NFO-169 (AV10668): US Farm Report: Special - All Commodity

U.S. Farm Report a public information program brought to you in the interests of agriculture rural business and the well-being of our nation by members of the National Farmers Organization in this area and others interested in having American agriculture receive cost of production plus a reasonable profit. The American farmers and ranchers are building a brighter future for agriculture through the National Farmers Organization. The organization that awoke America and represents the leadership of agriculture. U.S. Farm Report features as special guest Oren Lee Staley president of the National Farmers Organization the organization which has pioneered collective bargaining for American agriculture. The NFO commodity holding action is continuing to gain strength and is building in effect this holy action is the American farmers opportunity to put a price tag on their products in the same manner that every business man put a price tag on their products that he has to sell the decisions that the farmers make this hour. This day and this week in the days ahead are going to determine whether farmers continue to receive the present low prices or whether they put a price tag on their product and get a fair price for their products. No one else is going to do it for farmers and really no one else should. Farmers are the business men that represent American agriculture at the production level. They own the food product the food commodities first therefore they should be interested enough in their own business to put their price tag on their product. But as individuals they cannot do this. And I want to explain the reason it's necessary to have an all commodity holding action and the reason that our commodity holding action is building in strength and why it is going to achieve substantial results in addition to the results already achieved because farmers have no other hope no other alternative and the NFO has gained enough strength enough understanding and enough support that we're getting the greatest surge of new membership that we have ever gotten. And this is what counts because farmers cannot meet their problems as individuals. Today almost everyone is saying collective bargaining is necessary for the American farmer. Some people say yes we believe in bargaining power for farmers but we do not agree with the NFO method. Let's analyze those methods. The strategy behind the methods and why the methods are necessary that we're using. First I'd like to say I bought this suit of clothes from a good friend of mine. I liked the fella but I didn't like him well enough to pay the price that I paid for this suit of clothes. If he had let me choose a price that I was going to pay with a suit of clothes I am sure I would have been considerably less. So we have to remember that no one in this economy pays more for a product. Price wise then they have to and the price pay on everyone else's commodity except the farmer when he produces the commodity and sells it for the first time. Is the only one that says what will you get. After it leaves the farmer's hand then the food commodities start having price tags put on so there are several basic point that I want to discuss with you so you'll understand why we're having the all commodity holding action why we're asking all non members to join the NFO that are producers of agricultural commodities and why we keep stressing that we're not asking you to desert your present farmer organization because you don't need to. You can continue as members of your present farm organization that is your decision. All we're asking you to do is to join the NFO for the purpose of uniting your production so that you can use the NFO collective bargaining program to put a price tag on your product. Today the American farmers should realize that no one else is going to do it for them. No one else ever has. They've seen many hopes build they've seen those hopes fade now they have the opportunity to do it themselves. So collective bargaining is necessary today because there are only a few fundamental factors that we have to understand in order to be able to know why collective bargaining is necessary absolutely necessary. Today the American farmers are the only unorganized segment of an organized economy. Let me explain why the local grocery stores that you used to know around a small city have disappeared. They've been replaced by shopping centers with large supermarket and you see in these names on the front of the supermarkets appear whenever you travel in other cities far distant. And this is Rod volume buying volume buying to the level of the food commodity you and I. So that today this volume buying at the chain store level is largely determining the price that farmers receive for their product so this means an individual farmer can not compete with this type of economic strength let's use some other example. The corporate structure that manufactures the products that you and I you either on the farm or in the home or wherever they may be is a structure that has been built so that when the corporate structure at the manufacturing level manufactures a product they put the price tag there based on the cost of production plus a reasonable profit and then they establish local dealership not two in the same community of three but one in this community one in another community far enough apart so that there are enough potential customers and then they send out a suggested retail price. Now the local merchant doesn't have to follow it but if he goes over into the other dealer's territory and undercuts price too much for some reason somehow he loses his dealership. The working people are well-organized we've seen the schoolteachers making dramatic gains although they've been criticized just as the NFO has for the fact that they are not using the proper method. I've read editorials saying that the school teachers did have deplorable conditions the big metropolitan press sometimes has written editorials along this line. Some of the editorials have been favorable but everyone agreed on one point that the school teachers had not been treated for. But they said the school teachers shouldn't strike. They did not approve of their method but they are getting results results that they could not get as individual. And so it means that everyone else in this economy is organized except the American farmer. And as long as the American farmer remains unorganized he's going to get any weaker any weaker position because you have nothing to say about it shouldn't pass. Whether the price is going up on tractors next year or whether the price on anything else you buy is going up because I don't think any of us expect the large corporations manufacture the products that you and I need to lower their prices. They're going to maintain their profit