Master Dairy Commodity Meeting 1980 b

I don't know what's gonna happen but the thing is the thing we fear the present administration is going to cut taxes by 10% they've got to get money from somewheres they got to get money from somewheres now do you know in Washington that the dairy support program is considered in the same breath as welfare programs the dairy support program is considered by Congress and their legislators as a welfare program there's three percent of the population that are farmers there's a heck of a lot more than that on welfare so they consider it a welfare program I think we're going to go to the top of the welfare list and be the first one cut I think we're going to be faced with two alternatives they talked about these and this past fall they're still on the front burner to be in a new farm bill and whether you realize it or not there's only two commodities today that are on a parity index as milking tobacco everything else is going off and they've gotten stung when they went off and I go to Washington and they talk cost of production and I smile because that's our language then they tell me the cost of production is $11.30 I said forget it let's go back to parity because we know it's not true and that's why the dairy farmers making so much money so we're gonna have one or two alternatives in my opinion we're gonna have what they call a trigger mechanism which would just parity based upon what they call net removals how much butter cheese dry milk the government buys of the total production go up and down based upon that the other alternative is to have a separate dairy parity this one probably has a pretty good chance to and the present parity law feed costs are weighted 11.5% the economists tell me today that feed cost constitute 44% of producing milk so a dairy parity would be related directly to the items that affect producing milk they would not take into effect general inflation the consumer price index what the rest of the country is doing only affect what affects dairy farmers so we could be like yo-yos grain is king I'll grant you that in agriculture because all the animals eat it you got to have grain to put fat on cattle you got to have grain to make milk you can feed them all the beet pulp and hay and everything you want it fills up the bellies but it doesn't produce the milk you've got to have the green so a grain price is going up then a dairy parity the price will go up but when they go down Katie bar the door cuz there she goes with 44% weight and that's what we're headed for CNI consumer nutrition Institute miss Ellen Haas director has a reconstituted milk proposition it's been trying to get the department to look out for well over a year now again we've opposed it and written statements will continue to oppose it the Department of Agriculture just last week came out with an impact statement from what effect it would have on the economy which they have to do now under the president ministration everything's got to have an economic impact statement so they came out with an economic impact statement on reconstituted milk what they arrived at hey they would save the consumer a hundred and sixty five million dollars a year of course the consumers jump with joy it'll save the government 185 million dollars because we take good wholesome milk we run it through a dryer we put it in a bag we take it into a dairy plant and add the water back in and packages always its consumer so it'll say the government 185 million dollars because the dairy plants will be buying the powder he'll it'll cost the dairy farmer five hundred and twenty five million dollars and here the two figures together I don't get five twenty five so some words I guess it's the normal government take or something in there that they take administration fees off of or something I don't know what happened to the rest of it but the savings don't equal the loss but so we'll be watching that one we'll be watching it very carefully because I'm afraid of it I'm afraid of it because one thing that I firmly believe that has reduced the consumption of dairy products is what I like to terminus is bastardizing the products try to buy a good half gallon of ice cream today you can't hardly find one because they made it sweet and cold and that's about all you can say and you can let it melt and it doesn't even melt because he's got so much emulsifier in it and we start this with wholesome milk we'll do the same thing to fluid milk as we've done to ice cream and we've done two cheese and you tell me that's to the benefit of the consumer malarkey let me talk a little bit and I like to brag say this is my third convention I wanted a challenge so I came with this organization I didn't realize what a challenge it was it's still challenging even more so each and every year the first year I was completely frustrated the second year I was a little better I'm starting on my third year and I'm not but much better than a second but we're getting in we had a lot of things to overcome we had a long ways to go but we've changed and we're gaining we're growing we sit back and look and say what's the problem what's wrong we're not running like a bull in a china shop all the time we analyze things see what's the problem first thing we have to do is recognize the problem many people go around and smile all the time they're happy they're too stupid to recognize they got a problem so we got to recognize when we got a problem what the problem is then what the solution is and that's the process we follow now that's what we've done and we always come up with the answers but we try I think we come up with a lot of them but as October 1st I've realigned the dairy Department I said I've been with the organization not quite three years and I've realigned it three times so I hope it doesn't continue one of these days we might get it right but we want to be flexible so we've