NFO 142 (AV10639): Why the NFO?

video tape to film transfer made by WTTW recording services Chicago [music] the following program is paid for by the National Farmers Organization why the NFO is presented to acquaint farmers of this area with collective bargaining for agriculture here is the Indiana National Director for the NFO mr. Glenn Utley thank you and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen I want to take this time to thank you for letting me come into your homes and explain the National Farmers Organization to you I know there's been lots of meetings held in this area but the still there's a lot of farmers and have a misunderstanding about the NFO and in this short time this afternoon I will try to explain the main parts of it to you now what we're doing in the national farmers organization is nothing more than what other segments of the economy are doing in other words we're trying to get into position to price the commodities that we have on our farms instead of taking the market and seeing what when you give me farm we're the only segment of the economy that actually produce anything and then take it to market and see what would you give me for it in other words we let somebody else price our commodities and we want to get into position to price them ourselves through collective bargaining now collective bargaining is not new to agriculture some segments use it some of the dairy industry is using collective bargaining now and it will work in all segments of Agriculture if we as farmers will apply it so all we have to do is organize as farmers and then we can do the job now the reason the farmer has to organize is because it's being forced on him it is at the point today whether it doesn't make any difference whether you like organization or whether you don't we're living in an organized economy everything that we buy as farmers we buy from organization everything that we sell we sell to organization so as an individual operating in an organized economy you're not going to operate it in it too long that's reasoning we're getting less and number in agriculture every year so that is why that the farmer has to organize now they've always told the farmer that the reason he couldn't get a price was overproduction we're producing too much I like to go into that just a little I don't have the time to cover the whole subject and talk about this overproduction just a little especially in the meat and we haven't in this country for the last 10 to 12 years produced enough of meat to feed us we have had to import meat at the rate of a billion to a billion 400 million pounds per year I like to go back to the years of '55, '56, and '59 when we had 10 said all that was years they told us we had too many hogs they didn't know what to do with them but still in those years we imported into this country from foreign countries nearly a billion pounds of meat now I'm quoting you that from government figures livestock and meat statistics which are official government documents and anybody can send and get them it gives you the imports exports and all and we've imported nearly eight nine times more meat into this country than we've exported now the reason for it is as the ones that control our market or your corporate agriculture your big feed lots they have to have cheap feed to operate those lots so they had to get in control of the grain situation to have that cheap feed so the big packers the big chain stores is what controls these lot they are also the ones that are importing this meat from foreign countries and as they import this meat from foreign countries that's that much grain that we're not feeding in this country its grain that we're saving if we was feeding the meat we should be feeding I don't think we're producing anymore enough of rain defeated but as we don't feed it we take it over hang it over the grain man's head to hold the price of the grain down and then those corporate setups how cheap feed to put in to their integrated set up now that's that free market that you hear so much about that we in agriculture operate on it's that supply and demand that you hear so much about that we're supposed to operate on supply and demand doesn't work it never did work and it never will work for the simple reason the people that's buying our products are organized and they're highly organized that's something that the farmer don't want to forget so we're gonna have to get in a position to price now people tell us an agriculture that we can't price at the farmer shouldn't price but I don't see why you shouldn't all other segments of the economy do and the very people that's telling us in agriculture that we can't get together in price our people that's on a guaranteed salary or they don't have any production to sell that's the people that's telling us or they're either buying our production that's the people that's telling us that we can't do it now we can do it we're going to do it because that is why that we're organizing that's why we're getting together we built an organization here within a matter of a few years that I think we in agriculture can be proud of we have done a lot now to get back to pricing that's something that scares the people in the city to death when the farmer talks about getting a price you gonna price his commodities everybody says then the fellow in town can't eat well I think we ought to look at that a little bit they talk about the consumer don't do anything to hurt the consumer we don't want to do anything to hurt the consumer because we realize that he has to eat the product that we're producing but again that consumer is buying his meat today his groceries cheaper per hours labor than they ever bought it in the history of this country now agriculture is getting less we're getting