LISTSERV - IOWA-TOPICS Archives - LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG

The letters and emails keep rolling in regarding recent reports about the Farm Bureau leadership. This OP-ED piece is written by farm bureau farmer Chris Peterson. He asked that you help get this published. Please contact your local editor and ask them to please run this important editorial.

I have become involved in the food policy debate in this country from the local through state to the national level with unending energy to bring awareness of and to family farmers, consumers, and taxpayers. My activity got the attention and interest of Mike Wallace and “60 Minutes” as you all now know! I do this with the thought that someday soon we will get a change in ag. policy and create opportunities which my grandparents came from Denmark and Ireland to pursue which are now being stolen by corporate America. Agribusiness is eliminating us by the thousands while our Farm Bureau and political leaders watch and do nothing. As a family farmer and Farm Bureau member of many years, I am disappointed and feel betrayed by Farm Bureau leadership. In the 1980’s, Dean Kleckner, past president of American Farm Bureau Federation told us, we family farmers should adopt new technology, put our families to work in town, raise mor crops and livestock to save our family farms. We all have, and we are still losing thousands of family farmers every year due to a failed farm policy.

Guess what? They have failed miserably. Our rural drain of people, small town main streets, schools, hospitals, and equity continues to be lost at a record pace. Farm Bureau brags that they are the #14 lobbying group in Washington D.C. This does not take into account all of their state lobbying efforts in the legislative process.

For decades, Farm Bureau has had within their hands the power to make things right for rural America. Right now in this crisis they especially have the power to change farm policy. Why are they not doing it? Farm Bureau needs to be held accountable for its misrepresentation of independent production agriculture past and present!

While most people assume that Farm Bureau only represents farmers, their membership of 5 million is in fact insurance holders, agribusiness interests, financial entities, and some farmers. What is the actual percentage of their total membership who are family farmers? With at most 1.9 million farmers left on the land, we know why many of these are not Farm Bureau members.

The farmer membership is dressed down and misled from the leadership and their agribusiness friends. For instance, in Iowa, the Farm Bureau leadership held “listening” sessions around the state last summer. The major issue at every session was the failed farm policy called “Freedom to Farm.” By the time the leadership put together policy, the basic farm policy was no longer an issue, except for a few minor changes. We at the grassroots are told, “we should all speak with one voice.” If you only agree on a couple of issues, we should work with leadership on these and forget about the rest. This is not democracy or freedom of speech.

The taxpayers are sending billions out here to help farmers. The majority is going to large-scale operators and not family farmers. Consumers are paying twice for this food policy. Before, we had an agriculture policy that provided farmers with a decent living and consumers affordable food while our rural communities prospered! With Freedom to Farm, we now are going broke and the taxpayer has had no choice but to provide this “bailout” of $22 billion last year. In reality all these multi-nationals are getting their raw products (grain, livestock, etc.) bought at under the cost of production (or worse yet---becoming the “farmer” ) at the expense of family farmers, rural communities, and the taxpayer . It is really a corporate subsidy for agribusiness in addition to record profits for agribusiness. Consumers are paying the same or more while the gap between the farm and retail price continues to expand.

A lot of us family farmers have decided enough is enough – Farm Bureau, National Pork Producers Council, and most other commodity groups don’t represent us anymore because of their ties to corporate America. This is one reason why we had the Rally for Rural America which I was involved in. The National Farmers Union, Family Farm Coalition, and smaller family farm organizations are working hard for family farms. I encourage the press to carry our message to all farmers to take a long hard look at your farm organizations and commodity groups. Do they have yours, the consumer, and the nation’s best interest at heart? Or do they only care about their own special “self-interests”!

I personally have and encourage everyone to tune up the pickup, buy some low cost airline tickets for some trips to Des Moines and Washington D.C., and kick over some rocks to see what’s there and what runs out! Like farming it’s good to be working for our own destiny for a change – Besides, every politician, organization, etc. have been more than eager to hear from actual family farmers instead of disconnected leadership – and the list of friendships and allies never quits growing!