NFO-238 (AV10741): US Farm Report: Sheep, Spuds and Sagebrush

[music] hi everybody and welcome to us farm report the basic subject of this week's show is agriculture in the state of Idaho and I'm delighted to welcome back to u.s. farm report as my special guest today the recently reelected national vice-president of NFO Erhard Pfingsten Fink a pleasure to have you with us to be here as you know Fink the US farm report crew took a field trip recently into the state of Texas California Washington Oregon Idaho those great northwestern agricultural states and we have today some film on our show that we would like to show everybody looking in so at this time let's move to the state of Idaho and meet a young progressive NFO farmer Carl Esselmen what attracted you to NFO originally carl? well really to start with I was not in favor of it through that milk holding action dumping milk I thought that the NFO told the members what to do and one neighbor his brother-in-law had joined and and he said well the next time there's a meeting close let's go and see just what it's about so we did and as soon as I found out that it was up to the members to do what they felt they needed to do I joined and I within two or three months while I started getting a little active in it and by last fall I just got spending all my time in their fall and then this spring we chartered in February we chartered a two-county and I was elected president and then in July we had our district convention and I got elected president of the first congressional district here in the state and I really been pretty active in it ever since have you been able to feel some positive effects through the county yes we are holding the grain in the county real well even non-members have gone along and held their grain I can see a real change in the attitude in just the last few months carl what is it that keeps the non-nfo farmer that keeps from joining when you run into a farmer that just won't join what are his reasons for not joining around here a few years ago there was we raised a quite a bit of sweet corn hybrid sweet corn in this area and a few years ago they got together and we're going to get a better price and they just took all the sweet corn contracts out of this area and went to Washington and left these people setting for a year and they just won't join they're just afraid that if they get in and and we start working for a contract they're gonna lose any contracts they've got and I don't know they're just afraid anymore there's been so many different organizations in here try to do something and it just fell flat well aren't some of these farmers about to go under yes matter of fact one of one of our members I just talked to him this morning and he's been foreclosed on and another one couldn't make it he finally sold out here just a while back and there's a lot of them that I've talked to a lot of people and they're just worried what to do they don't know what to do and they're just getting to the point they're just ready to give up before the mouse do that was a portion of our visit with Carly Esselmen near Boise Idaho on the occasion of our recent u.s. farm report field trip to the Pacific Northwest some weeks after this visit to Boise we have the opportunity to talk with Carl Esselman again this time at the National Convention of the National Farmers Organization in Louisville Kentucky in December and here's the report at that time that Carl eEsselman gave us Carl how's everything in the great state of Idaho well I think it's starting to move real good we're having a [unclear] out there it's it's really started you know I can't tell you how much we enjoyed coming out to visit you I think that all of the people are looking in should know that we came to the state of I know recently on or us farm report and Carl here was most cooperative and most hospitable and we enjoyed very much talking to you at that time you were quite optimistic about NFO and some of the accomplishments around the Boise area and in your state what's been happening lately about the latest thing we've had right in my area we moved some pinto beans this is the first contract we've had on pinto beans and nobody believed we could do it now and we got three car loans out where there's three warehouses there and we moved one out of each warehouse and it really affected the price i bet it did when we started this we went to Twin Falls which is the major producing area over there in the eastern part of the state and held a meeting on a Thursday evening the next morning we got back from the price of beans to jump 25 cents in our area yeah so we had another meeting on Saturday night to make some more plans and on Monday morning that was up another 25 cents so then we got a contract and two hours before our first load went out the price jumped another 50 cents on us and they jumped above what we were getting of course because they had to be our price yeah then it came back down below where we've got 'em now how's membership going some of the areas are really starting to move and we're picking up new members all the time and there's a I've really seen a difference in the feelings of the farmers around their attitude towards the in it for when collective bargaining in general I was going to say there was another organization had a meeting but they were also talking the same line i see yeah and really the people I think are are getting a little closer it's easier to talk to them all the time this is what we really found all through the northwest and through California and down in Texas and through the Midwest we've been the feeling this this matter of membership on the rise for NFO and opposition on the decline and prestige for the organization on the rise that's right and these are very important factors of course as we know well it is to me and of course the farmers have got it more further into the position that they've got to have a price that's all there is to it