NFO-74 (AV10481) US Farm Report: Businessmen Discuss Rural America

us farm report a rural area public relations 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 listing area and others interested in seeing the farmer receive a fair price for what he produces now here's the president of the Wilson County nfo Hershel Ligon welcome to another NFL program from Nashville Tennessee I live in the green yield community in Wilson County the other Hampton my farm overlooks or Hickory Lake along with my father my boys bill and Jim I am a breeder of registered Poland China hogs registered Paul short on kettle registered Hampshire sheep and I've always had Jersey cattle my farm has never belonged to anybody but the family it was needed from the government of North Carolina my father's house is the oldest inhabited building in Wilson County was built in the first administration of George Washington since returning from World War two my total income has come from farming and I don't mind telling you they've been some years if the expenses have been more than the income that's my total income to that that's come from from farming and it's been pretty rough nfo I'm sure is something that a lot of people watching they have never heard of and therefore is the abbreviation for national farmers organization and it is just exactly what the name implies a national organization of farmers and their folk came into being through necessity in the Midwest there is town after town that depends on agriculture for its entire income when he got to where the farmers didn't have enough money to buy what they had to have they had to do something it wasn't like here in Tennessee where they could get a job in the factory get the wife a job in the factory because factors are scarce a player they not as many and it's close together as they are down here so one day our farmer and a feed salesman got together and decided they'd try to do something about the farm problem they decided to have a meeting at meeting Lee they had people that came or they were just amazed it's a novel people came to the meeting they decided to have another meeting and that the next meeting people came from all directions from these meetings they decided to go to Washington as a legislative protest group to see if they can get something done about the family farm situation in Washington they found the capper-volstead Act which authorizes collective bargaining incidentally this couple voluntary Act was passed for Congress from 1920 to under collective bargaining under in the cup of out state act we farm us through national farmers organization get contract signed with processes of meat milk and grain for our production we we contract this production at a price that will cover cost of production plus a reasonable profit that is what all other businesses do they always have and always will if the stay in business but we farmers haven't been done that we've been going to the marketplace what will you give me and every time we buy something we have to give them what they want for it so that is what is brought on nfo today nfo is no longer the militant upstart organization that it once was today nfo is a major farm organization and therefore has more farmers in it than any other organization in the world there are organizations that have more members but we have more farmers because the person has to be a farmer to be a member of nfo a person can't hold office and nfo unless they make at least 51% of the total income from farming so that I hope brings you to date a little bit on nfo today we have some very interesting people with us intelligent people people who know their professions and I'm sure you're gonna get something out of what they have to say we have a minister we have a banker we have a mayor and we'll have an implement dealer on my extreme right is elder Kenneth think staff pastor of the Arbor Primitive Baptist Church in Lynchburg Tennessee and incidentally elder pink staff has known something about nfo for quite a while he is a member of nfo he is also a businessman and he had some innocent experience with our national president a year ago elder pink staff let's start this thing off by what do you think the family farm contributes to society in other words boys and girls reared on the family farm what do they contribute to our society mr. big and I certainly have had much experience in the last 20 years with the farm family because primarily I've served in farm areas building churches and rendering the public service the farm family indeed is known and today is still the backbone of America not only in character but in honesty and in the ability to do hard work and to produce from the god-given earth the necessary needs of food that all of us must have for the issues of life it's been my good pleasure to to see and to have worked with many farmers many times have I shared with them in their losses for a number of years the farm family has been to a disadvantage because they have not been organized together as a band of people and certainly life itself will they give to us an example that it takes unity in anything to be able to bargain and to bring about fair price or the fair answer to any problem so indeed I think that America must reach out and help the rural farmer the small farmer to maintain his livelihood to be able to do this without having a part-time operation just what kind of employee will a boy or girl read on the farm make an employer well there again I've had the experience of being juvenile judges down in Georgia where I had a pastor it's I love children and certainly our boys and girls are indeed the future of America but there's no doubt about it that one great man once said if a boy loves the earth if he loves the the forest he loves to fish that this boy of in percentage-wise or girl will never give you the trouble that the boys and girls have in the cities where their time is not employed I think the characters of the boys and