less for our products every day now you have to think about it in this way we as farmers are consumers too and the only way that we can consume is get a price for what we have to sell if we don't get that price we don't consume and we're the biggest consumers in the nation so I wonder if the consumer in the town will just assume pay a little more for his groceries put his fellow man back to work because that's what will happen when you get Agriculture's buying power back that unemployed man in the city will go back to work and as long as agriculture don't have their buying power you're going to continue to have people laid off in the city because there's never been a time in the history of this country that agriculture was prosperous the nation as a whole was prosperous if agriculture gets to where it's not prosperous then your nation goes down now to show you the shape of Agriculture's in we're getting less and less of that consumer dollar all of the time in fact today we're getting just about that consumer dollar what we got in the heart of the depression of the 30s in other words we're getting about 38 cents of that consumer dollar which is not enough to let the farmer make any money and pays expenses and educating children so again it all comes back to price is our trouble in agriculture where consumers in agriculture we're the biggest we have to have that price to do it now they talk about this surplus that we have produced in this country I would like to hit on that just a little bit how much of it actually is a surplus do you ever read anywhere in any paper any magazine how much of that is a reserve for this country I wonder to listen to some of the papers and one thing another whether we need to reserve for this nation they're not seemingly we don't you never hear it you never hear anything about a result of food it's all a surplus now the reserves of war material that we hear a lot about these days is costing the government more money than what the so called surpluses in the three C's costing now is that reserve of war material that is costing so much more money then the reserve of food is costing is it holding the price down to the plant that is manufacturing that war material I don't think it is is it holding the price down to the labor that's working in that plant I don't think it is but this little reserve of food that we're producing here in the nation they're hanging it over the farmer's head the holy price down now what is the difference when you stop to think about those things well about the only difference is that manufacture is saying it takes so much money for me to offer it that rate this plant or I don't open the door the labor in that plant is saying it takes so much per hour for me to work in this plant or I don't work the farmer on the other hand is saying what will you give me that's the reason it's holding the farmers price down now again I just wonder if anybody here in the city of Indianapolis or any of the other cities around Indianapolis would want us in agriculture to attempt to produce just what you thought you'd consume in one year that you wouldn't want any reserve I don't think you would I don't think you would want the farmer to try to produce just what you thought we could eat in this nation in one year now we're only producing about six to seven percent more per year than we're consuming right now now should we get much closer now that is all in green and a little bit of dairy products and if we were feeding the meat that we should be feeding in this country instead of importing it I think then you could see that maybe we're not producing enough a grain in this country but that is way the corporations are controlling agriculture I have been all the way since first of the year from Nebraska to the Pennsylvania border holding meetings in an fo there's a lot of territory there I've seen a lot of commercial feed lots there's more of them through that territory now than they were a year ago in other words the average farmer is losing his market we don't have too long to get together in agriculture and organize surprise what we have to sell that's the only way we're gonna stay in business not to the business people I would like to speak a little to you of what we're trying to do in agriculture and what it means to you now there was about 200 representatives of the large corporations of this country that met in Washington DC to solve the farm problem they said the way to solve it was moved two million farmers off of the farm send them in the industry just get him off of agriculture get him out of farming they said the way to do it was to lower farm prices for some I'll start mom anyway to get them all now how is that gonna solve the farm problem to you people in the small country towns how's that gonna solve your problem agriculture is what keeps you in business I never owned a business in town the small cities but I don't believe a business without customers would be too good and that's your customers that they're talking about moving off of the farm in other words nearly half of the farmers that they're gonna move off and move into industry now they didn't say anything about the four to six million people that depend on them two million farmers for a living and that is you business people there's gonna pay the interest in that local bank who's gonna buy the shoes in that store who's gonna buy the groceries at those families bought the automobile that's your customers they're going to be gone they're going to move them into a larger city in the industry then it didn't say anything about the five to six million people that's unemployed in the cities today they didn't mention that so add it all up you've got somewhere between 15 to 20 million people unemployed in this country what are you