got four areas and dairy in the United States today you see them on our bulletin board out there our booth Steve Babbage is area director of the Midwest area jean-paul is area director of the Upper Midwest area wolde Albers now has what we call the mid-atlantic area which is Ohio Michigan Indiana Kentucky dick Emerson his area director of the Northeast which is New York New Jersey and New England to be broken down that area into a separate area now the area directors report directly to me that's my staff al Scott was made assistant director of operations with full authority to make decisions because I don't give out blind titles like banks who give out titles of vice presidents or cashiers or assistant vice presidents to everybody when I call somebody an assistant he's truly an assistant with all the responsibilities that go with it and al has that and I have to do a lot of traveling we all do breather al or I or available when I'm not there al can make the decisions and they half the time when I'm there he makes them so we do have people who are in charge my home office staff you see most of all there's two of them only got three well there's the third one my whole home office staff is here now I've got three people now and that's all I want I defy you to show any other national organization is running a dairy program with three staff members and a director of operations at a department director but that's our overhead but it's all I need because the responsibility is in the areas it's with the area directors because we tried market milk out of corny and a damn stuff soured before we could move it so if the area directors don't know what to do with it don't call me cuz I don't know what to do with it I can buy all I can drink so it's placed in the areas we do not market milk out of Corning and we're not going to it's going to be in the areas we give them guidance I talk with my area directors on a daily basis we give them guidance from the Home Office we give them assistance and quality control and procurement and training so we have the strings that we can pull to keep control but they operate it under our direction but we don't make all the decisions they make them most of the time they'll check with us they know they're right before they call us in most instances please want some support so our only job is to question did you think of this you think of that you think of this you know I did that yeah fine then we call me for going do it so that's where we operate today now we're upgrading our staff and increasing it but we're upgrading and increasing as we grow not before we grow as they'd pointed out we've grown 20% in the last year we've increased our staff because as we grow I can afford to put more staff on your payroll that I can when you've got a smaller volume so with me I can handle the volume your staff handle the vine we've got today and we put volume on then we put staff on we don't put staff on in hopes of putting volume on because we go broke that way and I'll tell you this dairy Department is not going to go broken if you go to the financial meetings you'll find out that we made money last year and we're going to break black figures and that's our policy and we'll continue to do it because we're going to run it in a businesslike manner but I'm proud of this staff and I'm proud of this organization each day more and more so still challenging we still keep going because there's a new challenge every day around the corner one thing we had mentioned that we're going backwards again we didn't hit the panic button no sense in hitting the panic button because then everybody just runs in different directions that's like a fire alarm so you don't accomplish anything that way so you sit back and say what's the problem and we meet with our regionals in our area directors we come up with one major thing we're not training that people we hire somebody we float him around the office for a week we say go get him it's likes daily said we're storming them with BB guns to go out and hunt elephants so that by golly we're going to spend the money to hire somebody let's train to use a rifle and that's what we've done and else God in addition to B being Assistant Director of Operations is director of training has done a fantastic job because I'll match your staff today up with any staff in the United States barn on today and I've wanted to said that three years ago but I will today and next year when I come back here it's going to be better than it is today so we're going to grow and we're gonna continue to upgrade now we dropped off some areas we've had to we had a dairy program when I came in the organization in Idaho even though our presidents from Idaho they can grow potatoes but they don't have any cows and they've got no bellies and that's two things you gotta have to run a dairy program has cows to make the milk and bellies to put it in they had neither they had potatoes and they were burying them because they couldn't afford to talk them so we discontinued a dairy program in Idaho we couldn't fight the battle in southwest Missouri so we had to give it up California and I don't want to offend anybody from California but I don't want California you guys got the ocean on one side and the mountains of the deserts on the other and no bellies in between you can have all the milk in the state of California you're not going to affect the price of milk throughout this United States one iota you're going to affect it by going from Minnesota through Wisconsin and what I consider flip-flop areas and they're really not flip-flops Oh Illinois Northeast northern part of Iowa flippin the Michigan and it's not a flip area it's a pretty darn sturdy program through Pennsylvania New York and New England you've got 70% of the milk production in this United States right in that belt and that's where you run a dairy program and that's where we control