AGRICULTURE: Part Two

Farmers decried the system that did not allow them to set their own prices or even negotiate for them. They were forced to take whatever price was offered by the meat packer or the grain company. When crops were good, supply and demand brought the price down. In a bad year even good prices couldn’t help when there was nothing to sell.

That brought about the National Farmers Organization in 1963, dedicated to organizing the producers to control supply (much like OPEC in the oil business). Other farm groups, the Farmers Union and Farm Bureau, to that point had not taken such a direct approach. So the NFO found recruits for their efforts. Their success was nominal, mainly because farmers are an independent lot and getting them to agree to let any organization dictate when, where, and to whom they could sell their grain was unlikely from the beginning.

In 1977 the NFO organized a march on Washington using tractors to get there. Tractors lined the streets of Auburn as they prepared to make the trip. Thus the organization became more of a political statement than a bargaining unit.

In 1981 a true political approach came about with the organization of the American Agricultural Movement. Corky Jones, a Nemaha County farmer, was involved early on and became national vice president in 1984. He was elected president in 1985 and served three years in that post. The inability of the NFO to be effective on the economic side perhaps fostered the growth of AAM and the emphasis changed to a political focus. Jones later ran for Congress on the AAM platform but did not succeed. And tractor trips continued also.

While farm organizations had dubious results in changing the lot of farmers their ideas may have helped shape today’s modern farmer. By 1982 computers were being used to get information from the University of Nebraska through a site called AgNet. More and more farmers are now college graduates, using new technology and advanced business practices. Local marketing firms are springing up to help the individual do what organizations such as NFO could not. Direct sales of processed meat, such as pork, is now happening here. Although not happening in Nemaha County, some areas of the state are experimenting with diversified activities, such as raising buffalo for meat and building trout farms.

Again, the new trends in agriculture have been both good and bad for the farmers. While he can not make a living on the prices he gets for his product, modern technology has allowed him to get the work done on more acres in less time. That allows him to take on a separate job in a nearby town to help support his family. Between the new marketing procedures, the political process, and other factors, maybe farming can be turned around.

The history of the Farmers Co-op in Auburn mirrors some of the woes of agriculture during the 1980s and 1990s. The organization had flourished as a supplier of fuel and fertilizer for farmers who bought stock in the local cooperative. The stock had little monetary value and dividends were paid in additional stock, but the system provided lower prices for raw materials. Local co-ops were owned by the farmers and they in turn owned the umbrella organization, Farmland Industries.

At the peak of good times Farmland Industries bought eight acres of land at the edge of Auburn with the announced purpose of building a feed manufacturing plant. After some time, the ground was found unsuitable and eventually the project was abandoned. About the same time the farm economy began slipping and the local co-op was feeling the pinch. In an effort to survive, they bought a manufacturing plant that had failed and opened an annex to handle farm products. But things only worsened and by 1998 not only was the Co-op gas station closed down but the annex also.

Cenex, a Minnesota co-op, bought the gas station and Johnson Motors remodeled the annex into a new car showroom and service center.

Farmland Industries, based in Kansas City, Missouri, also started expanding during this period. In addition to oil refineries, feed, and fertilizer they began selling direct- to- consumer products. Whether it was too rapid of an expansion or just the economy, Farmland Industries filed for bankruptcy in 2001. They sold off refineries and other assets in 2003 and were hoping to salvage enough to stay in business strictly with food products.