NFO-86 (AV10492) US Farm Report: NFO in the Field

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 the listening area and others interested in seeing the farmer receive a fair price for what he produces welcome to another NL four program from Tennessee NL 4 is a national organization of farmers in fo came into being through necessity when assess the I mean we have to do something to preserve the family type farm system when I say through necessity I also mean farmers are leaving the farm every day in the United States 324 farmers leave the farm every day the reason they're leaving is it can't make a living today 62 percent of the farmers in Tennessee are in the poverty class all of us operate on borrowed money the only reason we can get the borrowed money is the banks will loan us money on real estate and not on our farming operation NMOS purpose is to get diplomas of fair price for the production principally meat milk and grain and on our past programs we have had producers of meat and we've had producers of their products today we have producers of grain right now we in Hickman County which produces a lot of : to handle this program down here today we have a member of the National n fo TV committee Walter brown who will introduce the guest here Thank You Virgil we have with us here today mr. WH Bell who operates about a 500 acre farm program in Empress and Clinic County Tennessee by the way Herschel we're in Perry County let's give credit where credit's due Oh mr. Bell I notice you have quite a bit of here and I know some of the streams and this door with that how does the cost of this equipment or compared with the original price of the equipment that you replaced it well there's about forty eight hundred dollars difference and the two pieces of equipment the flood tractor and braking plow then the tractor and plow at the time I bought it to the treaty to this one this is larger yes this is larger equipment we also not ask you how does the price of the grain in this case of course corn compare with the cross that you were getting at the time you bought that cheaper record well at the time I bought the cheaper tractor I was getting about two dollars a bushel for corn and now I'm getting the dollar forty something wrong there to me although it does to me to jr. you know these things have a way of getting out of balance I don't our costs go up and our income comes down I don't know how I'm going to pay for this at the dollar forty corn this new equipment let's go over and talk to mr. Walter Nunnally I meant at all and see if he has any ideas about that mr. Knightley is a member of the State Committee of afdf for Tennessee one of three members he is also president for the production credit Association he is also a farmer he is also an airphone member does that build up the order what would you say that the trends that mr. Bale has referred to affecting the Farm Credit business what what's the picture on this well thank you Walker for the nice introduction I would like to say this and my short-eared is of association with plumbing production credit Association which is located in Columbia Tennessee and we have nine counties which includes this count in my own our loans have increased from four million dollars in the past three years to seven million dollars but the number of people who are born money has decreased so you can see that the farmer is buying more money trying to farm bigger in order to overcome this price squeeze that we're in with production man the way it is with the high seat : the cost of fertilizer the spraying which you'll see in a minute on this tractor it is just kind of put the farm in position where we've got to have a little bit more for what we produce I would like to mention as Walter said I'm on the state ASCS committee which is a program that the government has in trying to help the farmer in conserving some of the land and water that we have which is not only to help the farm but also the people of the whole country because when we lose our land it's washed away by water which we be not conserved we just not gonna have anything here to produce you food in order to eat and the recreation which the water supplies and I think that has described some of the programs that we associated with now the government doesn't pay all of this expense half of it is paid by the farm a lot of people thinks the government pays everything but they're wrong it's encouraging the farmer to use his own with them hitting a little bit by playing hey Walter I believe if I followed you that what you said to a large extent is that this equipment that we saw pull out of here just a minute ago doesn't necessarily entirely blown mr. bell oh that's true if I think it shows that in the increase from the three million to the seven in the four million to the seven million that production credit is well and in in regard to this now this increase in business may be good for the banks are in your case the production credit Association but what about the individual farmers businessmen and it's certainly not good on us because I'm a borrow from production credit and I know some of these other fellows are true and anybody heat stole money I don't care who is and we might thought out also that this business is good for them only up to a point oh that's true that's true when you reach the point that repayment becomes impossible with the family well then it is not good for the loan companies also and we've got to have something to help us to pay back that seven million dollars that