the price of milk and that's where well price milk and we need each and every one of those area we've been weak in the Northeast I've concentrated a lot of effort in the Northeast because we have to have in my opinion viable program in the Northeast to have a national dairy program we can't ignore Pennsylvania New York and those areas where the milk is produced and say we've got a national dairy program there's no way we can do it so there again we put away the shotgun and got out the rifle and said where do we want to go and how do we want to get there and that's the program we're approaching today now I've represented this organization for the last three years and I wear two hats both as a marketing man and as an attorney and that gives me a little more fun - got a little more versatility because I did the marketing man I have to answer questions there's a lawyer only ask questions I don't have to ask so we're giving you a little flexibility a little more fun but so I do represent this organization and all the federal order hearings throughout the United States and I did that for ten years prior to coming this organization so I'm no neophyte in that field but we do get around I think we got a dairy program I was going to give me hell right now I said I think and probably some staff members here have been through my training course I know we've got a dairy program it's going to succeed it is 16 and it will work and with that I want to turn it over to al Scott who is responsible for the training of our personnel and I'm proud of all of them thank you good morning how many of you were on the convention floor yesterday afternoon when the the department directors gave their report we're quite a few of you there how many of you heard ed Graff say that he'd made a bet about our SWAT team out in Vermont as to how many people they'd put on did you hear that in front of all of you he said he's made a bet and lost didn't he I want you all know he hasn't paid off yet either we'll get him I do want to tell you a little bit about what's gone on in the training sessions that we've held we started a training program for our staff just a little over a year ago the first session was held just prior to convention last year and I'd like to explain to you just a little bit about what goes on at these training sessions how many of you remember back old 1012 years ago when we had a fella come around give us some short courses on training a bit there's a lot of you here that attended them that he told us to close and to shut up and do you remember all that you know it works if you've got a little practice to go along with it it works but you know we have a staff of people out here that were very untrained most of them thought they knew it all and when they'd come into these training courses you could see on some of the old-timers faces the minute they walked in it you know haha what the hell am I doing here I know it already and you know as you'd get in through that that training session and you'd work down towards the noon hour and long towards evening that day they start to get a puzzled look in their face you know by god they didn't know it all after all and then is that training course that go along pretty soon about a day go by and all of a sudden they started to come so bewildered they didn't know where they were at you almost lost them didn't you and you can see it happening and every course as we go through different people commanded they'd get down to that low point now we're never good be able to get this thing and then long towards about the last day they'd start putting it all together and you know they got to be pretty good and as we continued with those training programs they got better and they got better do you know we we didn't really know it before but you know we've been selling this program this this whole organization on a negative basis for years instead of talking about all the good things we were always talking about the bad ones and we've sold that through the years it's very hard to change but instead of telling of the benefits of the new national farmers organization we were all he's always selling doom and gloom now we've changed our staff around I guess the next step is to get the members changed around a little bit too so if they go out and start talking on a positive basis and they're proud you know our staff was not too much different than members out there when they'd go down the road and knock on the door they'd get to Joe and Joe raise one objection and boy the easiest thing to do was change the subject turn around and run if you'd get away from there fast enough or you get in an argument with him or we'd start running the group down that he was presently selling his milk to we do one of those three things and you know pretty soon we had an enemy out there instead of a prospect because he didn't like to have his organization run down he was he was proud of it he'd been selling milk to him for years and his daddy before him and boy don't anybody run down the milk haulers because we've all got the best and I'll call her in the country so you know we don't dare take after these people we got to turn around and we got to sell this on a very positive approach we got to tell them how good our male caller is we got to tell them how good our organization is and what the benefits of it are well we him that we had a team that went to Vermont and Edie mentioned this yesterday that we were very successful I guess Devon even mentioned it we found a sleeper out there he said well it wasn't quite a sleeper we put together a team of people from across the country the staff people went out there for a two-week vacation Edie told us that if we went out there and could enroll 100 new members that he would consider the success and would buy dinner for the home office staff we ended up with over 300 new members and he still hasn't bought