NFO 153 (AV10651): Visit with the New NFO

[music[ the national farmers organization the organization that awoke America and represents the leadership of agriculture present us our report a public information program brought to you in the interest of agriculture rural business and well-being of our nation by members of the national farmers organization in this area and others interested in having farmers receive cost reproduction plus a reasonable profit the national farmers organization pioneered of collective bargaining the marketing system to meet the needs of the 20th century u.s. farm report now presents a visit with new NFO members with reporter Phil Allen during this half-hour you're going to see a collection of these conversations with members of the NFO who had joined oh I would say within the past six weeks to two months I was able to get these conversations in the states of Missouri Illinois and Iowa as I did my regular circuit doing farm news commentary I'd like to say just a word well you'll see the farmers themselves who are new members of the NFO but let's take a moment to notice the conditions of agriculture as they were talking to me in these various video tape recordings it was after a year in agriculture when the price of corn had dropped as much as 30 cents more in some areas it was after the price of livestock had diminished by about a third in the disastrous months of 1966 and 1967 it was a time when farmers knew that they had been urged by the government to tool up to produce more and for reasons that the whole American community had stated to them not only domestic requirements but on a world scale and farmers in completely good faith had done so and they had been told that with world demand as it was there was every reason to expect the price to stay up but it didn't farmers begin to notice that when other basic industries are asked to tool up for the nation's need that there is a kind of an assurance given for example to the steel industry or the automobile industry that the increased production will be done so that the producer can cover his costs and make a reasonable profit but the farmers saw their prices plummeting they saw that no precautions had been made to protect the farmer and there was a kind of a sense of betrayal this is widespread among farmers they also knew that the President had appointed a commission on food and fiber which was actually talking about monkeying further with the parody idea and talking about farm operating credit in such a way that the farmer who had long been able to demonstrate his ability to pay back might be replaced in the standards for operating farm credit with one who might have a good potential as a professional manager of corporation farms all these things are beginning to penetrate the conscience that consciousness not only of farmers but people in the rural areas as well and these farmers I was able to talk to are in the vastly productive corn livestock belt where corn is produced in great quantity and soybeans and excellent livestock I just thought I would pass this along to you as a background of the conditions against which these interviews were taken I didn't make any particular effort to get any one sort of reason or reaction from any farmer but I did notice there is a kind of a uniformity in there returning to the idea of efficiency you'll probably notice this as you watch the interviews - and now let's turn to these conversations let's see first is mr. Bill Bunning who's sitting immediately to my right and Jim Bradbury they're both of Moweaqua Illinois right gentlemen right supposing I start with mr. Bunning why did you join the NFO I've only been in farming on my own for about the past two years but I lived on the farm all my life with my father and I've seen not only on on our farm at home but other farmers too we've- we've increasingly added more fertilizer and more put on more herbicides and insecticides and to increase our yield and the increased production but as far as just setting down and really working for a price get a price for our commodities that we raise we haven't done and I've found this in the NFO and that's just why I've doing you've sort of been through the same route that farmers have with all of the urging that they've given each other and from outside agriculture and every place be efficient and you've done all that I think that this is borne out by the steady stream of people all over the world who come to visit American agriculture and they- it's the envy of the world from the standpoint of technical efficiency so you finally come to the conclusion that working with your neighbors for a price is there that's absolutely right you gotta work for a price well congratulations to you mr. Bunning let me talk now to mr. Bradbury Jim Bradbury also of Moweaqua why did you join the NFO well I decided we can't get anything through legislation we can't do anything as individuals so that only leaves one alternative to farmers to join together and work for themselves and I think the NFO is the answer to that I've noticed in the years that I've done these radio and TV programs for NFO that one of the most appealing things to the public in general is that these are farmers who say we're gonna try and solve it ourselves and there's a certain amount of self-respect well I think it's it just can't be done in that way Ivey also belonged to one of the biggest farm organizations for 18 years and they haven't helped to save sold me insurance and grain but far as getting a price and raising my standard of living I don't- they have it I'm very interested to hear you say that mr. Bradbury because I've heard Oren Lee Staley testifying before House committees and various discussions of the farm question and his point of view is that the farm organization has no business trying to make a lot of money for itself you know its job is represent farmers well I think he's absolutely right I- this organization is it is a big business and itself