The Rostrum
By HAROLD DODD
President, Illinois Farmers Union

The demise of family farming

STATISTICS show that for the last three and one-half years, 2,180 farm families have left the land every week of the year.

I am not an alarmist or a pessimist, but I think one only need look at this situation realistically to see the inevitable results if this trend isn't stopped.

Most people agree that agriculture is the backbone of America; because of its unique renewable resources, a great portion of the new wealth treated each year comes from agriculture.

Many of us believe that the family farm is the backbone of American agriculture; because of the individual incentive involved in tending his own, the family farmer operates efficiently.

If you agree with me on the two previous paragraphs, and you are an American who enjoys eating the best variety and quality of food available anywhere in the world, as well as paying for it with the smallest amount of your take home pay of anyplace in the world, then I believe you should be greatly concerned about the demise of the family farmer.

There are presently several key governmental officials who are advocating that American agriculture should be run by 25,000 super farmers. Today, there are more than 90,000 farmers in Illinois.

Common sense tells me that when the number of farmers gets small enough, they will be like some of the other conglomerates, which are monopolistic and can price their products as they see fit, regardless of how unfair that price might be. Since everyone has to eat, a farm conglomerate could result in the American public spending from 50 to 70 percent of their take home pay for food.

One example of conglomerate pricing comes from the oil companies. For 25 years I drove an automobile that required lead in the gasoline if I wanted good performance. I paid 4 to 5¢e; per gallon to have lead put in. Now that we have automobiles that don't perform as well with lead in the gasoline, we're paying 4 to 5¢ per gallon to remove the lead. There is no economic explanation for this. It is simply that there are six oil companies ruling the roost, setting the price, and we consumers have no alternative except pay or walk.

The principle reason family farmers are leaving the land is that the price of our commodities has not kept pace with the cost of production. We are different than most businesses because we do not have the ability to either control our production or set the price of our commodities.

Many believe that agriculture is the last bastion of free enterprise. In my opinion there is no such thing as free enterprise in agriculture nor will there be regardless of what party is in power. The three principle reasons for my belief are the following:

1.   One of the main criteria for free enterprise to work is to have some semblance of balance between buyers and sellers. Surely, everyone knows that we have millions of sellers and a handful of buyers.

2.   In 1973 the federal government imposed an embargo on farm commodities; they did it again in 1975 and in 1980. In 1977 when beef prices started to increase the government suddenly increased beef imports to drive down the price. This is anything but free enterprise.

3.  We are now producing for a world market, and in no other country of the world do they talk about free enterprise.

The truth is, prices are made in Washington where "cheap food" policy prevails to purposely hold down farm prices on the assumption that this will keep down grocery bills. But the price at the farm gate has very little to do with food costs. Most of our grocery bills go for freight rates, commissions, taxes and labor. Thus, the price of most farm commodities could double without having any appreciable effect on the consumer.

If the federal government is going to interfere with our prices on the high side, as I am sure they-always will, then the federal government should also be responsible for offering some kind of supply management programs with enough incentives to attract widespread participation and to keep production in balance with demand. In other words, if they put ceilings on prices, they should also put floors under the prices — at least somewhere near production costs.

August 1980/Illinois Issues/39