Master D Woodland State of Affairs a

he's been in many of your homes he's been at meetings that I'm sure each and every one of you have attended in the past but I do want to take a minute to say a few words and make a few comments about our speaker for tonight we're fortunate as an organization that has come from a time when we really didn't have a sense of direction we knew that something had to be done we formed an organization of a lot of people people that had a philosophy in mind and knew that if we done something together we would be able to accomplish the impossible we've evolved from that era into an era that we now have the programs that we attempted to build 20 years ago we have nationwide collective bargaining in action we have commodity programs in action and every major commodity and we're fortunate to have with us tonight a man that has the ability to understand and recognize a changing agriculture man that can see that this agriculture is changing from what it was 20 years ago to a time when agriculture now depends on a heavy load of capital and debt and a different thinking in the minds of many of the younger producers a man that has the leadership to lead Collective Bargaining in a direction that will give these new and young agricultural producers the progressive farmers a chance to build their operations by extracting from the market from the marketplace the money money they need to cover their cost and return a profit Yvon woodland our national president has the inbred ability to work with people to surround himself at the leadership and to extract from that leadership their best parts he sees their strong points and works with him on their strong cause I've seen a staff of leaders that he's put together that has gone from in some cases leaders not having the direction they needed to leadership that has the total direction that I have total confidence in because of a man that had the ability to work with them day in day out and develop the strongest staff that any organization and this kind of staff that any organization could be very very proud of Devante at this time i want you to come forward and present to us the evening program davon woodland our national president thank you Bob delegates and staff visitors and press those who are meeting here with us tonight I want you to know that this privilege that is mine causes me to feel a deep sense of responsibility to this organization and in the general sense to agriculture as a whole now I'm gonna chat with you tonight more than anything else sometimes we have a fireside chat and we just visit and other times we involve ourselves in a different type of atmosphere and I'm gonna break from the norm just a little bit and do a couple of things that I want to do the Chairman has turned the podium to me so I guess from here on I do what I want to do I've introduced several visitors here at this convention and yes but there's a delegate that's here at this convention that I have not recognized and I want to do it at this time hopefully two of them one for sure going back many many years we became involved in the battle for collective bargaining and justice at the marketplace and as we did it took the dedication and commitment many of them are you but there became a need for some to totally commit themselves to the cause give up their lifestyle and leave their home and commit themselves totally to the cause which they believed firmly in and during that period of time we developed leadership in this organization that I believe was the agriculture leadership of the nation and I want to ask Earhart fingsten to stand up and pay tribute to that man thinker yet one who always enjoyed a good fight now I was looking for and hope that Orly would be here only do you happen to be here if so away we want to pay that same tribute and respect to you and even if you're not I want the delegate body zone we're here today because of that leadership I think we recognize it and I want them to know that we recognized it no I'm a realist I'm not an optimist or a pessimist I'm a realist and I try to deal with issues as I see them as straightforward as I know how and we talk about and hear phrases that were not familiar with and I don't understand them I don't know what they mean when they talk about trickle-down economics they talk about supply-side economics I don't know what those phrases mean but I know that if you have $100 in your checkbook and you write a check for a hundred and ten you're in trouble I understand that simple mathematics and economics and I know that those of us who farm our land we have that simple understanding of economics and I also know that we're living in a period of time when there has never been a greater challenge to this organization and as you contemplate the theme to my rear I want to spend just a little time talking to you about it collective bargaining more than marketing so that we're on the same wavelength Marketing as we interpret is a system that we have been subject to for generations it's a system that has been there and has exploited we as tillers of the soil because we have had no way to challenge that system and so as we talk about marketing it takes no talent to market and I've heard the story and many of you where the mule took the wagon to town because he could do as well as the farmer it didn't take any talent to market but I'll tell you when you get into the field of bargaining therein lies the challenge equal to any challenge that you'll ever have and it takes real talent to cause that market to react favorable and so collective bargaining is much more than is marketing and as this organization embraced that principle many many years ago I suppose that we learned as we went along the challenge that comes with declaring