and they aren't trying to help the individual farmer well you're speaking now of this organization that you you were a member of for 18 years for 18 years the NFO started right out in the beginning the best I understand it saying that the one function is to serve farmers you know that's right and I I think all the money all the salaries and everything that's paid by the NFO members that is their only source of income as I understand it yes I work for them and I know that's true the only money the NFO has comes out of farmers dues so the only interest we represented at the farmer and I also understand you have to be a farmer belong in the NFO that's right and so in other words it is controlled and run by the farmers thank you very much and congratulations to since mr. Bradbury and the conversation you've just watched made reference to another farm organization which he said he'd belonged to for 18 years I had a state a point about the NFO's relationship to the rest of the groups commodity associations and farm organizations NFO takes this position that a farmer needn't be against another organization he belongs to when they joined the National Farmers Organization in fact we have said many times join them all if you can you know if you can afford to pay dues to all the farm organizations and groups the NFO has one purpose which we don't think is in conflict with any other group and that is to bargain for a better price for farm commodity the next conversation you'll watch is one with mr. Howell Boland who is also an Illinois farmers our Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman advocates that farmers have collective bargaining yes I noticed in his shirtsleeve tour he he seemed to be convinced that that's the approach that even the agriculture secretary should try to encourage this seems possible huh that's right the NFO organization was the only group that's working for collective bargaining that's why I joined while we're still in the state of Illinois where they have incidentally some of the most expensive farm land that lies anywhere outdoors let's go to an interview I was able to record with the block brothers Gerald and Harry who lived near Orianna which is in the central part of that state why did you join the NFO oh when [unclear] corn this year the price of corn why I figured something had to be done and that doesn't seem as though while cutting acres or anything will do it so I think collective bargaining well you've been to all those experiences of other approaches to trying to manage supply and I suppose you've been through all the debates with with the whole countryside about what kind of farm programs ought to come out of the government and so pretty much so yes sir Harry what how would you respond to that question why did you join the NFO well I felt it was the necessity to join just like Jerry said prices are going down that operating cost and taxes and so forth keep getting higher we have to realize a little profit for the operation that we have I just felt it was a necessity to join now your farm 600 acres is it predominantly grain farming or also livestock predominantly grain but we do have quite a few hogs cattle I suppose diversified I'd like to put this question to you both gentlemen Jerry does it seem to you that a volume transaction where farmers work with each other and selling is a good idea if handled in the right way yes I think the NFO could do it that's this one the reason we join them does it seem to you that that's the approach to Harry it's a logical approach I think there's strength in numbers and if we can get our neighbors to join with us if we can get the ideas across to them the way we saw them I think we have a good thing going for us now how long have you been members of the NFO about three weeks you joined about the same time huh and we've been looking around for a long time for some way some organization or other that we could work with that might help us and the meeting of home there the other night arguments yet there that the NFO had I believe we're the best we've heard in a long time let's cross the Mississippi River now into the state of Iowa where they sort of feel that they have some fine land too and they're in the heart of the corn livestock area and let's talk to a farmer who lives at Jessup Iowa one of the Hogan brothers together they farm nine hundred acres in the state of Iowa this is a conversation with Tom Hogan I want to ask you this question why did you join the National Farmers Organization we want a fair price for our commodity the relays are invested and as a grain former you folks that joining with the National Farmers- how long have you been a member? since September so this is a new member speaking no let me ask you this there were things about the National Farmers Organization I expect that you wanted to be completely satisfied in your own mind about what are some of the things that that you were curious about the NFO before you joined well we- one thing about the grain pool ahead yes the imposition grain sales and so on one the freight on it was really big thing yes we wanted to be satisfied with all would you tell you is about that right to make you know to- we wouldn't paying more than the guy was living right next to earlier in this collection of visits with new members of the National Farmers Organization we crossed from Illinois across the Mississippi River going westward into Iowa now supposing let's go westward some more across the Hawkeye State and a bit south to the banks of the Missouri River at St. Joseph Missouri I had a very fascinating conversation with two Missourians one a cattle feeder and the other oh a grain farmer but also in general farming these two gentlemen had just recently joined one was Horace Powell who lives at Edgerton Missouri and then after you hear my conversation with him I will talk with mr. Owen Boydstun of near Durbin Missouri now here's the talk with mr. Powell actually what I'm going to do