Family Farm Defenders

By: Joel Greeno, Vice President of Family Farm Defenders and family dairy farmer near Kendall, WI

Published by Other Words 5/9/11

Madison, Wisconsin is truly an amazing scene of beauty — as well as unprecedented political mobilization. Among the throngs of demonstrators, you’ll find Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, libertarians, and socialists walking together, discussing real solutions while sowing the seeds of solidarity.

I’ve traveled from France to Malawi to stand with peasants, farmers, and farm workers, but leading the March 12 tractorcade to Madison was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever done. Riding to Madison’s Capitol Square required a daylong commitment from the 51 farmers on their tractors of every size, color, and make — along with a few manure spreaders, a fire truck, and a self-propelled combine for effect.

I don’t know when I’ve ever felt as welcome as the moment when our tractors drove through the crowd of 100,000-plus people waving caps and flags, yelling, “Thanks for being here, farmers!” The energy and spirit of camaraderie were overwhelming.

This wasn’t just about standing up for collective bargaining rights — it also proved that public and private sector workers will stand together to build a sustainable community. Governor Scott Walker’s attack on workers’ rights will harm rural schools, communities, and churches. Rural communities, like my town of Kendall, Wisconsin, are the true source of this country’s wealth. The fate of these communities is tied intricately to the fate of workers everywhere.

Wisconsin is a dairy state — one in five Wisconsinites is employed by the dairy industry — whether that’s on a farm, in a cheese factory, at a farm equipment dealership, or driving a milk truck. Today, 80 percent of our dairy farmers sell their milk through cooperatives, which use collective bargaining to establish milk prices for their members.

As it is, dairy farmers are losing money because their cooperatives aren’t standing up to the processors buying their milk, such as Kraft and Schreiber Foods. If public-sector workers lose their collective bargaining rights, then we co-op farmers will lose our rights too. We’ll be paid even less for our milk. That’s bad for Wisconsin, and it’s bad for the poor, the elderly, the sick, women and children, and farmers everywhere.

In many industries, workers don’t have collective bargaining rights, so they can’t demand fair wages. However, since 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act has guaranteed almost all Americans a minimum wage, time-and-a-half for overtime in certain jobs, along with child labor restrictions that help give kids a fair shot at getting a decent education. Corporations, and now governments, are chipping away at these rights and protections. Can this really be happening in the United States? Without fair wages and safe working conditions, what have we accomplished as a nation in the past 200 years?

Classified ads in a recent issue of Agri-View, a Wisconsin farm journal, listed 21 farms for sale, with dairy herds ranging from 20 to 180 cows or goats. It’s nothing new: nationwide, the consolidation of dairy farms is dramatic. More than half of them disappeared between 1992, when we had 131,509, and 2010, when only 53,127 were left.

When those 21 farms are sold, at least 21 families will move somewhere else, leaving fewer farmers supporting local businesses and the tax base that funds community schools and infrastructure. As the tax base shrinks, school districts eliminate programs and local businesses close, leaving even fewer places for people to work and to buy goods. Is this really good for America or its bottom line?

State governments need to realize that they’re not just hurting civil servants when they eliminate bargaining rights, but everyone: family farmers, fishermen, and farmworkers — the people who provide our food — as well as the communities in which these people live and pay taxes. It’s time for all of us to stand together, raise our voices, and demand our rights. The strength of our families, our communities, and our nation depends on it.

Several weeks ago, Family Farm Defenders along with many of our key allies, sent the following letter to Land O’Lakes.   We have yet to receive a formal response, which means we will be moving forward with our campaign to put pressure on this farmer co-op to pay a fair price to its own members.

Unfortunately, Land O’Lakes has a rather long history of undermining the Rochdale Cooperative Principles and violating the 1922 Capper Volstead Act, which will be exposed as this nationwide campaign unfolds.  Beyond its ongoing collusion with Dean Foods, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Schreiber Foods and other dairy giants in racketeering at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), Land O’Lakes has also been importing milk protein concentrate (MPC) to undercut the domestic fluid milk prices for its own members, as well as pushing dangerous biotech products such as rBGH and RR alfalfa to the detriment of the entire dairy sector.

Stay tuned for future updates on how you can help hold this corrupt co-op accountable for its disreputable activities!