the farmers on bond in these nine cameras and that's very true very true the next fella over here is Ralph fly might say that before we go any farther that without exception every man here is an NFL member so we'll leave that off his introduction Ralph however is a vice president the first elected vice president in the state of Tennessee from Hickman County Ralph we've seen this new large equipment we've heard what mr. Bale said we've heard what to mention honey has said why then does the farmer purchase this new equipment in larger and more expensive packages than ever before his credit rating is going under this time constraint Walter they could be several reasons but I think one of the primary reasons he's doing this in as an average he's taken over his neighbor's farm and in doing this he he has to have larger equipment and at the same time another reason would be that he is doing this with less labor this equipment is not necessarily his wishes every time but it's a necessity that he has to do this in order he's working 16 hours he takes over his neighbor's farm he only has so many hours to work and this is a necessity and not a wish of the farmer mm-hmm well now what happens to him you said he was working 16 hours and mr. bell I believe mentioned that he's growing a green on 500 acres now I know he didn't always do this because I've known all across a long time what do you suppose has happened his manpower requirements as he is taking on his neighbor's farm in addition to his own the one that's been driven out of farming well I imagine his manpower requirements have gone up judging from the size of equipment he's had he's trying to offset it these manpower requirements were this larger equipment and also he's working longer hours himself I'm sure in other words instead of working 16 hours a day he's taking over twice the amount of farming working but that'd be 32 hours a day of course he has become more efficient sure so maybe he's only working about 24 or 26 hours days in view of all these facts and this build-up and so forth do you think well do you know from your experience is the farmer any better off income wise as a result of this increased acreage and increased efficiency no he is not he is worse off and in taking on this increased acreage he has taken on a greater responsibility as far as management a greater responsibility so far is dead our income on a national average on the farm has been about five percent of the gross and it's in the all No Arminius barely if it does pay the interest so I think he's worse off in general than he was before in other words it's it's a little bit like the fella that went to the dentist with the toothache he was told now this is gonna hurt for a little while but after a while just think how much better it's gonna feel we've been told that as our neighbors leave the farm and we have the prospects that maybe we're going to join them that fish is gonna hurt for a little while but after it's all over while then there's gonna be somebody that's a whole lot better off well have you seen any of those thought of yet no in spite of the fact that two and a half million people and better have already left the pond I haven't seen any of them in Hickman County well I frankly don't know where to tell you to go to look upon next fellow over here mentioned that mr. fly is the or was the first elected vice president in the state of Tennessee mr. Garner Edie Garner was the first elected president in the state of Tennessee Hickman County was the first charter in fo organization in the state it is still present in that County and my dad doing a real good job in the organization Edie the farmer usually is classed as we see here today as a producer and certainly he is that we look around us we see the tractors flying the first we see this new equipment we see the prospect this fall of corn standing where we are standing on freshly plowed ground today what about the farmer as a well what about him as it's not a producer but as a purchaser Walter the armors the Hartmann industry is one of the biggest industries in the United States we are a very good customer because of the fact that we buy approximately 30 million dollars worth of good services each year to produce these caught from this livestock we buy approximately two and a half billion dollars worth of fuel and lubricants which we are among the nation's top petroleum buyer we also purchase about two and a half billion dollars worth of new tractors and equipment the equipment that we just single through the field here so we are a large producer in that line we also put by our purchase about two million two billion dollars worth of fertilizers and lines and we are the nation's top for the user rubber so we are very big and is in the consumer realm you know when you mentioned rubber it just reminded me I don't know why I did it but a few days ago for some reason I set down well actually I didn't sit down and been too busy to sit down I guess I thought about this on the run but it occurred to me and I counted that the farm that I helped operate we have to keep on the ground at some time or other during the year over 70 rubber tires and this was not including my boy bicycles by the way a lot and I just imagined that if you visited the farms across the nation you would find that similar things are true in fact just look at these tractors that we've seen here today rubber tires and more rubber tires with the same things true of the other facilities and the other things that we need in order to