NFO-172: Meat Action Special Report

welcome to us farm report a public information program brought to you in the interest 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 the special report on nfo all commodity holding action the organization which has pioneered collective bargaining for American agriculture here now is president of the national farmers organization or unleash daily the decision that farmers and producers of agricultural commodities are making this minute this hour this day and in the days and weeks ahead are going to determine the price as farmers receive for their agricultural products from now on the reason I say this is that we're down to the core of our all commodity holding action we have of course led off with grain this has had a tightening effect then we added meat and the reason I say we're down to the core of our all commodity holding action is that when you add meat to the all commodity holding action you can expect several things to happen first you can expect all of the buyers all of the processors to do everything possible to keep receipts appearing normal this means that receipt figures are built but receipt figures are only figures what really counts is how much production is going through plants since being processed we keep a good detailed report on what is happening and we know that what happens first and a meat part of the all commodity holding action as in all meat commodity holding actions is it the supply that is under the control of our processors in feedlots under contract and producers that are in financial distress sell their products but what happens is that the buyers and the processors have to use their supply and spread it out in such a you know such a manner that they can make receipts appear normal this they have done now the production that remains that is now available for processing as far as cattle hogs and sheep are concerned are in the hands of the farmers and agricultural producers that own them and the only thing that the buyers and the processors can do is to keep telling the owners of farm commodities that the holding action is not having any effect all they can do is to convince the producers of agricultural commodities that there's no use trying this is the only weapon that the buyers really have because farmers and agricultural producers own the products that are now still available for processing we have continued to bill strengthen the all commodity holding action it has a growing effect a certain supply is decreased this day then another day and another day and with only a five day total meat supply in storage and about three days in transit it means that you keep eating in on the supply that's available and as this happens the buyers and the processors become more aware of what's happening and at the same time they become more desperate farmers and owners of agricultural commodities we really have all the power in their hands right now right this minute to put a price tag on their products what they do and what they decide to do is going to determine the prices they get from now on we cover a 40 state area we cover almost all with a heavy agricultural producing area this means that the strength in one area is added to the strength of other areas I want to try to explain to you why a holding action is necessary first the man that sold me this coat had a holding action in effect he had a price tag on it and there's one principle you have to remember that in this economy that no one pays more than they have to for a product I like the photo that sold me this coat but I wouldn't have paid him what he charged me if I had determined the price he was going to charge me and so this means that we have to realize that what we're talking about in a holding action is a battle of economic strength today the buyers of agricultural commodities are volume buyers they buy in many states and because of the fact they buy in many states means that they have tremendous economic strength really the chain stores because of their volume buying to a great degree in some cases to a complete degree determine the price is going to be paid for your and my commodities as agricultural producers and farmers but the only way that we can get a price for our products is to say this is our price tag this is a price we must have before we sell our commodity we're always offering our commodities in a holding action for sale at our price and contracts that'll give us stability in the future so the decision that farmers and agricultural producers are making this minute this hour this day and in the days and weeks ahead is going to determine what price they get for their products if you're willing to continue to go to the marketplace and say what will you give me as individuals competing with each other and why do I say competing with each other because that's what you're doing then you will not get a fair price now when you say farmers and producers competing with each other what are you really saying you're saying that a group of you might want the price to go up and you know that the prices are unfair so you decide you're not going to sell your products until you get a fair price until you get the price you think is fair but soon as the price starts up some of the producers start selling then others start selling very quickly so that they'll sell before the price goes down and this has been the history of Agriculture you then kill each other's price and when you're dealing with large volume buyers they are the ones that are determining the price they know how to raise the market and then lower it one of the first things that happened when we added meat to the all commodity holding action was that pork bellies the cash price was about 30 350 in fact it was thirty three fifty two rather large Packers offered pork bellies for 30 150 now what do you think the reason was the reason was to kill the price and when this happens just as it happens in Grain when you have a supply shortening the large buyers then use the hedging to their advantage to either buy up or sell in such a manner as to keep the price at third level therefore the only way that farmers and agricultural producers can do anything about this situation is for all of them to join together in the nfo and say these products are ours we own them first and we're businessmen and women and we're not going to sell our products until we get our price that's business then I've heard others criticize nfo bargaining is needed but we don't approve of nfo methods how does anyone visualise bargaining is going to really come about unless you use a holding action to use your strengths to prove to the buyers that they must have your production and that it can be bought from one individual here and one individual there but must be bought from a block of production that has been blocked together maybe you visualize that you can just go to the marketplace and say what will you give me that you can just organize and then do nothing about it but I ask you what would happen in your community if all the local businessmen said tomorrow we're going to take the price tags off of our commodities and that we're going to let the law of supply and demand operate what do you think it happened I'd predict they wouldn't sell much tomorrow but the next day they'd sell a lot more when their price tags went off but their price would be a way down so this means they realize that a price tag is a necessity suppose the working people said to management we have to have two bits an