we just can't keep going there sugar beet acreage this year their yield was down now there's almost a certainty there's going to be a cut in acreage next year no and this is really affecting the people have you cleared out any sagebrush lately no we haven't anymore that boy I tell you Carl comes from sagebrush country folks that country around there before irrigation was pretty desert like oh boy it just won't even grow a good sagebrush are these right ok gets up tall but it takes you years to do it but when it's cleared and farmed properly and the other good farmers of that area are able to do it's beautiful country really is really well you can get up on the hill and look down over and it looks like a paradise you know the the family farm we visited there were what four or five brothers had more brothers in the father what was their name Herman Ted Braun family yes how are they why they're fine and I loved them at convention no Ted's brother died then they couldn't make it they had to go to his funeral oh sorry to hear that we bought some cattle from Brauns you know and they're getting their cattle in off the range I understand and we're trying to get the rest of them well like all of the NFO farmers we met on our trip they were most hospitable and wonderful people and Carl when you get back home I want you to be sure to make a point to say hello to all of them from us on US Farm Report yeah sure well I sure will McCall first the great matter of fact I probably see Herman well next week we're having a district meeting you'll carry the message I sure will it's been real good seeing you again it's been a pleasure of seeing you fellows again yeah we'll be back out one day yeah well I'll sure be happy to show you around some more great fine before leaving Idaho Carl a Schulman was kind enough to escort our US farm report crew to the Ted Braun farm near Boise Ted Braun came to the area of Cambridge Idaho in Washington County from South Dakota in 1937 today with his four sons Herman Roy Leo and Harvey Ted Braun is farming here where over 50 percent of the production of the county is NFO production the bonds boast a herd of 75 dairy cows and the herd of 170 stock cows on this farm they produce 1,100 tons of bale hay for feeding their herds on this farm there are 1500 acres under cultivation this father and sons operation represents a total investment in agriculture in excess of $400,000 the Brauns are highly respected farmer and enthusiastic members of the national farmers organization the Ted Braun family helped make our us farm report tour of Idaho most pleasurable from the Boise Idaho area our US farm report crew moved into the Idaho Falls area where we visited in front of the airport with another fine NFO member Gerald the Stillworthy family have resided in the Idaho Falls area now through three generations when did your father first come here in about 1900 he come up in here with livestock herding sheep in the early days he used to arrange his sheep from Idaho to Utah the year round and never feed them in hey I understand that he is very much alive and in good health he's 84 years old he drives his own car and gets around real well that's wonderful speaking of sheep you're a sheep man and I understand that through the years you've herded sheep throughout this Snake River Valley yes I am most of this territory is not new to you is it for for many miles stretching I'm familiar with all the farms within a 30-mile radius of Idaho Falls now when your family came here the land that you're now farming I guess was in sagebrush wasn't it yes it was and you've cleared it and how many acres of land do you and your brother own at this time well I my brother operate around PI around 4,000 acres of irrigated ground I personally operate 2,000 acres of roll crop land now this is all irrigation through here and as I understand it there have been some changes forthcoming the irrigation trend is now toward sprinklers isn't it very much so why is that Gerald well one man can handle so much more land and more labor efficiency and more efficient use of water and better crops now on your acreage you are irrigating from the Snake River and that you also are using wells aren't you I have four wells in operation and have considerable water rights in the Snake River decreed water right how far down do you have to go for your water well in my particularly I drill about 300 feet and a half list of water about a hundred and fifty feet and what kind of a producing well does this give you in terms of gallons per minute well we have some well to throw 3,700 gallons a minute we have one well to throw 6800 gallons per minute mm-hmm now to get back to the Stillworthy family you and your brother no longer are in business together you have separated your farming lands and your operations haven't you we each operate individually is now you are in business with your son Brent correct and Brent is a fine young man a hard worker and a pretty good farmer right a real good farmer does your brother I have children he has two sons farming with him well it would appear that the Stillworthies in the next generation perhaps we'll be working this same land we hope so let's talk about what you produce we'll get to your sheep in just a minute but let's talk about what you're growing you're a potato man how many acres of potatoes do you grow here this year we had 700 acres of potatoes now it takes some doing doesn't it in terms of investment and efficiency to get these potatoes out and to make yourself some money out of them well it's a lot of work I don't know how much money we get out of it now for example the kind of harvesting equipment we've seen an operation here is pretty expensive what does a what does one of these modern combines cost one of these modern harvesters well they cost all the way from ten to twenty thousand dollars it's a lot of money and it takes of course some good tractor power and an additional investment to pull