level. I don't think that we're going to expect organized labor to reduce the price of wages. They're going to maintain their living standards though this means that the American farmer unorganized and with tremendous volume buying and selling power is the to our level yet in a weaker and a weaker position. For this reason collective bargaining in agriculture is an absolute necessity. And the NFO collective bargaining program offers the farmers their only hope to meet their problem. But the American farmers are the ones that have to make the decision. They have the opportunity they have the strength because they own their production first and they can put their price tag on their products. If they decide to do it. This decision has to be made by each and every individual farmer. He has to look at his investment. He has to look and decide whether he thinks farmers are being treated fairly or have been treated. And then he has to decide whether he wants more of what he's been getting or whether he wants to stop low low farm prices. This he cannot do himself but through the NFO collective bargaining program. He has the opportunity now to do that very thing. Stop his low prices. But first he has to join the NFO because we cannot legally solicit nor advise nonmembers. There are six basic point that must be carried out for collective bargaining to be successful in American agriculture. I'd like for you to reason with me and see if you agree with first. Farmers must organize to solve their problems. They can't solve their problems and then organize. It would be fine if we could all get together and decide that this is what we needed and this was what was fair. And then it would come about. In other words just get out the wishbone. But this is not going to come about because I want to refer back again to this suit of clothes. I like the follow that I bought the suit of clothes from but I didn't like him well enough to pay the price that I did. He had a price tag on his product but we cannot do this as individual farmers therefore we have to organize first. This is exactly what the NFO has been doing with a great surge of new members. The greatest surge of new members in the history of our collective bargaining program that we're now in 35 states is because farmers are realizing that it's business man. They must do something about their problems because no one else is going to do it for them. So the first point and that must be carried out in collective bargaining for the American farmer is that the farmers themselves must take the first step. They must join the NFO so that they can together use their production for the purpose of collective bargaining. The second step or the second point I should say is is that you must be able to bargain industry wide. We've had experience over the last nine years because nine years ago we started on our collective bargaining program. We've been the pioneers in collective bargaining in American agriculture. Practically no one thought it would even worker was necessary when we started but now we've built our organization to the thirty five state area. We've had the largest meetings of farmers ever been held in the nation the largest convention of farming and now the great sympathy and understanding of almost every farmer. But it takes more than sympathy and understanding it takes determination and courage to make collective bargaining work because it's a struggle between economic forces and the farmers have not had the economic strength put together they have it but unless it's used it doesn't accomplish anything. So this means you must be able as the second point the bargain industrywide. If you have a processor that has processing plants in 30 states with say 40 processing plants in 30 states you can't do anything about bargaining with that processor or that large company. If you're just in one state or in two or three states there's no chance you'd be very little better off than the individual farmer or the individual producer. So this means that the producer of agriculture commodities must build their organization over the entire agricultural area. It must be a structure that is coordinated so that your bargaining strength can be united for collective bargaining because there's a difference between collective bargaining than just bargaining power because the individual farmer goes to the marketplace and says What will you give me unless you use that bargaining power for the purpose of collective bargaining so that you're able to unite your strength then your strength will not be used. So the first step organized to solve your problem. You don't solve your problems and then organize. Second you must be organized industry wide with the NFO which is in this continuing to strengthen the organization and all the heavy agricultural producing areas. The third point you have to bring up in relative balance the pricing structure or the price. Let me use as an example which I've used many times so many other people in the NFO they view the point that just suppose the price of dairy products milk products alone was the only product that came up in price would be a lot of ranchers or black and blue fans trying to milk some of those old beef cows are think that if you just brought up the price of corn how soybean acreage would be shifted the corn so you must bring them all up in relative balance. And then there is no more advantage or incentive to shift from one commodity to the other. And so then if you're going to have increase production what you have to do is either one or two things increase the yield per acre or increase the. And with a hungry world that is not overfed but underfed we have a great opportunity but we are only going to make that opportunity work if we have the proper structure that not only can compete industry wide and not only compete on all commodities but also can have a structure which is able to meet the problems of developing new markets and maintaining present ones. Back again three points. First you must organize to solve your problem. You don't solve your problems and then organize. Secondly you must bargain industry wide. Third you must bring all commodities up in relative balance. And the fourth point the most misunderstood part of our collective bargaining program. But it's a real difference between between bargaining power and real collective bargaining. It's the difference between collective begging and collective bargaining if we do not have the courage as business men and women to say these products are ours and we will not sell them until we get our price our price tag then we don't have the courage to be real businessmen and women because I want to use this as an example suppose that all of the businessmen in the small community should say tomorrow morning we're going to take the price tags off of our product law supply and demand