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April 15, 2011

Pete Kappelman

Chairman of the Board

P.O. Box 64101

St. Paul, MN 55164

Chris Policinski
President and Chief Executive Officer

Land O’Lakes, Inc.
P.O. Box 64101

St. Paul, MN 55164

Dear Mr. Kappelman and Mr. Policinski,

We are writing on behalf of our farmer, faith, and consumer organizations to urge you to take immediate action to help dairy farmers survive the ongoing crisis in the dairy industry.

This crisis is not new. The United States has been hemorrhaging dairy farms and farmers for years. Last year, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack estimated that the number of dairy farms in the U.S. has fallen from 111,000 to less than 65,000 in a decade. Since 2008, historic low prices have increased the strain dramatically on those dairy farmers that remain and have put many on the brink of losing their farms. As just one example, an average Wisconsin dairy farm lost about $100 per cow each month in 2009. Things have eased slightly since then, but farmers are still not receiving a price for their milk that lets them cover their costs.

Dairy farmers have been calling for help for several years. At the USDA and Department of Justice workshop on competition in the dairy sector held in Madison, Wisconsin last year, Secretary Vilsack said, “What we are hearing is a consistent message, which has not always been the case. Dairy producers, large and small, are hurting.”

There is much that should be done by Congress, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that farmers get a price for their milk that covers their cost of production and provides a fair return. But there is also much that should be done by the largest players in the dairy industry, whose decisions about pricing determine what farmers in the United States, and around the world, are paid.

As you know, the economics of the dairy industry are complex, by design. The volatility in dairy markets has wreaked havoc on dairy farmers, preventing them from adjusting their operations to respond to market signals. The unusual mechanisms used in dairy markets, along with the highly perishable nature of the product, mean that normal supply and demand relationships don’t translate to clear price signals for dairy producers.

On top of these challenges, the actions of large buyers in certain key venues like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and global nonfat milk powder market have a ripple effect that can determine the price paid to farmers in the U.S. and around the world, even if the farmers are not participating in these particular venues. This amplification of the decisions made in just a few venues brings with it a responsibility on the companies and people making these decisions.

Land O’Lakes’ status as a cooperative obligates it to try to help dairy farmers survive this crisis. The purpose of a cooperative is to work for a better price for farmers.

In your 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility report you describe how Land O’Lakes’ “cooperative ideals, our relationship with members and customers, and the long-term, multi-generational point of view we bring to our business” put the company in a position to ensure “ongoing, cooperative success.”

That is why we are calling on Land O’Lakes to commit to doing its part to help dairy farmers get a fair price for their milk. As a cooperative business, and as an industry leader in retail dairy products and a major player in price-setting venues like the CME and nonfat dry milk powder market, Land O’Lakes is in a key position to commit to ensuring farmers are paid what they need to survive.

We believe that a commitment by Land O’Lakes to ensure the following market prices for dairy products would enable U.S. dairy farmers to receive a milk price of $25.00 per hundredweight, a price that covers their cost of production and provides a fair return:

Cheese: $2.70/lb

Nonfat Dry Milk: $1.95/lb

Butter: $2.00/lb [1]

In your Corporate Social Responsibility report, you described corporate social responsibility as “being a ‘good neighbor’ – a neighbor the community can trust, and a neighbor that consistently makes a positive difference.” To meet that goal, Land O’Lakes can do something immediately to help the dairy farmers who are your neighbors emerge from a financial crisis that has decimated many rural communities. We urge you to make a commitment to the fair prices outlined above so that dairy farmers can receive a price that covers their cost of production and allows them to survive.

Thank you for your consideration of this critical issue.  We would appreciate a written response to our request by April 29, 2011. If you have questions or need to reach us, please contact John Peck of Family Farm Defenders at (608) 260-0900.

Sincerely,

American Raw Milk Producers Pricing Association

Community to Community Development

Dakota Resource Council

Domestic Fair Trade Association

Family Farm Defenders

Farm Aid

Food & Water Watch

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Food Democracy Now!

Grassroots International

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns

Midwest Organic Dairy Producers Alliance

Missouri Rural Crisis Center

National Family Farm Coalition

Pesticide Action Network North America

WhyHunger

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[1] These prices are calculated from a Class III milk price of $25.00, minus make allowance.

By. Bob St. Peter, Food for Maine’s Future and FFD board member

Today, April 17, 2011, marks the 15th anniversary of the death of 19 Brazilian landless workers who were killed for using vacant land to grow their food. It’s not a happy anniversary, but the story behind it is one of hope. The 19 who died that day on a dirt road in Brazil at the hands of federal military police, and the three who died later from their wounds, were members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST). The MST is the largest social movement in Brazil and one of the most effective grassroots organizations in the world. Comprised of and led by poor urban and rural Brazilians, many of whom are displaced farmers and peasants, the MST has helped their members access land for growing food, for building schools and health care clinics, and for creating community centers for the resettlement of rural Brazil by working people. Their inspiring story can be found at www.mstbrazil.org.