girls that grow up on a farm when they become aged that they can begin to work and take their responsibilities from the farm labors they learned to a secure in life by working what they so desire and also I think that the rural farm family far can be the closest family that we have in America today because when the man and wife works in the city in which with the high cost of living like it is today they're separated from their children where the farmer and his wife can maintain the livelihood by fair bargaining and good prices for their products then they can be with their children the children can be with them as in your case on your farm here in Wilson County in other words this part-time farming doesn't work out so well as far as the family is concerned well I live in a small County down and more which we think is one of the garden spots and I'm sure these men on the panel here today think their homes are but we have a limited factories there and to my knowledge they're in Moore County many of our farmers have to resort to working at night shift or working a part-time job or their wife is working factor to maintain Farmington to me as a minister and as a businessman I do not think this should be if a man is a farmer he should be able to make a living with his products and with his labor and he shouldn't have to to work over hours and extend his family to work in order to farm to feed we Americans it's just my opinion and I hope the rest of the public will agree with me in other words the farmer should look get out of his business like any other business man gets out of here true this is all so I think any of us would agree that any businessman who is losing money and can't survive will certainly dispose of that business or the business dispose of him one and this has been the trouble in farming especially since the small farmer has been decreasing it's the fact that he can't survive and that the larger farmers of course are having their problems too and I certainly am in accord with in a poll because I as you stated later on if we have time permit I will give you some more experiences with the President and with many of the workers and I certainly believe that this is the answer to our problems on the farm one more question for you here as we all know if nfo doesn't move fast the corporate farmers don't take over in other words farmers gonna be done but corporations and everybody farm and there will be hard labor if that takes over just how will that affect rural churches well certainly this is a fear that I have not only in farming but in all fields of endeavor it's already hitting the businessman the small businessman and the small communities are being swallowed up this is true in farming if we allow the big farmers about the little farmers this means that the small communities will soon become plantations and will be a desolate the churches can't survive because all of us know that it takes people finances to care on our schools and our churches and I really feel that the answer is to to help the small farmer and to keep him on the farm and thus to help the small communities because after all we all can the metropolitan New York and we must remain more county must maintain our population I'm past president Chamber of Commerce then we've been alarmed to the very fact that the small farmer because of the income when the when his son or daughter comes to the age of man their man and leaving the small communities and actually we haven't allowed their liability the city is getting them when they can be an asset and this is what I'd like to see not only in farming but in all businesses to maintain a bring back our liabilities that once word and return them into an asset for us and you know most boys and girls help farming in their hearts but they they have to leave because it can make a living and when somebody's doing something that they don't love they're not as happy as they would be if they were doing what they love well I certainly agree with you to know just breathe through the statement I used to remember down in Lincoln County where I was born the summers I spent with my grandfather over the farm and I believe any man that believes in the great supreme market take just loves every once in a while to get down there and look at that good earth and appreciate it and ride out and see the beautiful pastures and I think that this is certainly there's a much need for the younger men to go into farming as a profession and then in order to do this the farm has got to give them an income that is equal to other incomes that they can receive and other businesses there's one person that de farmers have to get along with I know if it hadn't been for my banker I don't think I'd be farming today next on our panel is is our banker Jim Walker president of First National Bank from Centreville and Hickman County Tennessee Jim how are farmers on paying their debts if they have income mr. Lincoln farmers are among the best credit risk of rural banks farmers as a whole retired more debt in 1965 and in any of the previous five years this was due to increased income from higher prices received for corn hey cattle and hogs in 1965 in my opinion the farmers are handling their gross debts a very excellent manner nfo is to be commended for their assistance to farmers in raising farm income when agriculture is depressed it is not only farmers who are affected when prices of agricultural products and income of farmers Paulo many banks service establishments and commercial establishments of other types in rural areas are soon affected before very long producers of agricultural machinery fertilizer and other items which farmers buy in large quantities are affected too thus when economic conditions in agriculture are not healthy there are repercussions in various other aspects of the economy as well and in some geographic areas general economic well-being is highly dependent on the economic well-being of agriculture thus