will operate in our town all price tags go off tomorrow. What do you think would happen if they announced this a day ahead of time. They wouldn't sell much the day they announced it but they sell a lot more. The next day at a lot lower price. The businessmen are two good business people two and tell it they even think about doing that. Suppose the working people said we must have another 25 cents an hour. We must have another week's vacation. But they said to manage but don't worry we'll never strike again. What do you think would have been an awful lot of people. Gray headed in rocking chairs worn out waiting for it to happen. So when they those that say yes we agree that collective bargaining is necessary in American agriculture but they say we do not agree with the NFO method. What they're really saying is that they undoubtedly are opposed to farmers putting a price tag on their product. The same as everyone else. Let's see how collective bargaining in American agriculture can work without a holding action. Let's take a look at Suppose we get all together all of us all farmers join. We all get together. We use the best statistics available and say these are the prices that we're entitled to. And these are the prices we must have. And then elected representatives go into the processors and buyers and say these are the prices we demand are El or else what we will deliver anyway. They all come out of a holding action then is nothing more than the farmers way to exercise their business like attitude toward the buyer other commodity. In other words a holding action is only a business man's way of putting a price tag on his product. You also have to be in a position to start bargaining here with what you have and then you meet the problems of marketing through the structure that you've built. But the next point after first organizing to solve your problem not following your problems and then organizing bargaining industry wide on all commodities then the use of the holding actually when necessary. The next point is what many people do not even understand that even exists. And that is you can do all the others but if your goals are not to achieve contracts that will give you stability then all the other efforts would be wasted. Therefore our goal and the goals that we're within reaching now are to get contracts that give us stability in the future because just a holding action in itself is not the end result of collective bargaining. It's only a step. And each holding action has brought success to NFO. Why. Because in collective bargaining you measure success by the amount of acceptance you get from processes. And we've gotten more acceptance after each holding action than we had before. They're holding I can begin this time with the tremendous support and cooperation of our members with a surge of new members. We are confident we're going to make substantial gains but farmers have the opportunity to really put the price tag on their products. All they have to do is to stop selling at the present low price. The sixth point is collective bargaining means farmers bargaining together and slowing together. And in this holding action we're doing more than we have in any other holding action because we're not only holding our products we're blocking our products together for nationwide block bargaining. We led off with grain because it took a longer period of time to have an effect with grain than it does other commodity meat to be added at an opportune time at a later date because it takes less time to have an effect with meat then milk to be added another later date because it takes less time to have an effect with milk than it does with meat. So that we can build a climax of effect on all commodities at the same time. So it would be truly an all commodity holding action designed to shut down the agricultural plant so farmers could put a price tag on their product. This is what we're doing. And these are the objectives that we're making great strides toward achieving the decision that the farmers make themselves whether to join the NFO or whether or not to we'll determine how much gains are made. So we have the decisions to make now. We've taken several steps in the green action we took these steps and are taking them now urging all of our members advising them to see all the grain that they have that is eligible for a loan advising them to go into the seed grain program 50 percent to show that not only we're talking about no price no production we mean it to sign up 50 percent but this is not far enough. We must then block our production together either through the NFO Green Bank where the grain cannot be sold for less than an hour and 50 cents a bushel on corn two dollars on wheat three dollars on soybean. Two dollars one hundred weight on green sorghum and then that member that says I want to decide when my grain is going to be so we have a program for him the end position grain sales program. He can but he has grain in the fifth period and then decide which period of time he wants his grain so we're blocking our production together on meet meet intention. We're blocking our dairy production together through our Phase 2 program. All the programs follow out the principle of collective bargaining so I want to say to. We're not asking farmers to desert their present farm organization. We're just asking you to join the NFO for the purpose of uniting your production so you can use the NFO collective bargaining program to put a price tag on your product. Do you realize that there's only about five days weeks supply had only 24 hours. Milk supply ahead plus the ability the industry to use some of the dried milk products to blend to stretch it out. Some farmers have the strength all they have to do is use it if they use the NFO and say we're not going to sell. They're going to get their price. The final thought I want to leave with you is the NFO has the experience. NFO is offering farmers the opportunity to stop their low prices now by refusing to sell their products at these present low prices. But you cannot look back over your shoulder next summer and say I wish I were to help. I wish I had joined the NFO and become a part of the effort now is the time that all of Agriculture should and must mobilize its strength with all members joining the NFO so we can all put a price tag on our products together. U.S. Farm Report has presented an address by President of the National Farmers Organization or Unley Staley. Members of the National Farmers Organization invite you to tune in again next week at the same time for more facts on agriculture and rural America which is the gear wheel in our economy that produces the majority of our nation's new wealth. The farm income butter and sets the nation's prosperity and the National Farmers Organization represents new thinking and a new generation of farmers.