NFO-29 (AV10436): US Farmer Report: Rural America Reports to the Nation

today on our Midwest or I should say us farm report we're going to have roundtable discussion the title of our show is rural America reports to the nation we want to bring out some of the facts that are happening in America some of the things that are often misunderstood some of the points how it affects everyone in our nation not only just American farmers because of the low farm prices this program is sponsored the members of the national farmers organization in this listening area and others interested in seeing the farmer get a fair share the return for his investment and his labor many other people are also interested and should be interested because the low farm income is costing our nation in gross national product according to a survey by the independent bankers of America in 1963 it costs our entire nation over three hundred and three billion dollars not to have fair farm prices to the American farmer and today I have as my special guest on my extreme left is Arnold Paulson businessman from Granite Falls Minnesota who is an industrial and promotion agency man we've worked long and hard to get new industry into the community realizing full well that we need new industry to keep our communities going but also a firm believer that the most important industry of them all agriculture should not be slighted and then to my left here I have Arnold or mister Volstad who is in business in Granite Falls also he is very much interested in this farm situation running a grocery business in Granite Falls and also he is 15 years experience in the newspaper business so he's quite concerned and real well-versed in what's happening to his community and what has happened and then on my right I have Bob Wodsworth a Minneapolis businessman who calls on real clients and this has made him quite concerned about the farm problem and I'm going to start out today asking mr. Paulson some of his findings in his community since they did an extensive survey of what's happening about some of the outstanding farmers in his area because Granite Falls Minnesota is quite outstanding farm community Arnold can you give us some information that you've gathered on this survey that was running well thank you first of all I'd like to appoint a rather repeat a statement that was made by the Commissioner of business and industrial development in Minnesota mr. William Ferrell as he travels throughout the country working with communities who are interested in attracting industry the soundest advice that he gives them is when he makes this statement if you want to attract industry and be successful get behind what you already have and help them grow and to me this makes great sense because the largest industry that we have in our state and in any state throughout the agricultural areas is agriculture and if we really want to see our state grow and prosper let's get behind the largest industry we know agriculture but now I would like to make a comparison book as to what a community loses because of will farm prices and one of our other programs recently I made the statement that Bennett Falls possibly has more industry per capita than any other community our size in Minnesota but let's see how this compares to the agricultural income just because of the low depressed farm prices that we have an America today our community is losing three hundred thousand dollars in addition to the entire payroll of all of our indices in our community because of low farm prices so I think the best advice I could give any community in rural America today that is interested in attracting industry if you would like to acquire the equivalent of all of our industries and its entire payroll plus a three hundred thousand dollars additional income you can achieve this merely by supporting farmers and helping to restore farm prices to full parity I think this is a wonderful observation because few people realize what it's costing everyone in America today not to help farm prices where they should belong I think you told us on one other program that farm income growth farm income multiplies at least seven times in your industry and I know Elmo you told us one time how that when you figured in your community that when you lost so many farmers there were so many businessmen disappeared now can you can you fill us in on that that's right butch when a community loses 10 farmers you can expect a business to go in our own community this past month we had three farms torn off the community went to the joining landowners that means my grocery business best three possible customers another thought on a number of farms and the effect of a community to good farmers actually can do as much for a community as a small manufacturing plant employing ten people sound impossible well perhaps have a payroll of forty to fifty thousand dollars the product they're making the materials are imported from outside the community and the product is sold outside the community and then you have the tax benefit and the forty to fifty thousand dollar payroll well take two farmers with their equipment their plant and the money that they spend in the community for every part of their operation and the fact that that dollar rolls around the community three four times before it rolls on to make to multiply seven times in our overall profit the United States to farmers can mean as much to a community as an industry still if I walk down the street of just about any world telling you I saved and walked into any businessman and said I can get you a business a good manufacturing plant employing ten fifteen people into this community if you will but give me $100 and 100 other 100 other businessmen will do the same I imagine we would meet with 80 to 90 percent success but if I walk down the street a rural town USA now and said I want ten