--- begin forwarded text Sunday, July 16th has been set as the tentative date for the re-run of CBS's expose of Farm Bureau leadership in Iowa entitled, "Demise of the Family Farm." Check local listings for viewing times in your area. PLEASE POST THIS FAR AND WIDE! Scotty Johnson [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (The following press release was put out by CBS for the initial airing of this show on April 9th.) CBS NEWS 524 West 57 Street New York, NY 10019-2985 April 6, 2000 FARMERS SAY THE FARM BUREAU HAS ABANDONED THEM FOR BIG BUSINESS, WHOSE INTERESTS ARE A BIG FACTOR IN THE DEMISE OF THE FAMILY FARM - “60 MINUTES” SUNDAY The Farm Bureau, the non-profit, tax-exempt organization which calls itself the “voice of agriculture,” is a ruralinstitution known to family farmers across the nation. But many farmers will learn for the first time onthis Sunday’s 60 MINUTES that in recent years, while tens of thousands of farmers are sinking in debt, theassociation they support with their annual dues has been building a for-profit business empire worthbillions - and investing millions of dollars in some of the same giant agribusiness corporations the FarmBureau members say are driving them out of business. Mike Wallace’s report will be broadcast Sunday,April 9 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. The Farm Bureau has many for-profit interests outside of traditional farming. Its Iowa chapter alone ownsand operates a $3.5 billion insurance and financial services company that’s traded on the New York StockExchange. That company, FBL Financial Group, gave thousands of stock options to its directors,including the presidents of 14 state Farm Bureaus. Wallace questioned Ed Wiederstein, presidentof the Iowa Farm Bureau and Chairman of FBL Financial about the “couple of hundred thousand bucks fromstock options that you cashed in” in 1998, a year of severe economic hardship for Iowa farmers. “Yeah,that’s right, and that no doubt helped me out,” says Wiederstein. “I’ve got four kids in school, andthat’s part of it. I mean, that’s just the way it is.” The Farm Bureau says its investments make it possible for it to fund education programs and to providefarmers things they need, such as insurance. But some family farmers say that the Farm Bureau’sinvestments have placed them in the pocket of corporate America. “All [the Farm Bureau’s]decisions are made for corporate America because they own part of it,” Iowa farmer Linus Solbergtells Wallace. The farmers point to the Farm Bureau’s efforts to defeat national legislation that wouldhave imposed an 18- month moratorium on corporate agribusiness mergers. Through its various holdings, the Iowa Farm Bureau’sFBL Financial Group has invested millions in Conagra, a diversified food giant that has frequentlyengaged in mergers. Another Farm Bureau company in Mississippi owns more than 18,000 sharesin Premium Standard Farms, an enormous corporate hog processor that family farmers say is squeezingthem out of business. Not all the Farm Bureau’s investments are agriculture-related, however. The Iowa Farm Bureau and two of itsaffiliated companies sank at least $1 million into AccessAir, a start-up airline in Des Moines that recentlyfiled for bankruptcy. “They’re using farmer’s money to invest outside agriculture while farmers arestruggling,” says Gary Bierschenk, an Iowa farmer who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the IowaFarm Bureau. “That just burns me up.” Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, which has battled the Farm Bureau onenvironmental issues, tells Wallace that what the Farm Bureau does should concern all Americans, not justfarmers. Fortune magazine routinely ranks the Farm Bureau among the most potent lobbyists inWashington and, as Cook points out, its agenda goes far beyond farming. “If you’re concerned about civilrights, they oppose the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They want to repeal it, cornerstone of civil rightslaw,” Cook says. “If you think that the minimum wage is low, they oppose raising it. If you think that we shouldn’tbe drilling off-shore for oil, they want to drill off-shore for oil.” Even some Farm Bureau leaders aresurprised to learn of the association’s non-farming agenda. When confronted with his own organization’scall for the repeal Voting Rights Act, Iowa Farm Bureau president Wiederstein told Wallace hewas “shocked.” What makes the Farm Bureau such a Beltway powerhouse (George W. Bush addressed its annualconvention this past January) is the size of its membership - nearly five million, making it the nation’s largest farmorganization. But what many people do not know is that many, if not most, of the Farm Bureau’smembers are not farmers at all and live in urban areas far from rural America. Sallyann Garner, a bank vice- president inChicago, tells Wallace she was surprised to learn she was a Farm Bureau member just because she boughtinsurance from a Farm Bureau company. When asked by Wallace if she was aware that theorganization she belongs to opposes, among other things, the Equal Rights Amendment, the VotingRights Act, gun control and an increase in the minimum wage, Garner tells Wallace, “I did not knowthat.” * * * Press Contact: Kevin Tedesco (N.Y.) 212 975-2329 [log in to unmask] --- end forwarded text -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 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 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]