exception with an overload on the market the market always goes up and has never gone down and I again I have not talked- I have not watched this every year but I did talk with one of the feeders in Audubon who participates in this program and he told me that he has never failed to avoid a down market and on the contract he has never failed to get an up market on the first Monday of November every year now does that give you some clue as to why I do not rely completely on the law of supply and demand yes but well can you give me a clear example well I think I can you know about two years ago I was driving down through the country on a Wes- a Wednesday afternoon with my car radio turned on and listening to a Clear Channel 50,000 watt station being the farm editor and he was remarking a very remarkable situation on exactly the subject he told us that there had been and was in progress a holding action and the holding action was three is old but it had absolutely no effect on marketing receipts were normal slaughtering was normal so the supply of meat was normal and there was no panic bang on the part of the house wife consumers so you and I would think the price probably should have stayed right pretty much an even keel fluctuating little up a little down that's right that's right well amazingly and this reporter told me this because I was listening instead of staying nice and pretty level like we thought it should here in three days the retail price of beef jumped up from twenty to forty percent and he was concerned so he telephoned some members of the meat trade and asked them why and they said there's no reason for it supplies are normal receipts are normal slaughtering is normal and there's no panic blanks so that shouldn't gone up at all but it did and continuing here the price leveled off at the high level he had went across sure quite a long time and I was listening to him again about four weeks later and he announced that the holding action ended now bear in mind it was the holding act to cause the price to go up in three days so when it ended what should have happened to the price well it should have went down in three days it sure should but did it no it did not on the contrary the price went down in three months and again about the end of this period over here I was listing the same farm editor who again communicated with the meat trade to find out why and again they said there was no reason for it it shouldn't have acted that way at all but the meat that was being marketed through the producing through the I should say the distributing chain at that time was in strong hands now again I want to make clear that as an amateur economist I do hold for the general relationship between supply and demand on one hand and pricing on the other but it's obvious to me and I think it's evident to you that there are days like in Chicago weeks like this place here where the price went up 20 to 40 percent in one week and even months when it should have gone down but it didn't when the law of supply and demand does not have universe validity that answer your question yes it does well that's us whether the NFO has had any success in its first ten years Mr. Bethke yes certainly and definitely first of all in 1955 there were ten new farm organizations starting in the farm field which NFO will be the sole survivor in as far as we know next we've had three successful holding actions one more effective than the one before. we have learned how to organize how to get processor contracts and how to work together Mr. Menon? I would like to say that we have had recognition from national and state leaders. Like in Senator Proxmire, Congressmen Oginski from Wisconsin governor Hughes of Iowa Senator Magee of Wyoming and Senator McGovern of South Dakota also a column writer wrote before the election that is the administration will return to power the NFO would become the voice of agriculture replacing the rival farm organization which has dominated the farm legislation for many years incidentally in the Milwaukee Journal today Samuel Lubell said that this election reflected a farm revolt that started ten years ago let me break out of the question what is this recognition you say you have from congressman oginski Mr. Burt you have that letter from a congressman of consequence yes I believe I have it here and I will read it quote I wish to state that the National Farmers Organization in my judgment is the only farm organization that is getting to the root of the farm problem unquote and the letter continues but if you're asking about Senator Proxmire he spoke in our behalf some programs ago and also interest in and out of the membership of the NFO in the membership itself they are at an all-time high so we have had considerable success with his first ten years I would like to ask Mr. Bathke I think he mentioned something about this holding or withholding action just what is this action well if you will please Mr. Trudell let me correct your term withholding withholding means to refrain from granting this is why we use the term of the holding action by banding our production together we remain unbroken our unsubdued by the processor this is why we employ a holding action to get contracts and these contracts will get us a price our whole objective therefore is based on securing contracts and activating the same well then just why do you have to have this holding actions well processors do not actually believe that the farmers really want to bargain collectively they hope to keep each farmer as an individualist when farmers both members and our cooperating non-members do collectively hold their products off the market in a holding action the processors can then see that the farmers mean to bargain collectively and at that point the processor will bargain in good faith well if the holding action continues just how will this affect our food prices we must first consider that our bargaining effort is solely with the processor and not with the consumer at no time do we want to empty the shelf to the consumer our efforts are only to deplete the supply available to the processor and when the processor bargains in good faith we cease wholly however as the attorney stated if and when the end product of the holding action should affect the consumer adversely then