dollars to send two people to Washington to lobby for something that's going to definitely help the farmer I might be successful in some cases because I feel that rural America the businessmen and the small towns are starting to wake up they Minnesota we've been told that by 1970s are going to have 80,000 farmers when this happens we're going to have three out of every five of our smaller communities disappearing biggest people are going to have to join up they're going to have to go that they're going to survive they must take a stand butch right now think of this folks three communities out of each five in the state of Minnesota going to appear and there's no reason for this there's no reason why it should be all we need to do is restore fair farm prices and America will thrive clear on through the business there was a survey that I'm not too long back to show what the farmers actually lost in ghost farm income because of underpayment to agriculture and this survey showed gentlemen people in the audience this should survey showed that if you were going to count up just what the farmers were cheated out of because of low farm prices in 1963 let if you started to count this up and you had it in denominations that you could count ten thousand dollars every single minute and you counted 60 minutes every hour and you didn't say single minute off for a coffee break you counted eight hours every day six day a week for six days you counted eight hours a day ten thousand dollars a minute but a trip took you over 27 years yes I said to over 27 years to count up just what the American farmer was shortchanged and you can multiply this by seven and you can see what the American economy lost now I'd like to ask Bob Wordsworth what some of his findings as he goes in rural America and works in his business in Minneapolis well but the thing I've been drawn into this as I've said before there that's because I happen to here Arnold Paulson's giving one passed at the beginning when I first heard him at the northern Minnesota about the enormity of the problem and the thing that has impressed me about these and since then I have become aware and studied the economic report of the independent Bankers Association as you know that they sent a more-or-less task force to Washington a few years back to find out what was going on in the rural economy and I don't think and now I'm speaking for perhaps big-city people I don't think that they realize what is going on and how bad this really is one of the problems I think is that people have stopped thinking and they're just substituting feeling instead of thinking but when they do start to think that one of the things that Arnold has brought out in many speeches is the fact that we are living right now in a debt fueled economy and the fact that the fund every dollar of farm income produces $7 in the gross national product should concern everyone because if the farmers go down the drain they can figure a real depression whether maybe you can fill in a little bit more on that honor because you've added to those clearings well Bob I would like to elaborate some on that but I have another point that I would like to bring out at this time before our time draws to an end I would like to attack some of the brainwashing that some of our agricultural economists are imposing upon the American farmer they're trying to stress this philosophy that if the American farmer today is to become successful he must become more efficient he must increase the size of his operation and he must be willing to sell his production for less money now this is the biggest hoax that I have ever heard of in all my life Bob and I would like to use an illustration we have a young farm boy up in Granite Falls Minnesota who approximately five years ago was voted the outstanding farmer in Minnesota and as I review his past and the things that this man is doing I consider him as a very outstanding farmer because he is employing every program that the economists and the agricultural advisors say that must be done if we're going to be successful in farming this young man's name is Kenny AIIMS from Granite Falls Minnesota he's running a large farm some over 400 acres he is raising Mel cows and he's also feeding cattle he's doing everything by the book he is doing everything that the experts are telling them it must be done in order to farm successful he's increased his operation he's using all of the new scientific techniques and yet last year he ended up losing $7,000 the only reason that this young man didn't lose much more money than he did is because he is a very intelligent and efficient farmer and yet he ended up losing $7,000 doing exactly what he has been told now his answer to this isn't the fact that we have to become more efficient increase our operation and sell for less because it's impossible to do it even if you're an Albert Einstein unless you get a price for your product and yet business and industry in this country is using a double standard and trying to tell the American farmer that this is the only way he can succeed and yet they refuse to accept this theory in their own business because every time labor gets a slight increase in wages and labor is entitled to their fair share of the national economy I support them in this but every time an operating cost goes up business and industry solves their problem not by producing more of the product and selling it for less but they raise their price and this is the way that it should be done and as operating cost goes up for farmers which is forced upon them by higher operating costs in business and industry and inflation the farmers the only way they can solve this problem is to raise their prices and this is why I'm highly concerned and I resent the fact that today we are told that 90% of all of the economists that are agricultural economists and our universities