NFO-78 (AV10484) US Farm Report: Parity Prices in Dairy

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 listening area and others interested in seeing the farmer receive a fair price for what he produces and now here is the president of the Wilson County nfo mr. Herschel Liggett welcome to another nfo program from nashville tennessee the objective of the national farmers organization is to get its members a fair price for their meat milk and grain and what we mean by fair price is we want a price that will cover cost of production plus a reasonable profit no doubt you have recently heard that we're going to have to have high taxes to curb the cost of living going to get into inflation and food is too high well don't think for a minute that the farmers are getting these high prices that you're paying for food in the grocery store if we will get those high prices for the food you buy in the grocery store I'm sure none of us would be as heavily in debt as we are today in 1964 the farmers of the united states averaged 3% on their investment and nothing for the labor right now according to the net income 62% of the farmers in Tennessee are in the poverty class I ask you is it fair that's such a great percentage of the nations of the world's most efficient food producers is it fair that they should be in the poverty class as I stated we only ask in a fair price for our production we aren't even asking parity prices parity is simply this we should be able to sell a hundred dollars worth of our production to buy $100 worth of what we have to have just for example let's take the price of hogs today well the reason I won't take the price of hogs is a lot of people think hogs entirely too high I don't mind admitting hogs have been a good price for nearly a year but just take present-day prices today thirty two hundred dollars worth of hogs will buy only twenty three hundred dollars worth of a tractor now it's easy to see why we so find it because just a little over a year ago that $3,200 worth of homes would have bought only about fourteen hundred dollars worth of attractive I have here parity prices for what we farmers are selling today now these prices are our true parity they not rigged parity and I just like to give you these prices parity prices on cattle finished cattle is for two $1.80 one hundred hogs thirty two dollars and twenty cents one hundred corn two dollars and fifteen cents a bushel wheat two dollars and eighty one cents a bushel oats a dollar and twelve cents a bushel barley a dollar eighty two cents a bushel soybeans $3.58 a bushel for you people who are in the Cotton Belt that are watching forty seven seven ten cents a pound for cotton and today we have a dairy program and I'll just give you the parity price that the dairyman should be receiving if they were getting parity the dairy farmers in this area would be getting seven dollars and 91 cents 100 blend price for their milk as I said today is a dare program and we have with us a German he's been a damn in all his life until October of last year he sold out he had a 700-acre dairy farm and I'm sure he knew Darin and he still knows Darin from into the other he's former president of the southern Kentucky Milk Producers Association former director of the National Milk Producers Association he is the John Deere dealer at Bowling Green Kentucky when we think of nfo in Kentucky we think of Jim Thompson thank you very much Hershel it's indeed a pleasure to be your guest on this program today I'm always very much interested in talking to a group of farm people I think also that our business neighbors should become better acquainted with some of the farm problems that are now facing the American farmer American agriculture in general I think sometimes they fail to realize just where the food that they go down to the shopping center down to the supermarket each weekday comes from I believe they've overlooked the fact of how many long hard hours of tall and labor has gone into that little package that they carry out by the counter yes maybe sometimes they think when they pick up the ticket the farmers getting rich but after all he has been a god-sent blessing to those in every phase of business in the urban areas throughout the entire United States I think today that if you'd sit down and carefully consider the situation that you would find that you're a food dollar that you're spending today travels quite a shorter distance than any other dollar that you spend you want to spend about 19 cents out of the dollar that you're earning today for food and I don't believe that you could ask for the necessities of life much cheaper than that you know it's absolutely amazing to me that businessmen civic leaders educators and even some of the clergy of our great nation have stood so idly by and watch this great period of erosion take place in rural America as it has today yes I think many of us have even stood idly by and seen this thing happen in our own communities and yet we have done but very very little about it I don't know it seems as though that we're all afraid to speak out so many times we come so involved in things around about us we're so afraid that we might offend our neighbor maybe we are banker a little bit of money maybe he isn't in favor of our National Farmers organisation program and we're afraid to speak out our sentiments so that we might be heard loud and clear yes I think it real it really is shocking that we have done so little to help remedy our to even locate because a reason behind this serious the key that is now taking place and I see now taking place really it isn't just now but it started some ten