hour more for our labor but we'll never strike again what do you think would happen you know they'd to go out there rocking chairs waiting for it to happen what we're saying is that farmers are business men and women they own their products first and if they do not put their price tag on their products nobody is going to pay them a fair price because we are in an organized group in an organized economy and this is the reason that we're giving farmers and agricultural producers the opportunity to say we're not going to sell our products until we get our prices and our contracts and that's only good business VN fo can not solicit the support of non-members nor can it advise non-members this is not legal therefore we have to ask the non-members to become members of the nfo but there's more reasons than that really because collective bargaining in American agriculture has to be carried out with six specific steps first farmers must organize to solve their problems they don't solve their problems and then organize I think this should be obvious to anyone the lines of community occasion between the large companies is excellent faster than lightning so you have to have an organizational structure that can have a communication structure in order to compete in today's economy secondly you must be able to bargain industry-wide why how do you think you can affect a company that has 40 plants in 30 states if you're just in one state or in two states you can't therefore you cannot bargain successfully unless you're bargaining industry-wide third you must be able to work on all the major commodities and many of the miners why just suppose the price of corn alone went up you know what had happened there'd be a lot of soybean acreage shifted to corn or suppose just the price of soybeans goes up corn acreage we shifted to soybeans you can go right on down the line with all commodities in this manner therefore you must be able to work on all commodities and bring them up in relative balance and then those who say there'll be more increased production has to have to either say there'll be more production per acre or more acres so this is vital importance if this is understood the fourth point is and and this is a point we're using right now is to use your economic strengths to counteract the existing economic strength if you do not use a holding action this is like building a locomotive without an engine the strength is there but it's not used all of you can go to the marketplace and say what will you give me and you'll still have the same as effect as you do as individuals and of course the fifth point is contracts and contracts must be secured if you are to maintain the games you've made but they accomplished so many more points there are three points there we're stressing must be carried out in talks and conversations with processors there must be minimum price there must be a pricing formula and there must be a supply basis now why minimum price this alone has an effect of reducing supply on many commodities why today on cattle for example processors will be it up for 1,200 pound steers in a given period of time then when you feed them to 1,200 pounds they want a thousand a thousand fifty pound steers the production the tonnage has been built but with a minimum price this means that there would not be incentives on the buyers part the processors part to bid up on heavier hogs and heavier cattle unless the supply was really needed and then in our contract of course in the pricing formula nfo members would keep pace and come up with a rise on the others accordingly so this puts the pricing responsibility for the first time and accordance with supply on the processors as well as everyone else and so this accomplishes many purposes the sixth point is and this is the reason we are asking the non-members to join now why collective bargaining means more than just join collective bargaining means farmers bargaining together and selling together I actually believe that if I could set in your living room and visit with you and answer your questions but almost every one of you would join the nfo this is impossible we want you to ask this questions right into our nice dough officer Corning Iowa in fo Corning Iowa for questions of why we're doing this or why we're doing that we have a reason but I have with me today Jean Potter whose home is in northern Illinois in northern Illinois where he lives and were they were very heavy in the livestock production in Jean has a viewpoint that I want you to hear it's really more than a viewpoint it's an experience he had this last evening this thing with some large cattle feeders Jean has a degree in economics from the University of Illinois and I want Jean to tell you what these people said to him they want something done but there's a hesitancy and so Jean I like for you to give your viewpoint on the basis of the discussion you had last evening Lauren Lee it was basically the fact that there was a total agreement on the problems on the conditions that producers faced in agriculture today but there was a concern on the part of the producers and attendance at this meeting about a loss of freedom if they should join the National Farmers Organization it's inevitable that the structure the marketing structure that we know today is going to change it has already undergone some terrific changes and we can see many major changes coming up in the near future and most everyone will agree that there are three basic areas that this change will follow one of three one of course is a corporate agricultural structure we have seen it today in poultry production in other commodities throughout the country a corporate agriculture vertical integration some people call it a second choice is a government regulated agriculture and this might take one of two basic directions one what is normally known as a socialized agriculture or to a government regulated bargaining program and thirdly it can be an organized agriculture by producers or collective bargaining now any one of these three would put agriculture on a sound economic basis but I think as producers we have to decide which of the three which of the three give us the most opportunity to do something about our condition and have some control over our destiny so it isn't a matter of whether we're going to lose some freedom sure any producer would like to be an independent as it was in two hundred years ago out on the frontier without any regard for a marketing expense but this isn't the condition today our economy has changed it's going to be necessary for producers to accept some responsibility it's a matter then of not if there's going to be a change there is going to be a change it's whether and which change this is going to be which one offers the least amount of undesirable characteristics and I think all producers will agree that they want to be a part of the structure in the future and corporate agriculture wouldn't give them that opportunity I don't think any of us want to be told by big government what we should do and this gives us one alternative Collective Bargaining in agriculture certainly Jean I think this is so true and I have here a copy of the membership agreement this copy of the membership agreement is available to any non-member that wants to read it it's written in layman language that you and I can understand and it does not only protect the rights of the individual member it absolutely gives them the authority and the power to make the final decisions by their vote