that dinner while we were out there that team of people of staff people got nicknamed the SWAT team now that don't mean they had boots on and carried a rifle or a billy club or anything like that it just meant that they had bags and would travel and they did and they're still doing it and we're still having success in the areas we'd go into but we found out a few other things that before we can go into an area there has to be certain things that have to be followed before we went to Vermont Ted McCarty had been out there with a series of meetings and had large groups of people into those meetings just to hear about the new national farmers organization now we think that the easiest way to get everything done is get everybody together in a big meeting and get them all enrolled right there right wrong you ain't gonna do it that way you can't do it that way the next best thing is go out with house meetings get five or six of the neighbors all together right there in the house and get them all enrolled right that works pretty good if you can get them all together but if one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel hurting their takes going right down that road to get it done now I said that there's a few things that have to be done before a team can go out really be successful you've got to have the preparation we had it in Vermont Ted had held the meetings all through the area so that the the idea was out there they knew that the new National Farmers Organization was in the area that we had an active program we met with the members in the area about a week and a half prior to the team going out there at that meeting with the leaders in the area the county leaders there were things that we asked that they have done number one that they go home and grease the front end on their car just prior to us coming out there we wanted to make sure that when they went and and drove us around the country that it would turn into each and every driveway very freely because too often it that there's some out there that just seemed really can't get that turned into I'll bet each one of you've got a neighbor someplace out there that there's no sense in going see dick today cuz he won't join anyhow you've all got somebody like that now we as staff people we don't want to know that you may know it but we don't want to and we'll find out when up there knock on the door whether you're right or wrong but we don't want to know it beforehand let us find it out so we told them make sure you've got a list of people of at least 15 names each day each day because our staff people have to make at least 6 eyeball contacts to get anything done and to make six eyeball contacts you that have a list of at least 15 people because there's going to be a lot of them in our at home there's going to be some others that are too busy to talk and we've got to be able to see at least six people a day we also warn them very definitely very clearly that the man there was only one head man there and that was that staff person they were to introduce him or if they didn't want to even do that they could drive them into the driveway and sit in the car but there was only one head man there and that was that staff person and he was to do the talking and when he made a closing question absolutely everybody shut up you remember that from those old staff meeting training sessions and it works the people in Vermont did very well the staff was trained and we had great results I can remember we had some new people on the on the team there that hadn't been with the organization too long and I can remember that we'd come in at nights and we'd sit there and we talk over the problems that we'd had during the day what was it that we had done wrong or how did we say something right just what was it that went good or what went bad and we get together every night and we talk about this and I can remember one individual that I had to work on for two or three days because he wasn't getting anything accomplished and I keep asking him are you closing are you asking them to join yeah yeah he was well tell me how you did it and I'd find out that he really wasn't asking them so finally one day he come in and he says you know I finally did it I asked a guy to enroll and I got him but he says I closed and he says I shut up and he says I sit there and the sweat just run down my back but he became a very successful salesperson not in that area I can remember another individual out there that come in one night and he says you know I was out to this fellows house and I started to make my presentation and he said yes he said I wasn't ready I said wait just a minute I'm not through here yet he says I went right on the guy said yes but I still wasn't ready to close so I just kept right on going ahead and told him all of a check the third time the guy said yes he better start filling this out isn't that right Marvin we do have a staff that's very well-trained we're very proud of them we're proud of the fact that we've got a 20% increase over a year ago we're going to have a more SWAT teams out in the area that's going to be able to go to this area or that area on a continuing basis we're going to hire people that will have their bags packed and we'll be able to travel they will be successful and we next year can come back and we'll talk not just about 20 percent we will talk about more than that you people come to a convention each year and a lot of you come each year and I don't leave you come here just for a vacation do you you've come here to find out what results you had and how you can get more results right because we all like results don't we will you do a few things to help us get more results we've got our staff trained where they're not out there with a BB gun they're armed with a rifle in fact at times I think they're getting a little too good a little too cocky but they are armed with that