or twelve years ago I feel sure that many of you and our viewing area today can remember of selling milk not too many years in the past for six dollars or better four hundred wait I think that it's time that the American farmer even though he's few in number should stand up and be counted after all we go down to the downtown merchants we shop with him we do with him on the price of an automobile we can walk out of that place of business and say no you're too high I don't have to have that automobile today it's just as simple as that because the old car with a set of plugs maybe a set of points put on a set of tires will go on several more miles but when the housewife goes to that refrigerator opens that door and looks in there and as the old saying goes finds it covered almost bare then it's time to wake up she becomes alarmed and believe me about the second a third time that that small child goes across that floor opens that refrigerator door and doesn't find a little milk in there when he comes in the afternoon if he's been out playing wants to relax refresh up a little and cool off then you're going to hear somebody holler the one thing that we have to have and I think that the American people in general have overlooked this fact and that is food I can't see why that the businessman the civic leaders of our great nation today has set so idly by and let this thing become so nearly completely decayed as it has as Herschel mentioned a few minutes ago about parity prices I think if you'll take those figures make a note of them go check your records check with USDA in any phase of the federal government who puts out facts and figures that you won't - you'll find that those are correct I don't want to pick up all the time on this program today because I have here with me two other gentlemen who are down-to-earth farmers I'll kep lives a little bit for as we go on through the program on my past farming operation I almost feel like I should say a retired farmer but maybe I better rephrase that and say a broke farmer but it's indeed a pleasure to have mr. Mike Carter here on my left who is from Murfreesboro Tennessee this morning is the first time I've ever had the pleasure of meeting mr. Carter but I have made my living in the past 20 or 25 years dealing with farmers so it's always indeed a pleasure to meet a farmer wherever he's from no matter what state and I've always admired your great state of Tennessee mr. Carter also - mr. Carter's left we have with us mr. Carol Upton who is a real close friend of mine he is one of our better farmers in Warren County Kentucky Carol has been born and raised on a farm not too far from Bowling Green he and his father have been lifelong customers of us there it brought implement company John Deere place they have made our place of business their headquarters so I feel that if there's anyone that I would know anywhere that would be qualified to talk to you today a little bit about the conditions that are facing the farmer in agriculture Carroll would be one so I'm going to direct my first question if I may - mr. Upton at this time Carol I will ask you how many acres do you and your father now operate we operate about 510 acres team now you see a 510 acre farm operation today it just isn't a plea job you know in the past it's been considered all well the farming was a sideline just any old love what you thought might go along be a good farmer but today agriculture has become so technical that really to farm and to operate 500 acres is a full-time job Carol I'll ask you at this time to kindly elaborate a little bit on the principle type of farming operation that's being carried out on your farm today we restricted area James we milk about 70 cows now we've been all the way from 15 cows up to 100 and now we're coming back down Carol you made mention there you'd been up to a hundred or better which I know that's right I've been out on your farm numbers of different times and I've always admired the splendid operation that you did in the dairy business why have you dropped back down to 70 cows today well James we found that expansion does won't pay in the dairy business today when you consider the high price you have to pay for more machinery for more cattle for labor you just have to drop back to about what you can do and try to get back in other words you don't believe that increasing in numbers with the additional cost that's incurred then could be a profitable operation today under the present economic conditions no sir it just doesn't pay to increase when when you're making very little or losing on what you are doing Carol I find that throughout the entire country most every place I go I find many farmers that have the very same thing to say that you have I don't feel like that all the farmers are wrong if it's just a matter of your operation or my operation then it could be charged back to our lack of ability to profitably care on this dairy operation but I find that in so many areas that I don't believe that I could say that I could charge any of that up to you now I'd like to ask mr. Carter a question or two in order that I might get better acquainted with him and that you and the listening audience might also better know mr. Carter mr. Carter where do you live Murfreesboro Rutherford County Murfreesboro Tennessee that's that's a good place to be from nothing like the hills of content of Tennessee unless it would be the hills of Kentucky what type farming do you carry out in your operation dairy farming that's my sole income and I have at the present you know in about 30 cows I have milk up to 50 and like mr. Upton said it just doesn't pay to