and colleges have adopted this law of the jungle philosophy that's been passed down by the committee for economic development when 90% of our economists feel this way what chance does the American farmer have and I feel that the only way they're going to solve their own problem and get back on a par basis with the rest of the economy in our country is to gain control of their own business to stop depending on the federal government to solve their problems because every year they're making it worse and the only way this can be accomplished mr. Bush Wayne as I see it is through the program of the national farmers organization getting control of their own production marketing their products together putting a price on their product at the marketplace and if the farmers will do this they will solve this farm problem once and for all and I'm a hundred percent for getting farming into the hands of farmers and running it like a business I hope I answered your question Bob getting big is not the answer or producing more for less because just take a look folks if you continue to produce more and more for less and some groups of people some economists of our agat and colleges are telling us that we should produce more and more for less and less and as I see this folks it is my honest opinion that the people that are advocating this type of policy then reproduce more and more for and less and continue to sell our farm commodities at less than cost of production an American farmer is selling America right down the river just assures we're gathered here I'll go ahead Arnold and show us these other reports here that this outstanding young farmer up in Minnesota well bower butch I'm sorry I left this out this is a very interesting thing this mr. Kenneth Iams who I was referring to is a very efficient farmer he knows what he's doing and he's done something unusual that I think very few farmers would dare to do with me today I have his bookkeeping system or the accounting system of how he ran his farm and after the end of last year when he found out that he had lost seven thousand dollars doing everything that they told him and following the book he brought his books to a CPA to have him analyzed to make sure that everything was correct and as I understand that the Internal Revenue Department has also checked his records and now he has put his farm operating records on public display sort of any farmer in America anywhere would like to check his operation expenses and how he did it and can come up and show him how he could have done the job better and made more money he would like to have them do it but here is a young man that is shows so sure of himself that he has placed his farm operation on public exhibit and letting the people know that he lost seven thousand dollars and that he is not a success like he should be and I think there's very very important Elmo do you have anything that you'd like to contribute to this I think this is one of the things that pulls business people and fools a big-city politician and businessman they drive out in the country they see these beautiful farms in Iowa Minnesota in our neighboring states and through this great Midwest area and boy the farmer is doing terrific look at that machinery look at that new car but they're forgetting about that mortgage in the bank this is a thing we must remember there's a farmer last few years since the 50s has been living on the depreciation value of his planning of his equipment this can't go on the independent bankers of America are concerned and Main Street should be concerned we're living on borrowed money and we can't continue to live on borrowed money Arnold you mentioned the fact that the farmer must get ahold of his own business and start marketing his own product well I run a small grocery store when something comes in to me and it's higher in price than it was a week before I have to mark it up to my customer or I'm not going to stay in business the farmer should have the same opportunity but for example in the case of Greene once a year he goes to the elevator and it says how much would you give me and this is what he takes he's the only segment of our economy the only group of people in the United States this great country the people that built this country the farmer goes and begs for a price at the end of the year this does not seem fair in a country like America what do you think what well there's no question about it because they're not only cheating the farmer they're cheating all of us in America and as I said a while ago I think that those people that are advocating that we sell more and more for less and less are selling America right down the river because in the next 35 years we're going to have to double our entire production in the United States now how are we going to do this and we're going to put all the farmers out of business and I think that talking about getting bigger there were some interesting figures that I have here made up by the University Iowa State University of Ames and it shows that for the year of 1962 that the shows not getting bigger really do and it's quite interesting because to add a thousand dollars net income to the farm operation the farmer was in the dairy business he had bad 15 and 8/10 cows or the equivalent of that he had to invest nine thousand seven hundred and seventeen dollars for which he received nothing and he had to work fifteen hundred and one hours for nothing we had the thousand-dollar net income now if he wanted to do it in beef operations he had to 200 beef call units and add 63 thousand dollars in investment and he had to work three thousand and sixty hours for nothing to add the thousand dollar net income to his operation and so on down the line and there was only one livestock operation in the whole state of Iowa the regular fire I mean the regular livestock operations as far