them in the at least have to have a ten to fifteen thousand dollar tractor to pull them what is your potato market situation in this part of Idaho well we used to have a lot of independent dealers but at the present time processing the industry is taking over and I would dare say that six major processors are handling 80% of the production in Idaho and Idaho produces a third of the potatoes that are used in the nation well this will give us some indication of the influence of these producers in the potato industry what's the solution to this problem well I think organization collective bargaining for the farmer farmers the farming industry is the last segment of our national economies that don't have strong organization to set their prices the farmer is the only one that puts everything into production and very little into marketing yeah when were you first attracted to NFO and under what circumstances Gerald in the fall of 1967 what attracted you to the organization well I heard [unclear] talk and within three weeks I joined up what has been the effect of NFO through this particular part of Idaho well last year in our marketing the potatoes I know that the NFO had a considerable bearing in the pricing of potatoes in Idaho through their program of taking care of the small potatoes off in the market I know that we made the growers a considerable amount of money leaving potatoes for a minute let's talk about sheep and believe me I don't know much about sheep but I think you're most qualified to talk about them you've been herding sheep all of your life and right now you have a sheep herd how big is it well I have a sheep setup of 3,000 breeding ewes and then I have the lambs that go along with them now what kind of what kind of hay production do you have to support this herd well we put up about 40,000 bails of hay each year and we feed them on the ranches in the winter now this this 40,000 bales of hay this is quite an undertaking but as I understand it with modern equipment such as it is one man can turn out this job and never have to touch that hay at all one man puts up all the hay with an automatic stacker exactly how does this work Gerald the Baylor's go through the field and bale the hay these stackers come in and pick up the hay and load it on the stacker the stacker goes to the hay yard an unloads the hay automatically and then goes back to the field for another load Joel I know that you have in your employ several sheep herders we had the pleasure of meeting one on our visit to your place I'm talking about Jim Fisher Jim's quite a fella isn't he yes yes he's been with us about 15 years now this fall September a horse fell on him and he was in the hospital for a month or so but he's back on the job again he's going real strong he really is we have got to look today at how important a sheep herder can be and really how important dogs are to a sheep herder these dogs working with Jim today looked very good are they are they considered pretty good sheepdog yes they're Australian Shepherds and border collie uh-huh you know the sheep herder must lead somewhat a lonesome life we have seen dotted on the landscape around the Idaho Falls area what I call sheep herders trailers I guess you call them something else no well we call them sheep camps sheep camps and these are really small trailers that the sheep herder simply lives in right yes follows the Sheep over the rain goes into the summer range with them in the summer and stays with\them in the winter with them well now you have a problem with sheep in this area that we don't have with cattle at least in the Midwest and perhaps not through this region of the United States and that is that you have to move them from from summer to to winter grass don't ya from our winter headquarters to the summer headquarters is about distance of 50 miles and how do you move them Gerald we trail them the only sheep we halt is when we ship fat lambs out of the herd when is the lambing season about the 1st of March now we noticed at your place several lambing sheds I guess they're called or lambing barns why are they open at the top well it's for sanitary conditions we have canvas covers on them in the spring when we're lambing and this left the sunlight in and keeps a shed warmer and kills the bacteria and lets the sunlight in and then the covers are off the roof in the summer and the Sun exposed all areas of the sheds and it helps keep down disease yes indeed you know yours is the most attractive home I understand you and your brother built brick homes almost side-by-side and in the meantime he no longer lives there and the other house has been sold but yours is most attractive and too I think you're to be complimented on the grain storage facilities which you have what's your capacity for storing grain right there on the farm well we have a capacity of up to 100,000 bushel do you still need that kind of capacity no through government allotments and so forth we're not farming that much land now yeah Gerald what kind of a sheep market of you been enjoying the last few years well the last two years has been good this year has been better than this bin but at times we have had a very poor market for the cost of our production and well this year my brother hasn't sold as well as yet is that right and he hasn't had no offers I sold mine on the early market at 44 cents do you feel that NFO is working toward solving this problem it's helping in there in our this last year I marketed a considerable amount of my grain under an NFO contract and it made me money by going through NFO are there a number of NFO contracts through this region we have a quite a few it varies in areas some areas have been got together and had the leadership and they're taking advantage of NFO others are a little slower to catch on and it's a harder role to get the job done but in the whole NFO is helping us how about membership Gerald is that the growing it's growing steadily our membership