gonna do with them I don't know they didn't say that but I have to guess at what they're gonna do with them the thing that I can see and what I think they're gonna do with them I'm gonna try to work make a living that's what I'm gonna try to do because I got a family to rate so it looks to me like they aim to throw us on a labor market to bust labor then they'll have cheap labor to operate those corporations their factories they'll also have cheap labor to operate these corporate farms that are left and you can bet your bottom dollar and if they get rid of 2 million of US farmers that the farm that will be left will be controlled by the big corporations of this country and I'm thinking that's not too good for the country they'd like to get this land in large hunks they may be a lot of farmers sitting out here today that think they have their farms and haven't paid for maybe a little money in the bank that they're alright but the thing that you want to stop and think about is can you keep compete with the corporate structures when they take agriculture over so I think you can see that the small businessman what we're trying to do in agriculture means as much to you as it does to the farmer because if we go out of business the small business is going to go with us now how we're going to price in agriculture that's the thing that everybody wants to know collective bargaining that's what we want to do it we want to sit down to the table if the processing industry of this country sit across the table of them we're doing it now we're getting contract sign we want to continue to do it that away listen to their problems tell them our get together sign the contracts to stabilize this market not only now but in the future and we're getting it done we're making headway at it but if they don't continue to sign then there is only one thing left for the farmer to do and that's whole those commodities off of the market until we do get a price now I realize to some of the people that holding food off of the market sounds a little bad to you it sounds wrong but now let's stop and think about that just a little bit I've had people say to me well that's un-American well if it's un-American to hold that food off of the market then all America is on American because that is the way America operates they operate through holding actions and that's all we're trying to do again is to get in position to operate like other segments of the economy are operating that's why I've always said there's nobody I don't care who it is can put up a decent argument again what we're trying to do because we're only trying to get in a position to operate like other segments are I don't care what it is today that we buy it has a holding axe they hold it for a price whether it's groceries meat automobiles tractors clothes whatever it is that's the American people's way of doing business it's through a holding action hold it for a price well that's just what we're doing we're trying to get into that same position that we can price our commodities so that we can live make enough of money on these farms to stay on them so as we won't be going to town and taking that city boys job he's that place he should be working there not some farmer working there and farming - but Agriculture's got to the place to where you can't hardly make a living on these farms and the fellows go to town and get them a job and if there's getting a price they wouldn't be doing that so that's all we're trying to do is to get in that position the price and it's not gonna hurt that consumer if everybody takes their proportionate share you can raise farm income ten or twelve percent and it only makes about a four or a five percent raise to the consumer now if everybody doesn't take their proportionate share then shut the farmer continue to take less because somebody between the farmer and the consumer has got a little crooked should we as farmers continue to take less to protect that man I think probably that's a little bit of the consumers fault maybe the consumer better be looking in and see who is hooking him between him and the farmer that's part of his job we can't afford to continue to take less because somebody between us and the consumer is taking more and he's just shared so we're gonna have to quit worrying in agriculture about somebody else we're gonna have to begin to worried about our own business our own family that's their duty we're going to have to price to protect them that's our duty in other words once the American farmer makes up his mind to say that here is the production here's the price you're going to pay it for the lack it or not from that day on the farmer will get his just share out of this economy but until you do we're not gonna get it we're gonna continue to slide down so if we have to hold that food off of the market then there's nothing wrong with it but cut to get that price because that's the way everybody else does how does labor win a strike in the meat industry and I have nothing wrong with it but how do they win that strike they win it by not killing that meat by not delivering that meat in other words they win it with the farmers bargaining power how does milk colored people that handle milk how do they win a strike when they have a strike they win it but not delivering that milk they win it by holding it off of the market that's how they win their wage raises but still they don't want the farmer to do it they don't want him to do that but I don't care what it is what we produce on these farms whether it's milk its meat its corn its soybeans whatever it is just the minute it leaves the farmers hands every hand it passes through from their own it's used for bargaining power everybody that handles it they'll hold it for a price they put a price tag on it and