collective bargaining as your goal collective bargaining more than marketing now you mark it within the system until you have the power to bargain and your power to bargain comes from volume and to be successful in bargaining you must have sufficient volume that someone wants it and needs it because if they don't why should they bargain the market system is ample and adequate for them and you must be in a position to insist that they transfer that philosophy of marketing into a bargaining atmosphere and it can only be done with volume now we talked about the possibilities the alternatives to collective bargaining and I ask you what are they there are some one of them is a continuation of the system that has exploited you and I for generations the other is taking the legislative route and I am sure that if we are honest with ourselves we'll have to admit that that system that has explored this will continue to do so unless we challenge it and we have some ability to replace it and if you challenge a system you're in air if you do not have a replacement and that we must do and that today people we have we have that system in place and as one told me not too long ago it is as near infallible as any program that we have ever had within the organization and I submit to you that the programs with little fine-tuning as we move into more complete effort can fill the need that is there there's no question as the farm bill began to heat up chuck reported on it and i don't want to spend a lot of time but i want to take just a little different approach than he did we recognize that conservative move and so we began to do things where we could protect ourselves under that element well the budget director Stockland he had other plans representing the administration's viewpoint he had one goal and that was to divide agriculture divide the farm block and by his own admission he was going to present an administration bill that would be unacceptable to the farm block in the Congress and the end result was that the division took place as the strategy developed it was not by chance it happened by design until the farm vote in the farm block in both the house and the Senate was divided and they began to cannibalize each other and the end result was that the farmers were the losers the administration was the winner and the farm bill completely unacceptable well those things happen by design the point I'm making is this there is a genuine effort to divide agriculture to keep it from accomplishing any goal that would improve the economic lot of those of us who till the soil and even within the circle of Agriculture there are attempts to divide and as limited as we are in numbers if we unite we must not allow ourselves to be fragmented we work on the issues that we agree on and then we disagree on issues that we disagree on in private and present that united front that has traditionally divided us there are trends developing that are dangerous the average age of the farmer and rancher today who holds the deeds the title to land is 64 years of age this doesn't mean that he rides the tractor and is out tilling the soil it means that he owns the land he has the bees and I feel comfortable in saying that in five years a transfer of ownership will take place that land will transfer there must be a system designed to allow that new owner to retire debt if it is incurred in the purchase process and that debt will and be incurred by anyone who's going to till that land and farm it as a business the debt may not be incurred by those who will purchase for tax purposes for investment purposes or some of the mouths and if I in fact were a gentleman of 64 65 years of age I'd be pretty careful to whom I sold my land because I wouldn't want a repossession I would want to say unfortunately those who buy today find themselves in a position where retiring debt from farm income becomes a near impossibility and the only way that they can pay the price for land that is now the asking price is by mortgaging some land that is clear perhaps the home place for an acquisition all the neighboring and then they spread out those payments on all the area and reduce the total payment per unit they put in jeopardy the home place that they have worked and been able to put into a clear deed position these young people want to farm they want to be ranchers they are the professional people you are the professional these young people who have followed you and I as our sons and daughters and watched and learned because they followed and worked with us are the professional farmers and ranchers of the future and we better never allow those hobby are part-time farmers to get into a position where they will transfer ownership strictly for investment purposes America will be the loser the American people will be the loser these young people want to farm we must give them some hope whereby they can literally become the owner the operator the true professional now I look at American agriculture you and I who are the professional farmers there's nobody better nobody can challenge our ability to perform it's been tested and we're recognized worldwide for having that ability to excel but agriculture is changing people and it's changing very rapidly and we must be willing to recognize that and be willing to change and capitalize on the changes that are taking place it used to be that the physical labor was number one and I'm not suggesting that it still isn't a major part of but there's another element creeping into agriculture now that is putting agriculture into what is known as a stress occupation it isn't only physical anymore but it becomes mental it used to be that our whole concentration and thought process was on how to produce more per acre more bushels and today it's in addition