--- begin forwarded text
In response to a recent "60 Minutes" broadcast which portrayed
farm bureau leaders as "abandoning" family farmers, Farm Bureau
is calling the show "one-sided and a gross distortion of many
facts." Meanwhile their own farmer members want answers about
FB leaders profiting from stock options, agribusiness investments
and other "conflicts of interest" while farmers sink into debt.
The following press release captures this frustration. Please post
to chat rooms and appropriate list serves.
[PS: Apologies for cross-posting, if you're getting two copies of the
same post from me, it is because you have signed the letter calling
for an investigation of the Farm Bureau. If so, send me an email
and I will correct the situation. To unsubscribe email
[log in to unmask]]
Scotty Johnson
Rural Community Outreach Coordinator
GREEN (Grassroots Environmental Effectiveness Network)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Organization for Competitive Markets
P.O. Box 6486
Lincoln, NE 68506
Tel: (662) 476-5568
Fax: (860) 379-6196
web site: www.competitivemarkets.com
News Release - for immediate release
April 11, 2000
Contact: T. Fred Stokes - (662) 476-5568
Farmers Need to Overcome Farm Bureaucrats
In the wake of a revealing expose on the American Farm Bureau
Federation by the television news magazine "60 Minutes", the
Organization for Competitive Markets called upon Farm Bureau to
return to its mission of helping farmers and ranchers. Mike
Wallace of "60 Minutes" revealed that the American Farm Bureau
Federation is a multi-billion dollar financial empire which invests in
the very agribusinesses which are driving farmers off the land. It
also lobbies on behalf of those agribusinesses and others while
ignoring the destructive impact that consolidation is having on the
fraction of its membership which engages in production agriculture.
"There are many wonderful people who are farmer-members of
Farm Bureau," said Fred Stokes, OCM president. "I have been a
member of Farm Bureau for more than two decades. But the
elected leadership sits on the boards of Farm Bureau banks and
insurance companies and soon forgets about the farmer-members."
Stokes concurs with the widespread view that, in many cases, this
places the leadership in direct conflict with member interests.
Rather than admitting their problems and working to correct
them, the Farm Bureau has been putting out damage control
letters throughout the organization, with talking points, to counter
the facts set forth in the "60 Minutes" broadcast. The day after the
expose, the front page of its website read, "The '60 Minutes' report
on Farm Bureau was one-sided and a gross distortion of many
facts."
"I'm confused about which facts were gross distortions," said
Farm Bureau member and OCM board member Keith Mudd. "Was
it the part where Iowa Farm Bureau president received $200,000
worth of stock options in FBL Financial Group? Or was it the part
where the Iowa Farm Bureau lobbied intensively for the Iowa State
Legislature to bail out Access Air from bankruptcy, a company it
had invested in, while ignoring the plight of farmers who are also
facing bankruptcy?"
"Last December, the Mississippi chapter of Farm Bureau
strongly condemned the national leadership for lobbying against a
bill which would temporarily halt the biggest agribusiness mergers,"
said Madera County, California Farm Bureau member Clay
Daulton. "Farm Bureau staff responded to the condemnation by
stating that the Mississippi resolution did not occur. I don't
understand how they can have any credibility left in agriculture
circles. They could do so much good if they tried. Yet they
continue promoting such programs as federal subsidies for
farmers to purchase the crop insurance which they sell."
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Rex L. Bavousett
Photographer
University of Iowa
Our old name: University Relations - Publications
Our new name: University Communications & Outreach - Publications
100 OPL, Iowa City, IA 52242
http://www.uiowa.edu/~urpubs/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
voice: 319 384-0053
fax: 319 384-0055
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