has increased quite a bit this last year how many farmers do you feel you have in this county in a percentage way well we have up close to half of them and what about production out of the county we have a good part of the production in some commodities we have a controlling part of the production mr. Stowell worthy is indeed a most enthusiastic and a full member thank you know the thing that we realized as we toured the state of Idaho and in fact many of the states in the northwestern part of the country was that there is a great upsurge of membership there a great enthusiasm for NFO perhaps unlike any other part of the country I'm not sure how do you account for this of those people are businessmen they have enormous investments in the operation those operations will run a million bucks and above in one in one operation and anybody with that much money invested is going to do something to protect that investment one difference between there and the Midwest in their enthusiasm for organization and for collective bargaining is that they have already gone through this getting bigger too many farmers believe that they just have to get bigger and that's it and then they'll be doing fine well it's foolish reasoning because if you're not making anything on 500 acres and you double up you farm a thousand two times nothing is still nothing so those people have already realized that size don't doesn't do it that they have to have a price and so they realized very well that if they think that as an individual who is large has a large operation or a lot of production if he has bargaining power even for one or two cents that then they must have an awful lot of it if they get it together with thousands upon thousands of farmers producing the same thing so I'd say they are businessmen they have the attitude of a businessman they're not only going to produce they're going to see to it that they get the price and this makes a big difference you feel that the terrain of the Northwest lens itself is readily to corporate farming as the flat lands of the Midwest for example are these independent farmers in that part of the country in danger as far as corporate farming I think they're all in danger there's just no question about it the corporate structure that's setting up can operate at a loss for an indefinite period of time because they're getting their profit from other industries so they can operate at a loss and freeze the independent farmer out then of course when they take over you can bet that there's going to be a price I think the consumer had better be very much concerned about this because the family farm has been proven to be the definitely the most efficient unit of operation in agriculture anywhere in the world in fact there's nothing that has ever matched our independent farms in the United States and if this goes out by the consumer is really going to pay for an agenda no question about it well in other words then Fink these corporate farm operations are very diversified lots of them well yes diversification and still specialization to see where they concentrate on one specific kind of production where an independent can no longer match it this is what is happening now the reason I emphasize that the consumer had better be concerned about it according to the economic indicator the corporation's listed on the New York stock exchange had roughly 10% more investment in their operation than the and then American family far more than agriculture did and yet they made about 11 times as much profit on 10% more investment so I had the American farmer fared as well as a corporation or received the same kind of profit he would have had to have had everything that he took him in gross as profit twice as much and he would have had two men paid two dollars and 94 cents an hour for his work in addition to that because keep in mind the corporation's have to pay the labor force so as near as I can figure it if the corporate agriculture ever takes over eliminates the family farm or the independent farmer and prices their production the way they do in every other line then food is going to have to cost at least four times as much as it does now to pay that kind of a profit four times over times as much Fink I know that you would urge the farmers of the northwestern part of the country in Idaho in fact farmers all over the country to join NFO oh there's just no question about it I think it's the only solution if they stay as independents then they can be knocked off real easy they're not going to have a market we've already seen this in the poultry into this industry and broilers you can produce all you want but you don't have a place to sell unless you're tied to that vertical integration or corporate structure so this is what will happen to American agriculture I think we don't have any more than two years time to get together to get ourself a price that pays the profit that lets the people stay in agriculture I think I think it's an absolute must I think anybody can realize that once you get together in an economic force you can do something about your problem and the whole problem is farm prices nothing else but that I think anyone would have to recognize that the teachers have made gains since they organized I think anyone would have to recognize that the labor has had a voice in establishing their pay well what makes anybody think that the farmers wouldn't have power when they cut together so instead of sniffling and crying about their problems the thing to do is get together with their fellow farmers in an organization that solved that problem and the only chance that they have is through the NFO think I want to thank you very much my pleasure it's always our pleasure to have you as a guest on our show come back again soon we'll do our special guest the national vice-president of NFO Earhart things been US farm report is seen each week on this station until we meet again so long everybody [music]