Food for Maine’s Future is proud to share allegiance with the MST through the global movement of small and medium-sized food producers, La Via Campesina.

In Maine, as in Brazil, small farmers, peasants, and rural people are working to put communities back together that have been broken and displaced by the loss of local industries. Much of the farming, forestry, and fishing industries in Maine have been dismantled and consolidated (or are in the process of being consolidated) into a small number of hands. The impact of this economic restructuring — from one of local production for local consumption and public benefit to one that largely extracts local resources for export and private profit — can be viewed along country roads throughout the state. What happened to the nearly 11,000 farms and farm families that have disappeared from Maine’s landscape since 1960?

We also see the impact during our town meetings when it’s clear there isn’t enough money to run our schools we way we would like. Or fulfill the growing number of requests for support from not-for-profit organizations struggling to provide support services to our neighbors in need.

The truly frustrating part is not that we don’t have enough money in our communities to ensure everyone a good, decent life. It’s more that we send away too much of what we have. Just as there is more than enough land in Brazil and Maine for everyone who desires to make their lives as farmers and rural people. But car insurance, health insurance, mortgages, food budgets, electricity, interest, student loans…if we could keep half of all the money that is siphoned off every day into out-of-state and out-of-country banks our rural communities would be a heck of a lot better off.

Wendell Berry wrote that the place to start building durable local economies is through food. He wrote in his essay Conserving Communities:

“Such a start is attractive because it does not have to be big or costly, it requires nobodys permission, and it can ultimately involve everybody. It does not require us to beg for mercy from our exploiters or to look for help where consistently we have failed to find it. By “local food economy” I mean simply an economy in which local consumers buy as much of their food as possible from local producers and in which local producers produce as much as they can for the local market.”

Maine once had durable local economies, replaced now by the global marketplace, absentee owners, and our near total dependency. Pointing fingers and demanding accountability is easy, rebuilding the food production infrastructure of rural Maine is going to be a challenge. It requires pathfinding people producing a diverse array of food locally. It also requires a diversity of people at all levels of decision making.

Back in January, Food for Maine’s Future delivered a letter to the 125th Maine Legislature and the office of Gov. Paul LePage asking for protections for Maine’s remaining family farms. We asked the State of Maine to look into how monopoly control by agribusiness corporations is hurting Maine farms of all sizes. Nearly 200 individuals, small farms and businesses, and community organizations from around Maine and the U.S. signed on to the letter in support. We received no response to our letter from either the Legislative leadership or the Governor’s office.

In light of recent passage of the landmark Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance in three Maine towns, Food for Maine’s Future is circulating this Open Letter in Support of Maine Family Farms a second time for additional signatures.** This request for your support comes on the heels of the State of Maine’s official response to passage of the Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance.

In a letter to the Town of Blue Hill dated April 6, the Maine Department of Agriculture declared the Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance to be illegal, citing it as a violation of the State’s powers to preempt local decision making. The letter from Commissioner Walter Whitcomb states that “persons who fail to comply will be subject to enforcement, including the removal from sale of products from unlicensed sources and/or the imposition of fines.”

While many see the Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance as an important building block for the economic and social well-being of rural Maine, the official position of the State of Maine is that it is a threat to public health and order.

Rather than policing face-to-face food sales and arguing over who gets to make the rules for our towns, wouldn’t we be better off using public dollars to resolve the underlying problems that have created the need for such ordinances in the first place?

Please take a moment to add your name to the Open Letter in Support of Maine Family Farms. Tell the Legislature and Governor that farm foreclosures, monopoly control of our food supply, and the intimidation of small-scale food producers by state and federal authorities are simply unacceptable.

Sign the letter here!

The Open Letter in Support of Maine Family Farms will again be delivered to the Legislature and Governor’s office before the end of the legislative session, June 17. Your attendance is encouraged. Notice of the date and time will be forthcoming.

And check out these resources about the growing movement for food sovereignty in Maine and around the world.

April 17th International Day of Peasant Struggles
www.viacampesina.org

Local Food Local Rules
www.localfoodlocalrules.wordpress.com

Food for Maine’s Future
www.savingseeds.wordpress.com

Globalize the struggle!
Globalize hope!