and all they have to do is to join the nfo in order to bring their production together so that they and their neighbors can bring organizational strength to American agriculture but right now we're in the midst of an all commodity holding action this is like a man that goes to a station to catch a train he knows that the Train is unscheduled and if he's not there when the train stops at the station it's gone and so we're in an all commodity holding action now it will do any good next summer to have an effect right now to wish you had have done it now is the time because we're down to the core of the holding action the processors and buyers have used all their production it's now in the farmers hands the producers of agricultural commodities and if they do not sell their production now and they keep it and they say this is our price tag it will take long for them to get it but the decision they make this minute this hour and in the days and weeks ahead is going to determine what price they get for their products I want to ask you a question who do you think wants to see an fo win do you think the buyers want to see an fo win do you think Commission buyers want to see an fo win do you think processors want to see an fo win no I can tell you who wants to see an fo win in fo members and sympathetic farmers but just to be sympathetic as farmers is not enough because we need your leadership we need your strength and your production this very minute because we are winning and we can tie down our entire gains contracts and our prices and many local businessmen want to see nfo win now bankers PCA people Y accounts receivable and many local businesses a hundred two hundred thousand dollars twice as much some cases as the business is worth they know that farmers cannot pay off those bills unless they get a price for the production's they now own and that's the reason we're asking you to join the nfo now so you can hold your production for your price and your contracts because the production you have to sell now is what's going to either leave your bills at the local business places unpaid or your loans on paper you have to get a price for your production now I want to show you a map we're here in national headquarters in fo Corning Iowa a small town rural town with a staff of almost a hundred people here in the office people in the field all farmers members of nfo that have been willing to make the sacrifices to leave their homes so I want to show you a map to point out what we're really doing and what it means and the strength that is being mustered so at this time I want to show you a map that can show these very points to you first I want to point out that this is nfo victory control center then I want to point to this map of the United States where our organization extends now from Maine clear across clear out to California and then from the state of Washington clear across the down into Florida now each of these areas are set off into marketing areas where members have been elected as members of bargaining committees to meet with processes and in each of these areas we have a member a farmer that is what we call marketing area bargaining chief they are in control of the situation to this point they pass communication between members back to the nfo headquarters here at Corning Iowa but think about a processor that has a plant here and here and here and dot it all around Lenny has a plant down here and as the supply shortens he has to pull production from one area to another this means that farmers have the strength but they have to use it but this area here shows all over the United States the strength that we have been building and hitting the heavy agricultural producing areas and I would like to ask you a question you undoubtedly know an nfo member close to you have you seen them lose any of their freedom have you thought that what they're trying to do is not only to help themselves but to help you also and that every member I know over the nfo would like for you as a non-member to become a member now there's a meeting in every county throughout a 40 state area now on every Monday night and so I asked you to go if you're a non-member to a member of the NFL and tell them you would like to go to the NF o meeting with them don't wait for them to I asked you to go but tell them you want to be a part of this effort because you do not believe either that farmers are being treated right we have the opportunity now but we have to act now in each of these counties we have elected committees for bargaining and dairy meat and grain five elected on each committee the County officers elected then set off into zones and marketing areas this means thousands upon thousands of people as a part in participating in our bargaining I want to talk to you heart to heart for just a moment we are making gains we're gaining strength and they all come out of the holding action we don't watch day by day fluctuations in price or receipt these can be maneuvered to try to kill farmers desire and hope we're making tremendous gains and we're confident we're going to achieve contracts and our price in Grain we're blocking our grain production together for nationwide block bargaining we're using and urging our members to seal their grain to get as much money as they could anyway by selling it but by also retaining ownership by using the loan program we've advised our members to sign up 50% in the feed grain program this means you can cut back your planting 50% of the feed grain base you tie these all together and we're certain that we can reach our goals of a dollar and fifty cents a bushel on corn two dollars on wheat three dollars on soybeans 225 100 weight on grain sorghum and comparable prices on other grain commodities with the strength of the all out of a holding action building we know that the supply is now in the hands of farmers as far as cattle hogs and sheep are concerned we're preparing to add other commodities at opportune times to build strength so we'll be truly an all commodity holding action so I ask you if you're not a member join the NF oh now why NF o is leading the fight NF o was giving farmers the opportunity we could have gone along just like we had been but we wanted to give you an opportunity to put a price tag on your products so we're not asking you to desert your present farm organizations we're just asking you to join the NF o for the purpose of uniting your production for collective bargaining through the NF o program so you your neighbors and farmers all over these states can say these are our prices we own the production first we know food supplies are getting shorter but it's not our desire to run people out of food but if it happens it'll be because processors have refused to pay farmers their price tag the decision you make this minute this day this hour and in the days and weeks ahead are going to decide what your prices are going to be no one else can do it for you no one else is it's up to you u.s. farm report has presented this special report on the NF o all commodity action with president of the national farmers organization or unleash daily members of the national farmers organization invite you to tune in again next week at this time for more facts on Agriculture and Rural America which is a gear wheel in our economy that produces the majority of our nation's new wealth the farm income pattern sets the nation's prosperity and the national farmers organization represents new thinking in a new generation of agricultural producer