Re: Bashing the FB - get a little better info!

C@USE EFFECT EFFECT ("C@USE)
Wed, 6 Dec 1995 10:23:27 -0500 (EST)

As others have noted, FB is a large organization with diverse interests
at the chapter level. I do not pretend to know enough about them to
condemn or praise actions locally, e.g. the examples given in other
responses of farm ownership defense in Wisconsin and inconsistent water
management practices in Kansas.

But I will note that they frequently back their national policy positions
with the claim that they are the largest farmers organization in the
U.S., implying that their membership's views are represented, when really
they just use their insurance sales numbers to push top-down lobbying
efforts. Here in North Carolina, they claim a membership number that
exceeds the total number of farmers in the state by some 10%.

As Joel Bach points out:
> X It defends its members against
> X grazing reform
> X the National Biological Survey
> X "one world government"
> X and the Clean Water Act

Thing is, it defends its members against those things whether they want
to be "defended" or not.

David Waller
Farm Plan Advocates, Inc.