in chatting with mr. Boydstun who lives at deerburn Missouri and mr. Powell from Edgerton is just asked simple question why did you join the NFO so why don't we begin I'll turn to mr. Powell first why did you join the NFO well for 20 years we've been beat over they had with this thing of the efficiency and I think the farmer is about efficient as he can get I'm running 435 acres by myself I have 90 head of cows and 60 head of ewes and I feed out all my calves which incidentally are sold on grade yield and I'm about as efficient as I can get and I think we'd better try to get some of this efficiency into our marketing system feel very good point you mentioned grading yield transactions couldn't I I know a lot of farmers are interested in marketing in that fashion as a matter of fact when we were visiting just before we came on the camera here you meant that you had traded with a grain yield even before you joined the NFO and I thought about it but I joined the NFO to grow great I see in hopes of getting a better price for the product now my calves are prefed on the cows and then they go into a dry lot and those calves that are born in this spring will be sold in next August or September and much to my amazement my heifers out yielded my steelers in grade my Spears yield at 62 and my heifers yielded 62.4 and I thought that was a very good deal now I never had a choice steer in my life or a prime steer I might say when I would go to the yards but when I went grading years I found I had a good percent of my cattle of prime cattle and I'll just note for this audience you were in these great and yield transactions with a plant here in the St. Joseph area that the NFO was furnishing yes I was and I got a bit of my cattle out of the yards the best bid I could get and I didn't go to the yard so I went grading yield and my cattle figured out a good dollar a hundred above what I could have gotten in the yards if they could have got what they bid me I see and so I was very well pleased with it just another note here on this efficiency thing I have you ever had the experience of noticing that maybe some farmer isn't quite as efficient as people say you ought to be in production yet is making more money yes it he seems to be this efficiency thing is questionable we we try real hard this year for the first time in my life I have a hundred percent cap drop and that's on 90 head of cows so that's that's about as efficient as you can get I should say to you but when I bring those 90 head of cattle in nexy year that I may take home the same chair as I would have if I had 85 so does it pay to be efficient as efficient as we are that's yeah that's questionable I've noticed one thing that American agriculture is the envy of the world there's a steady stream of people from all over the world visiting our agriculture it's that efficient in production and yet I've heard some farmers say that we're way back in the 19th century in terms of inefficient marketing we are there's no question about it and if there isn't some changes made I think that the people are joining in desperation just [unclear] the farmer is desperate and he joined the nfo in desperation describe for just for a minute if you will the conditions of the cattle industry now you had many years experience in it mr. Powell what is the condition of the cattle industry now well I don't see how cattle is holding up as well as they are with hogs cheap as they are I used to produce around a thousand made a home to here but I had to quit because I couldn't get the labor to do it that's a real problem for a farmer nowadays isn't it yes I there's 200 people moves out of our town at this morning to draw anywhere from 2.75$ to five dollars an hour and I couldn't pay one $2.00 an hour let's be frank I can't pay one $1 an hour mm-hmm you're farming pretty much alone and the cattle feeder you mentioned that the rest of today after this broadcast you're going to work alone in some operation what's that I haven't all I'm gonna chop silage by myself because it can't get any help I am there to vacation in three years that's that's the situation that farmers face now I wish more of the public understood this in an operation where the cost price squeeze is on every farmer including the expensive operations like cattle and there's a difficulty in getting help so you joined the NFO a couple three weeks ago Oh about two months ago I see but yeah I I joined NFO can bring my cattle on grading yield first time I've ever said I've had a lot of cattle first time I ever seen them hanging on the hood on the rail after I had fed them and this in itself is an education yes it is to see your cattle after you have fed him well that experience coming out of the NFO in just an educated senses landlord is well worth the membership if they'd hadn't brought it down more very good I just as a human interest point here mister Pwell and notice you have a sticker here on your coat says I'm committed but doesn't mean I'm committed to attend Sunday school every Sunday for four Sundays now that's a laugh I don't think I've missed over 2 sundays in the last 20 years but it's kind of a gimmick to try to get people to come to our church it's very good very good I'm going to turn to mr. Boydstun who lives at Durban Missouri and mr. Boydstun you farm about two hundred and fifty acres and grain isn't that mostly grain yes some livestock hogs few cattle well why did you join the NFO mainly to try to get a better price for what we what we produce and and all we ask is a fair profit for what we produce and I think we can obtain this through collective bargaining very good I'd buy and sell in a group I don't think an individual can do it on their own they've been trying that for now years I suppose in the in the years we've gone by you have sensed all the things that people have said about it efficiency is mr. Powell mentioned yes and yet supposing you have your grain crop come in and you hold that harvest time which is good