the capper-volstead Act empowers the Secretary of Agriculture to intervene and protect the consumer well then just how would this affect the price of let's say bottled milk bottle milk well back in 1946, in 1948 there the Sumer paid 16 and 18 cents of course today the consumer is paying 22 to 24 cents a quart for now back in 1946 and 48 at that time the farmer got 10 cents a quart after that same quarter milk sold for 16 and 18 cents today the farmer is getting seven cents a quart and he's paying twenty two to twenty four cents for but the payment to me he has gone down from ten cents to seven cents do you think now do you see why we are not happy I'd like to ask Mr. baton a question as an economist do you have anything on the wages received by the dairyman the cattle feeders or the grain farmers yes I have a United States Department of Agriculture report gives official figures on this the return per hour for farmers in given areas are as follows now the wheat farmer with 110,000 dollars invested receives 56 cents per hour well that's in the winter wheat area of southern plains the dairy farmer with forty three thousand four hundred dollars invested receive forty-two cents per hour that's in the central northeast [unclear] and hogs fatten invested fifty thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars received 20 cents per hour in the Corn Belt area beef fattening and hog fattening with ninety thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars invested lost and I repeat loss 54 cents each hour in the Corn Belt area well what can you do then to gain continued success in this deal here Mr. Ambrosius well organize and get additional membership and gain additional bargain representation for even greater portion of the total farm production I would say as a bargainer to organize get more producer contracts so as to exert greater bargaining power and of course activating these contracts we must change the public image so as to get support from the little people in the public whose economic problems are basically the same as always each member can do this by knowing his organization and by knowing his membership contract and by knowing the processor's contract and by knowing all of our aims also by telling our story to the public and by getting news of our activities on the news media and by having capable speakers hit the luncheon circuits in short by presenting our story most favorably and more often let me ask can you proceed with your bargaining efforts without violence violence well in the last holding action I was in contact with the sheriff and the district attorney almost continuously we had no violence on the part of the members of the NFO but there in mind if you have a crowd of people in contention some members and some non-members all of the people present must be peaceful if you are to avoid violence if one individual for example if one person like a non-member chose one punched and you have violence we cannot control all the members of the public we can only control the members membership [unclear] thing said to the sheriff and that the district attorney that I international farmers organization or our lease nearly down we do not condone violence we do not engage in violence we do not want violence and if the matter rested with us we will have no violence well the summarize it all up let's see what the members of this panel get out of this discussion here well I am really very surprised at the stalemate the family the farmers rather have been forced to keep themselves and also at the example you gave to me Mr. Ambrosius on the price of milk as we pay for it and the price you sell it at Thank You Mr. Flatly I'm glad I had the chance to study your organization in relation to the capper-volstead Act as a district attorney I can neither approve or disapprove of your objectives however I am anxious to work with your group to avoid situations that might resolve in possible criminal violations and as long as you operate within the frameworks of the capper-volstead Act and with no injury to other people and no violence it would appear to me that your methods and activities are legal under both federal and state laws Mr. baton I am pleased to hear these views and define there's so many other people are thinking about a problem that has worried me as a banker in a family farm community Mr. McMann I am amazed to find that the capper-volstead Act was ripped the 1922 long before they flood the farm legislation we had later during the Depression years I'm also amazed to wonder and I do wonder why it had to exist 33 years before anyone thought seriously of using the privations of the capper-volstead Act along the line that you are proceeding on collective bargaining well I believe this will conclude our panel discussion so all I have to say farmers join the NFO thank you this has been your NFO midwest farm report brought you each Sunday on Channel eleven television by the National Farmers Organization which is completing its tenth year is a major farm organization and its effort to improve the lot of every family type farmer the National Farmers Organization Brown County chapter which sponsored this program desires to thank the four public members of this panel for their thought-provoking questions and comments during this program the national farmers organization desires to repeat that the appearance of the public members on this program is not constitute an endorsement of the aims and activities of the NFO and similar views expressed by the panelists are their own and do not reflect necessarily the views of the NFO the National Farmers Organization invites the members of the viewing public to send it to their questions and comments regarding this program today and assures the viewing public that all questions and comments received will be incorporated into the succeeding programs wherever practicable and of course the National Farmers Organization invites all producers who's not yet joined to investigate the advantages and benefits of joining in our members efforts to improve the lots of every family type farmer tune in again next Sunday this time for another edition of your NFO Midwest Farm Report the views expressed on the preceding program do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of channel 11 [music]