NFO-267 (AV10769): US Farm Report: Dairying's Bright Tomorrow

On this week's US Farm Report, they look at dairy farming in Vermont and New Hampshire. Also a general coverall report on the NFO dairy commodity department by it's director mr. Ed Grop. so stay tuned [music] Hi everybody and welcome to US Farm Report seen on this station each week at this same time. A little later in our show, we will visit on film with two dairy farmers in Vermont and New Hampshire but right now our special studio guest: mr. Ed Grop, who is the director of NFO's dairy commodity department. Ed has promised today to give us a careful look at the past, present, and future of the dairy commodity department and its successes with the National Farmers Organization. He has told me that he's going to talk about where we've been, where we are now, where we're going, and how we got there. Ed, where have we been? Well Bill I think it's important for all of us to know and understand where we have been. There have been several things that we've been doing in the past six or eight years in the NFO dairy program that have been very important. They have given results. Sometimes I feel maybe we ought to go back and look at them. We get a better picture of our progress. Ed I think it's basically true whatever our endeavor that our present and future are tied pretty solidly to our past. You bet Bill it's very important right now where we are in this dairy program we've gotten there because of some very specific steps that we've taken in the past. What have those steps been Ed? Well to begin with, I would say that for four years we organized on a theory. Now this was the beginning of NFO when we had an idea of a dairy program and how it would work and we talked to the marketing agency in common that would be set up by the co-operative structure in the United States because after all most of the milk does go through the co-operative system. We had the idea at that time that by signing a contract with the cooperatives they could and they should form a marketing agency in common. They could base their price on a contract that had been written by the producers, the members of NFO. Well this partially came true, a marketing agency in common was formed but really it never developed to the fullest extent where it really could do something. There were several reasons given to me in the past why the marketing agency in common didn't work, that is, the one that was set up for supposedly to be set up by the co-operative structure. Why didn't it work? Bill people who were in that group told me this. They said "well we don't have enough of the total production to be really effective." They said it takes a lot of money we don't really have the financing. They said we could go ahead and become another marketing group similar to small groups that we have today but then there was one other thing they said we're not going to form an agency and either protect or work with some other plants that we don't believe is efficient as ours or probably as large as ours or located in the right area. This meant to me that they were still going to compete among themselves at the expense of the producer. Now I have another idea why it didn't work. I haven't seen the leadership in the old marketing structure that truthfully, in my opinion, have the best interests of the producer. In other words it's a business out there they think of the business but I think they've forgotten the producer out on the farm. Well certainly a part of where we've been was the milk holding action. Let's talk about that for a minute Ed. Why did this happen? This was in what? 1967? It was 1967. Why did it happen? Why did it happen? I think we just explained why it happened. Because the marketing agency in common that could have worked and probably should have worked never developed to help the producer. There was no course that the producer could take unless they showed that they meant business. They were gonna take that production and hold it until someone was willing to pay a fair price. If they wouldn't pay that price for it it had to be dumped it was going to be destroyed. But Bill this had a tremendous effect. If we remember you could call for federal order hearings and you could talk about supply of milk but it was almost taboo to talk about the price. Remember what happened immediately after the holding action? Federal order hearings were called all over the country. They were called emergency federal order hearings. They talked about price. A seasonal decline in the price of milk that has been taking or coming into effect every year was stopped but the real important thing about that milk holding action, in my opinion Bill, was the fact that it's sold collective bargaining to the nation and to the world. Well how was collective bargaining sold to the world Ed? Well Bill people in foreign countries look upon this country, they look upon its tremendous corn crop and the amount of beef and hog production and the amount of dairy production. They had the belief that the producer also was a part of this that was happy, content and everything was going well and certainly ambassadors from this country had to be portraying that picture in foreign countries. Now what do you think those people thought when they saw on their television sets via Telstar the American farmer dumping milk? Then the truth had to be told. These producers