milk that meant it with the labor situation like it is and the cost of machinery and I have to do milk just about what I could I can do myself as a family unit there I have a small place only 90 acres and you can't afford to to hire all this help and buy all the equipment it takes to to milk that many cows on this smaller place mr. Carter I am very glad to hear you make those statements I thought all these small farmers were making money I've been told that only the larger dairy operation such as mr. Upton and some others that I know were the ones that was in this cost price squeeze in other words you would really consider your farm operation as the family type farm operation that we and nfo are striving so hard to save is that family type farm operator yes sir we I think that the more the larger you get the more you stand to lose on in this type of operation you have if you if you got a small amount you're gonna lose a small amount if you've got a large operation you you stand to lose lower in this large operation I'll certainly go along with you on that line of thinking mr. Carter because I know in our farm equipment business there that every time that we expand we run into some additional overhead that we hadn't anticipated in the beginning I have just about come to the conclusion that when you sit down and figure out what it's going to cost you to make an expansion that you should add about 30% on to that figure for some hidden gimmicks that we fail to see in the beginning they just don't come out on the surface until after we've already stopped who do you sell your milk to mr. Carter sale here in Nashville Nashville Milk Producers Association you are a member of the National Milk Producers Association that's right how long have you been selling milk here in Nashville since 1951 since 1951 well I'll ask you another question mr. Carter if I may how is your price today comparing with that of say all 54 55 56 long in those years well in 1950 two and three I received four full percent milk six dollars and forty cents a hundred at the present last month we received blend price $4.99 and with that type of price now that's been of over ten years ago and with things tractors and all types of equipment have gone up from 1/3 to may be doubled in price but still the farmer place of getting an increase it's a decrease in price and mill now you can take a string and pull it hard enough let it go one way and have a man on the other end pulling the other end and it's going to break if something doesn't yield and I think that the farmer needs nfo to help him get a price which is so badly needed mr. Carter let's do a little checking on those figures there that you have just given us I believe you said $4.99 was your blend price for your milk last month I believe today that milk is based on three point five butter fat test with maybe a six cent pricing differential ladies and gentlemen we want to be fair to the consumers today we don't want an nfo for anyone to be misled into anything we want facts and figures to be where they'll stand up in your own local community or in Washington if necessary $4.99 on three point five milk and I believe if we added six cents for a point on the butter fat deferential we'd come up with a $5 and 29 cent blend price on 4% milk today and I believe you stated that you receive six dollars and forty cents a hundred for your milk some years back so that would still be a deficit of a dollar and eleven cents per hundredweight on milk comparing prices today with some ten or twelve years ago now at the same time I believe you mentioned that tractors and all types of farm machinery had almost doubled in price during that time that's right in 1950 I bought a tractor and I gave twenty nine hundred and fifty dollars for this old tractors just about gone it needs I really need another one but uh I doubt it I imagine I'll have to get along with this one but I went to see what a new one like this one cost and since 1958 now that I gave twenty nine hundred and fifty dollars for this tractor this same tractor sells for a little better than five thousand dollars now that's quite an increase in other words with the present price of milk even though it might sound pretty good to some people that are not into the dairy business who don't realize what it costs to produce grade a milk today you're still at a great disadvantage when you have to go in to your local downtown merchants and buy a piece of equipment aren't you right thank you very much mr. Carter I have another question here that I'd like to ask mr. Upton at this time mr. Upton do you feel or do you think that rural and urban workers are necessary to each other or does one depend upon the other James uh they definitely depend on each other because we as farmers buy a great deal of the product of the city or factory workers labors we buy a great percent of the steel and steel products that are manufactured in the United States the farmers in America buy as much rubber each year in a form of automobile tires and truck tires and tractor tires has come out on all the new automobiles each year and we buy refrigerators which are steel we buy of course automobiles and the many other things that go into our economy and there's one other thing I'd like to bring up this time James I think we've overlooked on this price situation for the benefit of the consumer let's give the price that they would have had to paid for a quart of milk back in 1952 and three when we were getting six dollars and forty cents 100 from me up you could buy a quart of milk in the store for anywhere from fifteen to eighteen cents now this year when we were