rifle now and they're out ready to go but they themselves can only do so much before a team can go into any area and get anything accomplished that area has to be ready that means that you people have to be out there laying some groundwork you've got to be out there talking to your neighbors and telling them I'm proud of the new national farmers organization I am proud of what we've been able to accomplish let them know that you're on that milk truck that you're shipping your hogs or your cattle or your grain let them know that you're satisfied and then when that team comes in there'll be three times more effective than if no one at out there prior to it we've put together a brochure that was handed out to you when you came in this particular brochure was designed to use out in the country it has listed in here many of the benefits of the new national farmers organization our staff is trained to go out and use this brochure they can go through it make a complete presentation by using this one pamphlet and leave it in the hands of that person when they leave if you people will help us next year we aren't going to be talking about a 20 percent increase it could be 30 or 40 you know I joined this organization to get cost of production plus a reasonable profit is that the reason you joined I don't believe when any of us enrolled that we thought it would be easy I doubt if any of us really expected it to come overnight many of us are getting up in years and we're getting old and we're getting tired but you know we can look out here and we can see some of the young people that are coming on that are going to help take over even though we're getting old we're getting tired we could still go out and do our part we don't want you to necessarily go out and be able to make a presentation and have all the nail downs be able to answer the objection formula and use that correctly but we do expect you to go out there and be proud of your organization and let it be known that you remember that the organization is active it's there in the area it's available but the milk truck those past that neighbor's farm when this happens with the staff of people we've got with the organization we've got today it's not going to take us too much longer to get this job done take these brochures out read them go over them use the benefits everybody out there wants benefits to him and we have them to offer if you go out and use it next year when we come back it'll be a completely different story thank you this is the first time that I've ever had to defend myself against the staff in a public meeting but I'm gonna do it and he knows it that dinner is going to be served at 20th of December they may not get what they wanted but they're going to get fed in these meetings we can see and we hope you can see the benefits for farmers to be a member of this organization and put the production through it without that of course is very little we can do as you well know so I want to close with just this thought I know that what Walt Hackney said yesterday some are getting tired I know that Devon woodland said mistakes are made but those who don't do anything haven't really heard don't make mistakes haven't really done much and I attended the National bargaining conference in New Orleans on January 11th this past year as far as I know it was only Staley Hill was attended that meeting and he always came back and said ed there's nobody bargaining for farmers I don't know if you can believe that I never had the impact on me till I was there to see what they're doing and what they're talking about and I can truthfully say there's no bargaining for American agriculture today other than what you see at conventions like this and members of your organization if there had been we wouldn't be facing a decision that we've got to make now because it's the old system or the new one that nfo is put together and I'm proud of what Al has been able to do with that procurement system and all of us can be proud of that 20 percent growth this past year we hope you're rejuvenated some to understand that we are growing we have been affecting the markets but the opposition has not keeled over by any means because in January of this year in Vermont you've heard the name Howard short used a few times who was the chief economist for USDA and I'll take a paragraph from a speech that he gave and this will be the policy with a farm bill coming up with the cheap food policy they have and he said we have been working closely with producer groups in recent weeks to find out if they share our view of the situation and the outlook he's speaking of dairy they generally agree with our numbers and they tend to share our concern to be blunt the program is in trouble it is providing producers with strong economic signals to increase production at a time when milk and milk products are in surplus supply it is inflexibly increasing support levels and consumers costs at a time when retail prices are already high and food price inflation is a matter of serious national concern and it is providing producers increases in returns not justified by your costs that's what you're facing now let's take a look at how they reward people like that in the sunday register October 23rd force first it's entitled bonus babies the superstars of the federal bureaucracy lined up the other day at a White House ceremony to get $20,000 bonuses for exceptional job performance one of the 49 recipients was Howard short for telling the American people or the American farmer that you're getting too much they rewarding now that you're facing or the NFL program that will give us a choice either they tell us what we're going to get or we tell them what we're going to charge I go for the latter thank you very much the third meeting we will stay and answer questions listen to suggestions anything you people may have to offer thanks a lot for coming