Scotty Johnson asked me to forward to the list serv his response to Klaus
Wiegand's request re the farm bureau.
Marlene Halverson
From: sjohnson@albq.defenders.org (Scotty Johnson)
Reply-to: SJohnson@albq.defenders.org
Hi Klaus,
you wrote
> can anybody in short explain to me the differences (and there
> really _seem_ to be big ones) between the "national farmer union"
> and the "farm bureau". am i correct in my conclusion, that the
> majority of american farmers don't feel themselves well
> represented by the farm bureau and there even seem to be strong
> antipathies against it ? at least that's what the speech seem to
> say (though very hidden)
This message was forwarded to me - as my work over the last
couple of years has been focused on researching the American
Farm Bureau Federation. This research resulted in a recent CBS
"60 Minutes" broadcast about the Farm Bureau and a host of long
overdue media scrutiny into this elusive organization.
To address your question in depth would require a book. (and
there are several written on the Farm Bureau including one called
"Dollar Harvest" composed by the man who is currently serving as
President Clinton's Chief Security Advisor - Sandy Berger)
Instead, I will make a few points relevant to your questions.
Yes, you are correct in assuming that there is great antagonism
building towards the farm bureau. It does have to do with farm
size, yet it is much more than only this.
Though it is not well known, Farm Bureau, though the name
implies farming, is really a multi-billion dollar conglomerate of
insurance companies with a non-profit arm that advances farm
policy - domestically and internationally. These insurance
companies control, via the 2800 county Farm Bureaus across the
nation, many large farming Co-operatives including Growmark, one
of the nations biggest. Via Growmark, Farm Bureau is connected
with Archer-Daniels Midland (joint business venture) and the
president of Growmark sits on the board of directors for ADM. Via
the insurance companies Farm Bureau is very heavily invested in a
virtual who's who of agribusiness transnationls including Monsanto,
DuPont, ConAgra, Phillip Morris, etc. It has been said Farm
Bureau has a stranglehold on rural America.
In addition to their immense business "combine" Farm Bureau is
probably the largest and best organized information and
dissemination network of any non-governmental organization in the
US. They are very powerful! They have fax and email systems
throughout their 2800 county offices, at least 60 various web-sites,
they produce radio "actualities" three times weekly for about 300
radio stations throughout rural American and they have their own
network that produces sattelite downloads for interested viewers.
Farmers Union has nothing even remotely as powerful.
The problem farmers have with Farm Bureau is basic. Because of
the Farm Bureau's heavy investments in corporate agribusiness,
they are the leading advocate for farm policy which favors the
agribusiness input and output sectors and places the farm sector
at competitive disadvantage.
These agribusiness investments create conflicts of interest
between Farm Bureau members and their agribusiness
stockholders. They always lobby on behalf of their corporate
interests. In the landscape this agribusiness policy creates fewer
farmers, bigger farms, chemically and biotech intensive agriculture,
impoverished rural areas, etc.
What is most infuriating is that the entire time Farm bureau is
pushing trans-national corporate agribusiness policy, they are
claiming to be the very sector they are endangering - the family
farmer. They notoriously represent themselves to policy makers as
farmers and are trotted out when the urban policy maker needs to
be confused further about farm policy.
What is most remarkable, is that history shows us this has been
going on for such a long time in America. Farm bureau was
actually founded in 1920 by the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts
and the likes of the Lacawanna railroad. It was intended to oppose
the populist non-partison farm movement that was gaining so much
momentum. It was a successful effort.
Farm Bureau has been called the shadowy hand of corporate
agribusiness, masquerading as the family farmer, while in fact,
ushering in four decades of bad farm policy that have removed over
3 million farmers from the American landscape.
The National Family Farm Coalition is the group that most closely
advocated the interests of the farmer in America.
Please spread word around Europe regarding the FArm Bureau.
They are being used internationally in a similar fashion; to
represent the interests of farming, when in fact, they represent the
companies that farmers buy from and sell to.
If you have other questions, please feel free to contact me for more
information.
> Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 16:13:27 +0200
> From: "Klaus Wiegand" <WIEGAND@lufa-sp.vdlufa.de>
> Subject: question: fb / nfu
>
> hello to sanet-writers,
>
> i just got the summaries of the "34.th world farmers congress"
> in hannover, germany. included is the speech of a mr. leland swenson
> from the "national farmers union", who talked about the imbalances
> between multi-national "clusters" and small "family farms".
>
> can anybody in short explain to me the differences (and there
> really _seem_ to be big ones) between the "national farmer union"
> and the "farm bureau". am i correct in my conclusion, that the
> majority of american farmers don't feel themselves well
> represented by the farm bureau and there even seem to be strong
> antipathies against it ? at least that's what the speech seem to
> say (though very hidden)
>
> what are the main reasons ? is the most important farm SIZE ? i'm
> also not sure, whether both are purely private organisations.
>
> thx
>
>
> klaus
____________
Scotty Johnson
Rural Community Network Coordinator
Defenders of Wildlife
(520) 623 9653 Ext. 3
Fax: (520) 623 0447
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