as farm animals was concerned that would even break even when you added labor and all costs and everything put together and this happened to be in the hog industry but in order and these are out the prevailing prices that we received in Iowa in 62 in order to add $1,000 net income to his farm operations in Iowa and the hog industry we had to add 500 litters of hogs I send 500 litters not 500 500 litters no wait a minute this is yes 500 litters invest a hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and fifty dollars and worked thirteen thousand dollars think of it thirteen thousand hours but this was allowing some return for his labor to make a thousand dollar net income this should prove to every farmer in America that getting big is not the answer we must have a price to get this farm problem solemn and the only way to get a price in this day and age that the farmers organize together and work together as business people do the same way that these business people work together in their community to get a price now how what do you think of the situation there what do you think the solution is well butch I think the big problem goes right to the heart of the situation and the fact that every dollar of farm income true farm income not death income produces seven dollars in the gross national product this to me is the key to the whole thing and why those of us in business and everyone everywhere should be vitally concerned with this red could you fill me in again on why this is so that there's $7 well Bob I'm very sorry but we just don't have time to cover that at this time because I noticed our time is almost gone again but before this program closes I would like to hit something very important and this is the vertical and integration of Agriculture and this is something that I believe everybody in rural America should become concerned about because I don't real I don't think they realize the impact that this is going to have on their way of life as an example one corporation farm in America today already owns approximately 2 and 1/2 million acres of farmland they owned their own processing plants manufacturing plants they have one of the major chains in America today for the outlet of their products and in addition to this they own 51% of one of the nation's large farm implement manufacturing plants but this isn't the only integration of agriculture the giant corporation feed blots that are moving in and the way that the giant food chains are entering agriculture the Syndicates that are moving in and this is a big disaster as far as the private owned farms farms is concerned now why are they integrating agriculture because the scientists have told us that within a within a period of 5 years that this world will be facing one of the most fantastic famines that the world has ever seen because the world will not be able to produce enough food for its people they say that by 1970 billions of people will die of starvation because we will not be able to produce the food that this world will consume so you can easily see that by 1970 food will become the most powerful weapon in the world more powerful than the atomic the hydrogen or the cobalt bomb much more powerful than any instrument that we have ever known and I believe this is the reason why the giant core operations the syndicates and the food chains are vertically integrating agriculture because as one industrialist said agriculture will become the most lucrative business that the world has ever seen and I think that if the American farmers want to preserve their farms of their way of life they're going to have to organize now to help stave off this fantastic onslaught that the corporations have launched against the privately owned farms in America today I think we need to touch just a little bit more on how big this one corporation really is two hundred and two million four hundred and fourteen thousand I believe it was but anyway we've done a survey in Iowa and this is about the size of 7 to 8 of our average Iowa counties what would be about like 12 to 14 giant corporations owning the agriculture production of the entire state of Iowa think of that whenever you get that type of operation in business no wonder these businessmen are concerned enough to come to Des Moines Iowa to help film this film to help get the farm organizations and the farmers of America together they're working to get a price for our production and save rural America and bolster the entire economy of the United States Elmo would you want to add anything in the last half a minute or so here well only one thought that the farm has been written off politically he's been written off economically in this country and along with him the small town has been written off the Main Street of rural America and the farmer and the processors must get together together we are 40 percent of the population and again we can take our right place in America we must join hands which to get this job done I checked one thing here I want to make a personal appeal to farmers all over America to join this NFO organization and support them in their cause to obtain fair prices for agricultural commodities at the marketplace now here's where confusion enters in sometimes people think feel that if you're supporting the end or one farm organization that you're against the others I don't feel this way because I encourage all farmers to retain their membership and the other farm organizations when they join the NFL because this is only a marketing program and there's still room for other farm organizations butch there's no question about that in fact is folks I belong to a total of four farmer of the organization's and I think that to a certain extent all of them help some but the in fo the national farmers organization offers the only real hope the two of whereby we can all work together to solve our problem