produce that's right and then not add that if the farmers could get the income that is coming to him it would mean more these materials would be purchased which would increase the purchasing power the entire nation that is very true you know I'm driving a car that it's getting up and crowding hundred thousand miles Detroit recently has been a little bit unhappy because they haven't been able to sell quite as many cars as they would like to well let me tell you if the income on the farm had been at parity for the past few years they wouldn't have to hunt me up I'd be looking for them I've bought a new car tomorrow well at least the first rainy day well and let me walk on over here and we'll talk just a minute with Johnny Faulkner who is a priest out of Tennessee I believe Johnny you told me that you are the secretary of the nfo organization in this county that's right and I also believe you've been doing a little pitching for an elbow on the side well I pitched well in there for just about every opportunity I have Walter apparently that's about the only thing that we hail from put us back on a level in economy that we rightly deserve is NF full well no we're all not that subject can getting along that line let me ask you a question that I believe you can answer in very few words in your opinion what is the greatest lead in American agriculture today Walter I think we have to both of them are very closely related when I win this reasonable profit over the cost of production of our farm production and other which is just as important is stability in prices the farmers over quite a number of years have had to outguess the market and as you know that's rather hard to do maybe we will have an increase in price one week and a decrease in price of our production the next week and stability is very important as a reasonable profit over the cost of production or the stuff that we produce that's true and in addition you've mentioned fighting the prices that's just one of the things that a farmer has to fight among them insects and weather and what had you now for example it's almost the 1st of June here and I'm satisfied mr. Bell would have liked to have had this video plant he three weeks ago but he's like I am it's been almost three weeks since we could put a pie in the ground just maybe a couple of days and these things build up along with the uncertain price is to make farming kind of an uncertain living now then in few of these things and I've already mentioned that a lot of others you're a member of nfo why did you become a member Walter it became apparent to me that something had to be done to take care of the farm farmers economic problem and after rather strict search for something that might solve the problem I decided that NF 4 was the only solution that we had and it's every farmer realizes we have got to overcome this deference and price of the stuff that we have to purchase and what we have to sell the only way that that we have found so far that even looks reasonable to do that is through collective bargaining of course the NFL offers that program we realize of course and that the primary purpose of NF o the primary reason that any office became members of NF o was to take action toward getting higher prices at the marketplace but speaking for myself I found that since I've been in NF o there have been some secondary benefits and just as a matter of interest let's talk to these fellows and see if they found that way to it just told mr. partner over here that since I've been an nfo although I joined for the primary reason of working for a better price I found some secondary benefits have you found it that way yes I think we could mention maybe several benefits that we've received from then there folk and one of these would be that we understand each other's problems better we are not to have individuals or more we are more unified would be I'd say one of the benefits well have you found any secondary benefits of Interpol yes no more farmers the county over it before nfo came to our County I knew the farmers in my immediate community but now and when I think of farming in Hickman County I think that the entire farming population and people in County and this to me has been a great benefit in satisfaction what about you Walter I like to say I think my count myself but it has tended to make leaders out of some of the farmers which you don't usually think of a farmer as a man who gets in the limelight I mean he does his days work in class to sell is what he produces but since NFO is coming i canti several of the people that you just interviewed i mean they know how to take a meeting and keep it going and it's just it's been such a it's brought out the person really that what he really isn't and what he can do it's i think that's one of the secondary benefits and I think it's been so important the man of the count or longer I think all these have been true well yeah we have learned to know each other better we've developed some new leadership we have seen several cases where the men of the county have come forward to be counted in a new program these things however in and out of themselves do not bring us a the end they do not bring us to fire price Ralph it occurred to me a conversation that we had at home not long ago and we mentioned that a few years ago we looked at our neighboring farmer and we saw that looked like he was making things pretty well looked like we were going pretty well or he was going pretty well while I was going backwards now what under the world was