As a lifetime family farmer and former county Farm Bureau board member, I can state with confidence that the slogan "Farm Bureau Works for You" is not necessarily true if you are a family farmer! Some old facts to refresh memories: the Farm Bureau requires anyone purchasing their insurance to become an associate member of the Farm Bureau. They then cite their total number of members, including the non- farming insurance policy holders, to claim overwhelming support of their initiatives. They have more "members" than there are farmers left in this country! In fact, the USDA census shows fewer than two million farmers in America today. Farm Bureau has five million members.So, is the Farm Bureau working for family farmers, as their slogan would suggest? In the 1998 legislature of Iowa, the issues of family farmer were essentially neglected. The Farm Bureau was there on the lobbying scene, but were they raising farm issues? No! They spent the last two weeks of the session lobbying to have state taxpayer money invested into Access Air, a failing airline in which Iowa Farm Bureau had invested heavily. The same year, nearly one third of Iowa’s hog producers left farming decimated by bad prices and terrible farm policy. The fact is, the Farm Bureau is not working for a level playing field for family farmers – no wonder so many of us are disgusted, quitting farming or going broke! The leadership has elected to work for the best interests of corporations instead of the farmer members. The Farm Bureau invests in industrialized corporate agriculture, such as hog farms (e.g. Premium Standard), dairy, eggs, chickens, etc., where people are hired to run the "factory." When the Farm Bureau uses their influence to get "political blessings, " it usually helps the corporate operations in which they are invested. The true family farmers are left to try to compete against taxpayer subsidies, cozy contracts, and premiums for the huge operations. The Farm Bureau also encourages and promotes corporate agribusiness to move into areas, such as in Ohio, where large Dutch dairies are getting permits to operate. The Farm Bureau’s opinion is that bringing in these large operations will increase the price of corn. With Freedom to Farm subsidizing corporate agriculture, that’s hardly likely. In Iowa, it’s even worse. In the last few months we have the industrialized corporate hog factories moving into my neighborhood. These operations thrive on subsidies, put family farmers out of business, ruin the environment, are a health risk to neighbors, workers, and consumers, are a social nuisance, and devalue neighboring property by over 50%. I asked my county Farm Bureau about these operations, and they stated that "as long as they’re within the law, the Farm Bureau can’t and won’t do anything about it." In fact, the Farm Bureau has interests in Gro-Mark, a corporate hog feeding business that uses farmers as workers (barnyard janitors) in a vertically integrated food chain that further destroys competitive markets and family farms. I believe that corporations should work for us, not us for them, but the Farm Bureau apparently sees it the other way around.Here’s another example. Farmer-owned and controlled ethanol plants, such as the one in Glenville, Minnesota, are great, if they are administered right to return investment and add value to the farmers’ corn. We have an alcohol plant in Blairstown, Iowa (Sunrise Energy), that the Iowa Farm Bureau invested in heavily. My understanding is that Sunrise is experiencing some financial challenges. One result of this is farmers who delivered corn in 1999 have not yet been paid. Meanwhile, the Farm Bureau is asking to receive their money before the farmer investors.The Farm Bureau is awash in hundreds of millions of dollars of insurance investments, but their money isn’t going to keep family farming from being destroyed. Instead, they are waging a public relations campaign with gifts of $250,000 to Iowa Trees Forever, $500,000 to the Iowa High School Athletic Association, and of course, $250,000 spent to counter the April, 2000, 60 Minutes exposé about the Farm Bureau. So, is the Farm Bureau working for rural America? They should be ashamed – not bragging about how hard they work for our society. I encourage all Farm Bureau members (farmers, insurance holders) to go to their county and state boards and demand 990 tax forms on investments. Under law, they have to provide these upon request. As members, you should also have access to State Board minutes. If not, ask why not: you are members! Follow the money trail and find out who Farm Bureau is invested in. You will likely find out it is the same people farmers sell to, and buy from. When someone profits from the people who profit from you, can you trust their actions to be in your best interest? See for yourself if you are satisfied that "Farm Bureau Works for You!"I write this to bring taxpayers and consumers awareness to this question: Who do you want feeding you – family farmers or corporate America? To family farmers like me, the ones raising grain and livestock, with a job in town besides! The farmers who have their wives working in town to make ends meet or for health insurance. We are the ones with dirt under our fingernails, and who are physically involved every day in operating our family farms while our organizations have abandoned us! Who are we, our wives, our hard work our organizations and our government really subsidizing or working for – our farms or corporate agriculture?Also, whether it’s Freedom to Farm, biotechnology, environmental issues, investments, lobby and campaign influence, who does the Farm Bureau’s position benefit the most? On a personal closing: I am a family farmer and an independent pork producer in North Central Iowa. In the last two years, I have come to the conclusion that the Farm Bureau and the commodity organization leadership is not working for the interests of rural America! Chris Petersen is an independent pork producer and former board member of the Farm Bureau of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, where his family’s farm is located.
|