to achieve a balanced economy equal attention must be given to agriculture industry and service establishment I have a few statistics I'd like to give on this in 1958 over a million families on the farm about 25% of all farm farm families had income of $2,000 or less another 18% had incomes between two and three thousand dollars only about seven percent of farm families had incomes of $10,000 or more by contrast on non farm families only six percent had incomes under $2,000 another six percent of non farm families had incomes between two and three thousand dollars and 17 percent had incomes of ten thousand dollars in over farm families constituted one-third or thirty three percent of all families with income under $2,000 but only five percent of those that incomes of $10,000 in over verse it is evidence that a balanced economy is not in existence in rural areas unless some means can be abducted for improving farm income such as those provided by an fo in my opinion mr. ligand the farmers of america have never done a better job for which they got less pay most people think that - how much money do do farmers spend with with your bank and and the people in which you do business farmers normally spend most of their income in the local trade area gross value of farm products sold in my County last year exceeded three million dollars approximately two thirds of that or two million dollars was spent locally or a half million more than in the previous year this is about a third of the total gross sales in my County the American family spends 19 cents of the family dollar for food in 1949 it spent 26 cents nfo bargaining prices should not increase that 19 cents by more than two cents should any marketing group or group of processors ever so act as to raise the price of food unduly the housewives through their coercive action and the Secretary of Agriculture through powers already invested in his office would bear down to roll the prices back the only business of the nfor is to go into the marketplace and come to grips with the farmers number-one problem which is priced I believe the nfo is not competing with the small businessman and that the nfo fully realizes that a balanced economy is essential for continued progress of our society as a matter of fact every taxpayer should be interested in the continued progress of the NFL program since a larger income to farmers through collective marketing will result in smaller governmental expenditures for present agricultural support programs it takes more money to farm in Tennessee now than ever before today with capital investment per farm around $50,000 it is very difficult to get into farming without credit with increased income assured lenders will be more readily available I believe herschel to meet the short and long term needs of farm credit that sounds real good I have another question the more I ask you but I'm going to go around and we'll come back on my left is the mayor of lafete Tennessee will halt Sullivan mr. Sullivan is also a farmer mr. Sullivan what what is the small farm to have if we're going to survive in the present economy well mr. leg and I'd like to quote some figures I don't want to bore you with statistics but thirty years ago I thought a desperate battle to get rural electric service available in Macon County and a number of other counties in the Upper Cumberland area had a war with the power company in which I believe you were employed at that time we were fortunate in getting the co-operative organized it's now grown to serve over twenty five thousand members and ten counties it's one of the largest in the nation sixteen thousand of those members are farmers however the disturbing situation at this time is that it is estimated that there are over two thousand empty meter sockets on the Tri County system now this represents farm homes that were wired and equipped in the last twenty to thirty years now they are abandoned standing empty the people have migrated away to the great cities of the north searching for employment because they couldn't maintain an adequate standard of living on the smaller farms such as we have now an adjoining cooperative to us has counted their empty meter sockets there's over 3,500 that's a staggering figure in an area of eight or ten counties the number of farm families Macon County steadily declining the size of the farm is getting larger partially due to mechanization and the change from row crop to grassland and farming and the fact that we're doing everything we can to get more industry and the area to keep the young people at home in the late 30s I realized that if the rural electric program was to succeed we would have to have a strong national organization in Washington that traveled over two-thirds of the states of this great nation in organizing the inner ECA you the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association which we're fortunate to have the national president in Tennessee now down from the bankers town mr. Paul Ted well that organization has been able through the mass weight of numbers the votes they could swing to keep the program going to provide funds not only for rural electrification but for rural telephone service from nineteen and fifty up to now I've organized for telephone cooperatives total investment of twenty or twenty-five million covers a great area all across the north part of the state and over into Kentucky but if the small farm is to succeed in our present-day economy then they must have strong and efficient farm organizations to represent them both in the national state and county governments as well as in the marketplace otherwise the corporate farm but rapidly supplanting forcing continued migration to urban areas search of means of a livelihood it's a serious problem much more serious than the average small businessman in the average small town realizes because his livelihood is leaving him too as the rural people leave if they're gone they're gone as