I gonna do about that we could look and well our neighbors had new tractors and new air conditioners and I knew this and knew that and I think that nfo has developed within each one of us the knowledge that our neighbors are in the same boat that we are if they have a new tractor very likely they lopped off a chunk of credit to pay for it yes I about something else while I was getting it the same way we didn't realize these things about each other but through nfo we do we realize we are all in the same boat we realize that we've all been going the same way and have the same way to go what's it going to take to get back though older I think this a lot could be said about it and a lot of different routes but we've got to have a price to get there and when we talk about price of course we automatically think of nfo and although as you said you watched your neighbor and he was seemingly doing better Newark and he used that credit we've used all of us have used that credit a long time and it it's kind of come to the place where we are not going to be using it we're going to be abusing it and price is the only thing that's going to answer my problems and your problem as farmers if answers has answered the problem for labor and all the segments of our economy price is a must farmers are no exception that is true as you mentioned for every segment of the economy we can't purchase without purchasing power we can't feed and clothe our families without purchasing power I think it was mentioned while ago that if parity had been had for the farmers for the past several years we'd see more equipment in the field like this we've seen today we'd see more new tractors more new corn planters you know we've talked about parity for quite a bit and quite a number of years did I wonder if we really as a group of farmers understand what parity is very not biggest majority doesn't what this parity mean to you it means that well I just go back to about nineteen and ten fourteen when the nation's economy was on balance that is all segments of the economy and since then the farming purchasing power and what he receives had gone down and the rest of the economy has gone out and go on and left in other words their their purchasing power has increased hours have decreased I understand ours is at decrease um 17% where there is increased from 30% and to bring everything in relative balance we want to know that we all have to be equally as far as purchasing college is concerned and that's where the farmers are liking right now we don't have 100% parity and as long as we don't thought we can expect to survive as a number one industry in the nation they could be more fitted by parity I know but we just don't have the purchasing power that we should have to keep things going I think that to me the thing that made me understand what parity means to meet you as a farmer is this 100% parity now we all know what par means that means that we're on and equal with our fellow workers in other fields of labor endeavor parity means that we're getting the same thing that we are that they get take-home pay now then when we're operating on 75% parity that simply means that I'm not getting quite as much as the balance of the economy and well I don't think it takes anyone with a PhD you figure out this where which end of the goal is the 25% missing on the buying end or our purchasing power is first our pocket he profited in there really and we our cost is there but our income just not there so it's on the income and it's not on the purchasing and actually that's what I was trying to trying to get through that because you know I guess very few businesses operate with the 25 percent profit right I'm sure Eric oh she's not one of them and therefore when the top part of that parity figure is the part of the figure that we could use for the purchase of more new equipment the repairing of loans for actually just staying in business well it's been said that what has been proven that departments only receiving some five or six percent returns on his investment so you can see that this only takes care of the interest involved without any income for you work for you management and so forth and so long that's very true nfo presents a positive program in agriculture nfo presents a program of action mr. Fortner have you seen any results in action during the few short months that you've been a member Walter I think so I think it's very apparent that that NFL has been responsible for some of the increases that we have had as you know a little over a year ago some of our experts predicted that hog prices for example would have very little increase throughout last summer and we did see a substantial increase in the price and I personally feel that nfo was responsible for at least a part of that I really couldn't agree with you more wholeheartedly fans are you as a farmer a member of nfo have you joined the NFL team for collective bargaining in agriculture actually do you know the facts about nfo it could be that you're in a County where nfo has not yet become organized if so let me invite you to step over into one of your neighboring counties where perhaps nfo is in full swing and then find out the facts about nfo from yourself and from an NF o member become a member of NFL team the team for action in agriculture a positive purpose and a powerful plan and that is NF oh thank you us farm report a rural area public relations program brought to you in the interest of agriculture world 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