out here weren't receiving a fair price and after all this is the only thing that is wrong with American agriculture. It's the price that the producer receives so a collective bargaining wasn't only sold in the nation. It was sold over the entire world by the farmers in that milk holding action had a tremendous impact. Which brings us to where we are today and when we talk about where we are today, we have to talk about the supply contracts to processors do we not? Right. Well let's hear about those Ed. Bill a year ago last April the NFO signed its first supply contracts with processors and handlers of milk. We signed them beginning on the basis that we could create more efficiency within the industry and will always strive for that. Mm-hmm. In other words we had probably too much brick and mortar it couldn't all be utilized. We didn't have the supply of milk and after all milk could be transported easily now. We could make more efficient units. So the supply contract as you remember was first used in the state of Minnesota and there were many contracts signed in the state of Wisconsin where we brought the production together. We increased the efficiency of plants. More net dollars were returned to the producer but at the same time the effect of these contracts was that the man who did not sign a contract began to lose his supply. Now anyone put in that position has one of two choices he can close his doors or he can begin paying more for the product with the hopes of bringing more into his plant. This automatically had an upward pressure on the price. Now when you raise the price in Wisconsin and Minnesota this Wisconsin and Minnesota series price which is exactly what was happening, you affect the federal order prices all over the nation. So there was a direct benefit beginning a year ago last April and continuing right on through with all of these contracts. There's one more thing that's very important approximately six weeks ago the national farmers organization received its qualification as a Milk Marketing Association. Now really this is very important because it gives us a chance to represent our producers on the market. This means we can perform the testing. We can market this melt on our weights and tests and prior to this we had a big obstacle that encountered us every time we attempted to market milk. What was that Ed? The major buyers and handlers would say "well we can't buy from you until you're a qualified Marketing Association" but the Department of Agriculture said you've got to market milk before we can qualify you. That's being in the vice I would say. That's where we were now we were able to overcome this by having a enough of the total supply in areas that buyers just needed our supply. It came right back to collective bargaining. Well Ed you've told us where we've been and where we are and how we got there that leaves us only one thing to consider and that is where are we going? Bill, we're going in the direction of NFO. Being that marketing agency in common that we talked about at the beginning of the program. NFO will be that marketing agency in common now. We're putting this volume that supply together through the reload stations and the processors and handlers now by that production from the marketing agency in common of NFO. Ed, during our recent field trip in the east and northeast you can imagine since that's predominantly dairy country that we saw many outstanding dairy operations and met many fine NFO dairy members. One of them was Carlton Greenwood at Westminster, Vermont. Why don't you join me as we go to Westminster and visit with the Carlton Greenwood. Well now let's talk a little bit about your place. How many acres do you a farm over there? We have about 85 acres. Now you haven't mostly in corn don't you Carl? Every bit of it is in corn. Now what do you do, do you chop that for silage for feed? Yes this is all chopped for silage and piled and a pile on top of the ground and covered with plastic. Yes now this of course is predominantly dairy country and you're a dairyman much the same as Charlie is a dairyman here on the Cabot farm. How big is your herd? Well we have about a hundred and ten head all together and presently we have 57 cows in the milking herd. The rest is made up of bred heifers and younger animals. These heifers are really fine-looking animals as well as your cow herd and very tame by the way. You know we enjoyed watching you go down to feed them out of your bath tubs which gives us an idea for you know a mighty good use for old discarded bathtubs. They work out real well don't they? Yes and they've even had their pictures on the front page of the daily paper. Is that right? How do you account for the fact that these heifers are as tame as they are? Well when they're very young we hitched them in the walk behind the milking cows. The only time they're not there is the day that the milk inspector comes because he doesn't like to see them. But outside of that yeah that's why they're growing a little. Right, you know Carlton we all come from a younger part of the country out in the Midwest so we've been extremely intrigued with the age of the homes all through the New England states. Now your home is a most attractive home and your daughter tells us that it's one of the younger ones. She says it's only about a hundred and twenty or thirty years old dating back to what about 