practice then if you go in all alone where are you and it's cost us a dollar say to produce a bushel of corn and you sell it for a dollar or maybe less how can you pay off debts that way you can't work with no profit I'd like to hear you and mr. Powell maybe discuss this point because I know there have been lots of proposals you know a gentleman about what farmers ought to do and we've had many years when farmers have debated the idea of a better bill coming out of Congress for instance now in your field and grain farming I imagine there's been a lot of a lot of urging from outside agriculture that you take a certain attitude or not take certain attitude about about what level grain ought to be pegged as would you would you talk about that a minute or so well I'd rather hear you talk a little bit but I know that you can't you can't go out here and raise this and sell it for cost all we ask is a fair profit for what- for what we produced and I don't think that's out of the question I think everyone should have a profit why work for nothing and you can't work for nothing you're expressing right there mr. Boydstun an attitude that everybody in this audience has and it seems appalling to me that they don't recognize there's a farmer oughta have the same attitude I've never heard anybody in any business that won't say exactly what you just said fair and reasonable profit and cover your costs is a legitimate and way we're losing farmers all over the country pretty won't be long so it might not be enough to eat and we've got to eat you know I got that from some of the things mr. Powell was saying yes but this kind of pressure on agriculture what were you saying mr. Powell didn't you have a conversation with a banker and it wasn't to tell us about yes I imagine that I out around Adrian they used to be at least 50 cattle feeders and he informed me the other day I was on the cattle feeder left operating out of the bank of Adrian now that was amazing to me and another thing I'd like to add Owen raises corn and I buy it I don't raise any corn I buy all my feed good point and it looks like in business sense that I would make money by buying cheap feed you can't do that you never made a dime feeding cheap corn because next year everybody will produce hogs and cattle and the market will go down and your cattle'll go down and I can make more money feeding the dollar and a half corn any time that I can another go mm-hmm in other words what he's suggesting there is that as the price of corn goes so goes livestock tonight I believe this what about the proposal let me throw this out I'll be the devil's advocate here now supposing I would urge you gentlemen well why don't you just get the government to peg the prices of these farm commodities the way they ought to be and urge all the farmers to get in together and vote in such a way as to elect people who would do that what would your response to be that the other thing I would urge you to be a political being now and try and get somebody to way to Washington do it I don't think I'm all qualified to make too much of a comment on that right at this time maybe Horace would like to we tried it for 30 years, we tried that for 30 years and where have we got? no place, really, we gotta get farming out of politics as soon as we can we gotta get farming out of politics yes this is the major premise with about 6% of the vote we we don't stand a change and politicians are going to cater to the consumer and so we've gotta get out of politics, get farming out of politics we no longer control the government. it seems to me there wouldn't be the NFO now if there weren't farmers who have sentenced this it's now down to a six-point something isn't it percentage farmers are and the consumers are all the rest and farmers themselves are consumers of course but it seems to me the politicians are beginning to sense well if I'm going to court where the votes are I'd better please the guys who buy the food not the guys who raised the food so and yet you who produced the food still have the power than any producer has right well I certainly enjoyed talking with you just a kind of a little side bet that mr. Powell and I had he was he was feeling that maybe this would be a pretty long quarter hour because it was his first time on television the quarter hour is gone now we had there already signaling us we had one minute and we're down to 30 second maybe I gotta come back again yes love'd to have you come back again I've been talking with mr. Owen Boydstun of Durbin Missouri and Horace Powell0 of Edgerton Missouri I really wish we had longer than a half an hour to cover these conversations we've had with new members but don't you feel as I do in watching these various interviews that here are farmers who understand the trend in agriculture two things come to my mind one is the comment made by an editorial writer in one of the rural newspapers I've forgotten now just whether it was a weekly paper or one that's published twice a week at any rate he was talking about the national farmers organization and he said it appears to be an organization whose time has come he was taking note of all of the growing awareness of farmers that they're going to have to solve the problem themselves and not count on the government or someone outside agriculture another thing that came to my mind was a comment I heard one time at a big farm meeting who are these people in the NFO big farmers are little well that's not the point these are the farmers who know happening to agriculture something to think about [music] you have heard another program in the series us farm reports sponsored by the national farmers organization leading this generation in agriculture the NFO was built to bring farm marketing into the 20th century why not visit with the leaders of the NFO and your county or write to the headquarters in Corning Iowa and for another in this series u.s. farm reports tune in this same station next week at this hour [music]