to that it is when and how to protect ourselves at the marketplace and that mental stress and strain too many farmers are not trained and adapt to that change as taking place in agriculture and that area of stress and strain is the void that this organization is going to fill that's our role that's our responsibility to you every major corporation America that is successful has recognized the need for having a sales force for the commodity which they manufacture whether it be automobiles whether it be tractors farm equipment but the manufacturer of those goods may manufacture and if it sits on the lock they're in trouble they have to have someone take care of that end of the business and they will spend equally as much time on that end of the business as they do on the manufacturing and producing the units and I'm suggesting that you and I as individuals we do not have the ability to maintain that type of sales force individually but together collectively we can supply and fill that need that's there now there are some techniques that are used the techniques in protecting our economic interests we refer to as collective bargaining that's the principle that's the principle but there are fundamentals of collective bargaining that are much more intricate and much more demanding much more much harder to gain and so what we are asking you to do is that you understand the principle of collective bargaining and what it can do and let us assume the responsibility of implementing the fundamentals with our staff and your staff you are professionals in a field which you have chosen and we have the technicians we have the specialists and those who have chosen a specific area of interest in their lives and they have excelled in that and what we need to do is let them deal with the fundamentals of the principle collective bargaining there's no question in my mind that as the months and years begin to pass by that within our lifetime we're on a collision course as far as population and food supplies and it's accepted and in discussions recognize that the American farmer stands between starvation and a well-fed world and that as we recognize the growth factor where there is a new birth every four seconds somewhere in the world it becomes very obvious that the American farmer cannot fill that void and that other countries in the world are going to have to assume a greater degree of responsibility for the issue but as we attempt to fill that void we have become involved in a an expansion of export programs but most of us know that the majority our food that is exported from this country goes to countries who can and should pay they should pay full market value and as we look at others who have considered the worth of their raw materials and how it affects the economy of their country it becomes obvious why they have been successful and we have been somewhat less than successful I think a typical example that we can refer to the OPEC countries they may have the camel kneel and they crawl on with their machete in their gun and right over the sand hill shoot at each other all week well when it comes time to negotiate and talk about the pricing of their raw materials they sit down together and get it done and there can be a lesson learned from that but the reason they have been successful is that their government is willing to assist and allow that to take place and the difference being our government is not willing to allow or assist and the cheap food policy which they have embraced regardless of which political party we may talk about that cheap food policy carries through to that raw material that you and I are the manufacturers off that's the reason some countries of the world have had some success in protecting their basic industry you can take the European Common Market s-- they have been able to protect their agriculture because their government was interested in seeing it take place and our government sad to say simply isn't that interesting there has never been a greater disparity between the input costs of producing agriculture Goods and the income received from them there has never been a greater disparity since 1930 and sometimes we even become lulled to sleep you can remember as I when we had 8 percent 9 percent Interest 7 and it went up to an area that we almost panicked and recognized the impossibility of surviving under that element and now it has moved on back down to maybe 16 percent and we think we're in heaven and we've accepted that now as livable when in fact you cannot borrow money operate your industry on anything more than single-digit interest rates agriculture is a very interest sensitive industry because 90% of the farmers and ranchers borrow money and being a very interest sensitive industry it hits them doubly hard when you take into consideration that that is an albatross which they have no control over coupled with low farm markets at a level a disparity that reaches back 50 some years which they today have no control over those two elements that are beyond our grasp therein lies our problem what the farmer needs today more than anything else is stronger representation at the marketplace with that representation at the marketplace all other issues that concern agriculture can be dealt with and without that strong representation those issues that causes deep concern will be a permanent concern this organization has accepted the challenge years ago and we recommit ourselves to that goal constantly that our goal is to establish our right to price and provide that representation at the marketplace we haven't been able to move forward as rapidly as we would like we're not content when you become content and satisfied there's something wrong you'll stagnate and we're not satisfied with the rate of growth