someone mentioned while ago in some sections of the north central western town after town with the door swinging open in the wind not anyone there anymore you might have seen the Brinkley report program on that six or eight months ago and only an organization is their strength today and the ability to cope with our present-day economy thank you so I have another question the - I want to ask you but I want to get to a implement deal event then we're gonna come back move on my extreme left is Joe Clemens who was a farmer for years and I guess you got the way couldn't make a live-in farming so he started selling farm machine I don't know how you figured it could sell farming and make a livin when the farm didn't have any money but incidentally I know Joe has done well he's been allis-chalmers dealer and played ball Tennessee in Wilson County for 14 years I think he serves about five counties Joe I want to start out with up with a straight question here if the farmer can get just one thing what is the one thing he needs most price-wise products price first brother a fair price that he is and if you get that price for his product well he can he can buy what he wants to do when he wants to I'm basically a farmer Hershel and pretty well Pete Reyes rooted I operate my business on my farm that I was fortunate enough to inherit and it's been in our family approximately a hundred years my father passed away about four years ago and here's last time I would say he was a mediocre farmer he made money he's very well for my sister now at least and being in the machinery business was to supper supper meant farm income now I can appreciate when a customer I'm speaking of a farmer customer comes in my door and he complains if the prices being high which they all have but he's completely out of our control the sooner that the dirt farmer they're talking about the gentleman farmer the hobby farmer I refer to myself is an overall farmer the quicker that he gets in a better position financially he gets his fair share the product which he produces I mean the fair profit of it I can pay a man to sweep out my shop and give him a better wage and I can have that same man to get out there and work on the farm and that's a disgrace for our economy now I'm going to give you all the statistics that I have to offer was compiled by major farm machinery manufacturing company which is a competitor of mine I think it's nothing but fair to call him named International Harvester company conducted a had a service organization to conduct a poll they want to find out what was the matter I'm sure my company caters to finding out the trend of things but International Harvester company come up for this there has been a decline since 1950 until the end of nineteen and sixty five of forty two percent of the family farmer now the projected decline from now until nineteen and seventy five will be another forty three percent at the present rate of decline now here's what's happening if if the farmer all over America he's quitting farming I'm trying to farm I'm trying to sell farm machine when there's fewer and fewer customers walk in my place of business every day what's gonna happen to me as a farm machinery dealer and what's happening to me as a farmer not only is it happened to you Joe but when you don't sell that farm machine or that fact is not going to be making that machinery and some labels gonna get hurt they all run back to the fact that when a farmer spends a dollar it multiplies into seven dollars nationally that's right Joe uh berenson thing about Joe I called him when we started sound in there for members the Wilson County I said Joe we signed enough people in their vote Jules yeah I'll sign it come on up here well as far as I know Joe has never read the membership agreement he just signed it you signed it because you figured the whole thing left for the farmer absolutely yeah I know he believes that I raised me all right so uh I have a confession to make I'd read just a little about taking an AFO but they're little not as well read today is that should be a year go I figured well it might not work but it would have his nuisance Fagin and it's even going beyond my expectations it's something more than I knew some swag I'll take that I can see that every day and but actually I said anything is better than what we've got well Joe you told me the other day and I think it's bears out just to type people that farmers are in the 14 years that you've been in business you've had to make one repossession and that repossession wasn't to a farmer it was a man of another profession absolutely so that kind of people farmers are there they honest people they hard-working people they'll pay the debts if they can get the money but if they can't get the money not only do they hurt but everybody else hurts you know we have come along wonderfully in this thing we're making great progress got some good information this past week get we are way along in meat we had a big grain sale in 16 states last week and our milk looks real good gentlemen I'd like to remind you speaking of the good of the nation what President Kennedy said he says don't ask what your country can do for you that's what can you do for your country that's for us Democrats for my good Republican friends I'd like to requite Teddy Roosevelt and this concerns people who are innocent farmers and spruce post be working for farmers he says every man owes part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged no man has the moral right to withhold support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere gentlemen I've enjoyed having you with us today you've been a good panel and if we'd had more time I'm sure we could have brought out a lot more good points u.s. farm report a rural area public relations program was 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 by others interested in seeing the farmer receive a fair price for what he produces this program was pre-recorded