1850? Yes approximately 1850. It's a very attractive place and she said something about the fact that the siding, the clapboards, you turned them over once and found that they had already been turned over? Yes that's right yeah. Now your son is a cow man like you isn't he? Oh yes he's the bug has bitten him and you can't help yourself when this happens. You're dedicated to cattle. You respect them more than you respect human beings and there's a lot better affirmative response from a cow than you'll get from a lot of people. Now you told me a little while ago about a famous Vermont saying in observation of the fact that in the state of Vermont there are a lot more cows and there are human beings. Well this was true up until a few years ago but we've had a few articles published in magazines like Reader's Digest telling everybody what a beautiful state Vermont is. I'm sorry that this article got into the Reader's Digest but so now we do have more people than cows but for many years the cow population in Vermont was greater than the human population and one old farmer was asked how this happened to be and he said "we prefer them." Let me ask you how you first became attracted to NFO. Well I first became attracted to NFO as I'm sure great many people did when my television was on one morning and I saw the cusses dumping milk in the street. What was your reaction to that at that time? I never joined the organization. I think a lot of people felt that way. Well I think so of course I could say that guardedly because the bank wouldn't let me anyway. Oh that's that was a problem. Would you explain that to our viewers? Well I have to have pretty good production in my herd in order to keep my monthly payments up to the bank. So you couldn't afford to do any milk dumping. That's right. Well my reaction to this as I've just said was negative and I said that I would never have anything to do with an organization like this and how wrong I was. What happened to change your mind? Well as I as I said just a minute ago I prefer working with cows than people because there's so much better response and I found all of a sudden, and this is not true just as far as cattle are concerned, but social problems today as such that the only real way that we can get recognition and we don't want it and it seems to me as a last resort is violence. I think that this is a this is a violence which was actually needed. We had to go this far to get recognition and we certainly got it. It got the attention, it's like hitting the mule in the head with a 2x4 to get his attention before you speak to him. This is what had to happen. That's right. Well when did you first join and how did you get around to joining? Well I attended a meeting one evening and there were some things said that stayed in my mind. One was that in NFO there are no state lines, there are no county lines that farmers must work together, nationally or internationally. This thought was able to come to me because for many years I was a member of the Bullis falls cooperative Creamery and for several years I was a vice president. We bottled our milk and sold almost a hundred percent of it to the first national stores in Boston. This started in 1921 and continued until 1966 without a contract. All during this period, we had a lot of competition and this competition came from well maybe my neighbor who didn't happen to ship to the Bullis Falls creamery but shipped to United farmers. Their manager was I know constantly calling First National Store trying to get them to buy the product from from them and not from us. This finally happened and this put us out of business. I could not blame First National stores because they were buying their product at a lower price than they purchased it from us. Then I realized that as much as I appreciated the benefits that we got from cooperative it was just the same as one farmer working against another. It was one group against another and I realized that the farmer would never be able to pull himself up by the bootstraps and get a decent standard of living unless he worked not only with his cooperative but cooperatives with cooperatives and nationally so that we aren't worrying here in Vermont what New York is going to sell its known for and worrying for fear that New York will come in if we ask too high a price. We've been constantly in fear to face up to the fact that we had to do our bargaining and marketing for ourselves a national basis and this is what convinced me that NFO was the answer. Carlton I know that in recent months the general attitude clear across the country toward NFO has been changing where opposition existed its softening. Where deaf ears existed now there's listening and I know that you came out to greet us today with an article that is indication of the editorial change in publications in attitude toward NFO. What article is this and what publication? Well the article that I was talking about is in the American Agriculturist and the August issue and this article on NFO happens to be on page 34 and it and it says what is NFO doing. hmm the comment last nice is 'well gee that was written by a couple of women I don't know their NFO members' I said well I'm glad that somebody, a man, a woman could write an article pointing out the exact benefits that we are getting as NFO members and what is is being accomplished. Just to pick out one part of this