receiving around five dollars are a little better for our me up 400 weight the quart of milk and the store will cost Union were from 25 26 cents so I think that should be brought out thank you very much Carol that's very a good statement there because we have many times overlooked some of those things and it is rather important to know exactly what the housewife is paying today when she goes down to the grocery and also just what the farmer receives what portion of that price the farmer receives in other words you would almost classify the urban and the rural people so closely interrelated that you would almost say that they was a dependent upon each other as the first finger is to the thumb yes sir well I think that's exactly right because after all even though the urban worker is there now in a factory punching a clock maybe even at this very hour they're very goods that he's manufacturing goes out into all the rural areas throughout the entire United States and if the farmers buying power continues to be completely paralyzed continues to decay at the rate that it has in the past ten years I know and you know that that factory worker is going to soon have to hunt another job and now just where will he go I'm sure that in most areas it's very much the same as it is in my own locality and that is that he will not have a place to go back to on the farm I would just like to mention a few things because I know that our time slips away rather rapidly on these programs and I wonder that if we can really understand the sad situation that we are in today you know if I were to make the statement a barefoot boy with shoes on stood sitting on the street waiting for the parade it just wouldn't make much sense to you would it well I think if we'll stop and analyze that thing it might make more sense than you think that's exactly where we're going now we're still wearing shoes but unknowingly just how long are just how far we could go I think that remains to be seen and we are in the rural America today I think are in the worst up floor there is more confusion than has ever been we're so confused and so bewildered that we really don't know whether we are standing or whether we're sitting you might wonder why I would make a statement like that but even at this very minute in America I think that you'll find at about 37 cents out of every dollar it is national speaking goes for federal state and local taxes now your next 20 cents will go for interests to pay on borrowed money then 20 cents will go to pay on the debt now that leaves about 23 cents so I guess you might suppose that we aren't in too bad a shape or in two more to embarrassing a position even with that because that leaves us 23 cents to spend and we can buy food today for 19 cents out of that dollar so you've still got a little spend money but the thing we have overlooked is the fact that this farmer now is putting in from 12 to 18 hours a day and I don't know how much longer that he can do that because even with a declining number of farmers that we had in 1965 we notice that the credit Administration loaned a record seven billion dollars now you think 7 billion dollars that's beyond me to comprehend such figures but how long can we continue at such a pace if I have the time I would just like to bring some figures to you as to what it costs per cow today to be in the great a dairy business I think recently hoards dairyman put out a publication stating $2,800 and I'm going to give you some figures from a local farm that I recently made a survey of and I'm going to use this 400 acre farm and I'm going to put his land values at a very reasonable figure 400 dollars per acre which is a hundred and sixty thousand dollars that he has invested in land a hundred cows I use a very low figure of only three hundred dollars each which is thirty thousand dollars for cows replacement heifers fifty and number seventy five hundred dollars two silos $8,500 silage unloading equipment feeders which is necessary three thousand dollars bulk tank pipeline equipment and all it takes for the operation about nine thousand dollars plus his farm equipment and other machinery of 26 to 28 thousand dollars we can come up with a total figure of 25 of two hundred and fifty four thousand five hundred dollars or about twenty five hundred and forty five dollars that this man actually had invested and these were figures that we set out and went over and compiled so I think in view of all that's been said here today that we must not go out and face the future with fear I think America is known throughout the world for having courage for having intelligence for having great imagination and by doing this thing we'll be able to find a solution for these problems even as severe as they are today and in the matter that they face the American farmer and as well as the urban people and remember all of you in urban America today are so dependent upon the farmer the American farmer that you really don't realize where your next meal is coming from I'd like to take this opportunity to thank mr. Legion for inviting me down for this program and for any additional information concerning the nfo program please contact this station thank you very much us farm report a rural area Public Relation program brought to you in the interest of agriculture rural business and the well-being of our nation by members of the national farmers organization in this area and by others interested in seeing the farmer receive a fair price for what he produces you're interested in having more information about the nmo send your request to nfo in care of WLAC television Nashville video tape production