they hold it for that price they use it for bargaining power until it reaches the consumers table or wherever it might go but still they're telling us as farmers to not use it it's all right they say for everybody else to use it it leaves the farmers hand but don't you as a farmer use it you better wake up you got about 90 95 percent of the investment in it the rest of these people that handle that food has got from about 5 to 10 and that's the only bargaining power you have and if we lose the power of this production that we're producing on these farms if the corporation's get control of this production before the farmer does then you've lost your power and I'm not too sure maybe that you haven't lost your freedom when you get right down to it so you see nobody can argue again it too much because we're only doing what other segments of the economy are doing we're only operating our own business instead of saying what will you give me we're just getting in that same position to operate like our people in town all business all industry operates in other words operating like business people should operate not say what will you give me and there's nothing wrong it's perfectly legal we're organizing the organization under the capper-volstead Act which is federal law that gives the farmer the right as producers to organize and price his commodities that he produces on that farm and that's all we're trying to do we can't price it too high a lot of you out there worry about well were you gonna have sense enough to stop if you start getting a price we'll all can stop us we can't price it above the parity level what we should have because then the Secretary of Agriculture can file injunction against now as far as the control of the organization you hear a lot about losing your freedom when you join me in their fold I can't see what you do because we're only getting together to price that pricing has to be done by the farmer the contracts has to be approved by a two-thirds vote of the members so I don't think whenever two-thirds of the farmers has to vote on something I don't feel as a farmer I'm losing my freedom I feel I'm keeping it because I don't think two-thirds of the farmers is going to vote for something that is not good for us you never did see it they never did two-thirds of them vote for anything that wasn't good farm so I think we're keeping your freedom whenever we can do that the contracts has to be come down to your county levels be approved there by this two-thirds vote before they can ever go into effect so the organization is strictly controlled by the farmer from the bottom up not the top down I want to make that plain and we have our own surplus disposal in the organization through this the government is going to have to make up their mind what a reserve and what a surplus is that they're going to have to do you can't find that out today everything that we produce is a surplus according to what you hear through this the government is going to have to make up their mind what's the reserve and what's the surplus that reserve of war material that I was telling you about that cost so much money it's up to all of us the farmer the man in town and all the pay taxes to buy that reserve of war material then this reserve of food that is left over are the reserve of food that we need it's up to all of us to pay taxes to buy that to all of us not just the farmer then what is left over from that preserve we as farmers produce it it's up to us to take care of it what's left over from that reserve and we can do it with just this very small checkoff from each producer in other words let's go back and take corn as an example I'll just take the one because that's about all we have time for they say the reason that we don't get a dollar and a half a bushel for that corn is because of this fear 4% that we're producing per year more than we're consuming well let's get the dollar and a half for the corn that the market is going to consume let's take a checkoff off of each producer to keep that three or four percent back here we'd still have all dollar 46 right in there for a corn we'd still have the three or four percent back here to do with whatever we could find but the way it is that three or four percent coldness to get a dollar or dollar in a dime for that corn so I think that would be a good investment and the same way the same thing will work on all farm commodities your livestock your milk and all so but we don't aim to destroy that what's left over that's not our idea at all we aim to put it into the hungry stomachs in this world one way shape or form we don't aim to power it up here let it rot make millionaires out of some buying the storage business now the total idea are the answer I might say to the farmers problem is your production that you're producing out there on that farm what you're going to do with that production is going to solve Agriculture's problems are going to turn it over to the corporation's of this country just whichever you as a farmer wants to do you're either gonna continue to take that production to the chain stores and the processors and say what do you give me to let them use it to beat you and your neighbor down with or you're gonna use that production to put on the side of your neighbor and price it that is a decision that you have to make well I think my time is drawing pretty well to a close there'll be a lot of meetings in NFO attend them come out everybody's welcome and I thank you for letting me come into your home this afternoon [music] the preceding program why the NFO was paid for by the National Farmers Organization and was presented to acquaint farmers in this area with collective bargaining for agriculture the speaker was mr. Glen Utley Indiana National Director for the NFO [music]