article, it says why has the NFO program been so successful? For the first time in the history of Agriculture a coordinated bargaining program is operating in all 48 states and to go on from there. It says NFO always been able to adjust the movement of agricultural production and prevent low price areas from developing. After visiting with the Carleton Greenwood our entire US farm report crew went across the river from Carlton's farm into the state of New Hampshire, where we visited on Boggy Meadow farm owned by mr. Henry Cabot, lawyer of Boston, former chairman of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and a new member of NFO. On the Boggy Meadow Farm we talked with the farm manager mr. Charlie Philbrook. How many acres of land is involved in the farm? 625. and how are they planted Charlie? Well we have 250 in corn and about 100 in hay. Now your milk herd is how big at this time? We have 211 milkers. And what about your heifers? Well we have 35 bred heifers and approximately a hundred calf of yielding stage. Have you been doing much culling and improving the herd or have you really had time? Not a great extent, Mr. Cabot takes quite an interest in the herd and he indicates what animals will stay and go. Is he a pretty good Stockman? Pretty good at this kind of thing? I would say yes very so. He's a man of any activities he's basically an investment man is he not? I believe so. and didn't you tell me that he interested in the arts as chairman of the board of the Boston Symphony? Former chairman, he has retired from that present. How often does he get up to Boggy Meadow Farm Charlie? well for the major part of the summer and quite often through the winter. Two times a month. yeah. Would you have any idea how old the mansion is where he lives? Well I'll refer to Counties' estimate somewhere around 1840. And the house that you live in across the Boggy Meadow which is now this very productive alfalfa field, I presume, is about that same vintage isn't it? I believe it is. Well now let's get back to this cow herd, what kind of production are you getting at this time? Well this morning we ship 6700. Right the present rolling herd average is around 12. Well you've got a big feed problem here with a herd of that size and you have big feed facilities. We noticed these I call them trench silos is that what you call them in this part of the country? Right. What's the capacity of these two silos? Now we have one that holds 3,000 and the other one holds 2,500. 3,000 and 2,500 tons. Correct. That's a lot of silage. Yes it is and you're making improvements I notice up at one end of this silo. What's the purpose of that? Well that will enable us to feed the carrot silage from one end while we're filling the other end. Now we noticed with interest a method of feeding molasses. I guess this is a protein supplement isn't it. That's correct that you're using and these cows really go for those molasses. Licking those wheels. They've learned I guess to turn them around to get more molasses right out of the bottom of the tank. That's correct, yeah by rolling it it keeps bringing it up. Well Charlie how many men do you have here on your payroll to help you operate this place? Well we have five able-bodied men and one man with a handicap. Mm-hmm. oh yes it's good of you to have him around, I think these fellows need jobs and I betcha he's doing a good job for you. He's very good at it man. Yes. How about you personally, how big a family do you have? I have three boys, two 18 and 19 and one 11. What what are they going to do Charlie are they gonna stay on the farm or do you think they'll get away from you and go to the urban areas? Well I believe the old boy will stay with the farm, younger boy, the 18 year old boy, hopes to go to the Coast Guard Academy 11 year old boy this time is enjoying Little League etcetera. He doesn't have too much to worry about right now. Well other than the lawnmower, no. Yes. He takes care of the lawn. In fact, he's not even at the stage where he's interested in girls I presume. not to my knowledge. Haha, Charlie thank you very much. You're welcome. Pleasure to have you. Thank you. That's mr. Charlie Philbrook of Boggy Meadow Farm. Ed, here is an example in Vermont and New Hampshire of two neighboring NFO dairy farmers. One a rather medium-size dairy farmer in terms of the number of head of cows he milks, the other substantial and much larger dairy farmer. Can NFO serve both of these people equally in spite of the difference in their sizes? Bill this proves one thing. There's a necessity for farmers that are comparatively large, medium-sized, or small, all to join NFO and get into an NFO program because really we talk about a large farmer and he's very small compared to the processor and the handler. He may be large compared to his neighbor but it only points out that if this man were to try and go it alone, he would be saying that he was going to be a begging producer rather than one of a collective bargaining group. Yes, Ed I want to thank you very much for being my special guest today. Very happy to be here. It's always a pleasure to have you on our show. Thank you. My special guest in the studio on this week's US Farm Report has been mr. Ed Grop, who is director of the dairy commodity department of NFO. US Farm Report is seen each week on this station at this same time. Until we meet again, so long everybody. [music]