BY DOUG JENNESS
WACONIA, Minnesota - Some 1,200 working farmers and
their supporters rallied here August 21 to demand the
federal government adopt measures to help farmers get out
of the crisis they are in. Participants came from every
corner of the state and from many organizations, including
the Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU), National Farmers
Organization, the Central Minnesota COACT, and the
Minnesota Farm Bureau. Most of the farmers participating
work relatively small farms and are the most vulnerable to
the worsening price-cost squeeze.
Market prices for hogs, as well as for corn and soy beans, are at record lows. Many farmers, unable to pay for seeds, fertilizers, machinery, bank loans, and land - whose costs stubbornly stay high - are being forced to foreclose. This burden has been worsened for many farmers by the results of a severe flood in the northwestern part of the state two years ago.
A chart at the front of the meeting detailed the costs for growing an acre of soybeans, an acre of corn, and an acre of wheat and the yield and income farmers could expect from each of those acres. The average loss per acre: corn, $106; wheat, $76; and soybeans $54.
The meeting was chaired by MFU president David Frederickson, who explained that one of the sponsors' goals of the "Rural Crisis Accountability Day" was uniting a cross- section of the rural population to let the state's U.S. legislators know that they are "accountable" for the current crisis. In this spirit, Steve Lindholm from the Minnesota Bankers Association had a prominent place among the speakers, and the banner at the front indicated that the two principal sponsors were the MFU and the bankers group.
In an article on the eve of the meeting Frederickson wrote, "Our goal is to bring all 10 of our Washington, D.C., lawmakers - eight U.S. representatives and two U.S. senators" - to the meeting. Three representatives and Sen. Paul Wellstone showed and were all given the platform to speak. In addition, a number of state legislators were introduced and some of them spoke. Minnesota AFL-CIO president Bernard Brommer also addressed the crowd.
The only farmers to speak were several of eight spokespeople from each congressional district selected at meetings around the state. Mark Froemke, a sugar refinery worker and local union official from East Grand Forks, stressed the important economic connections between city workers and farmers and the need for collaboration.
Frederickson said the rally was part of a series of meetings that will culminate in a Washington, D.C., Fly-In September 9-15 organized by the National Farmers Union. This effort, he said, is to put pressure on Congress to alter the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act. Rep. David Minge from the southwestern part of the state outlined several proposals he said he will introduce when Congress ends its summer recess. They include controlling production through getting farmers to set aside acreage, adjusting the federal marketing loan program to give farmers a bigger subsidy, and speeding up the development of a federal crop insurance plan.
In informal discussions many farmers expressed their frustration. Many said they need emergency relief, but above all a solution is needed to the price-cost crunch.
Elwood Lips, a soy and corn farmer from Rice County, told the Militant that "farmers aren't looking for a handout, but a fair price." He said, "The politicians made a lot of promises; now let's see what they do when they go back to Washington where they live." Lips is a veteran of the NFO's withholding actions of the 1960s, when farmers dumped milk and kept other produce and livestock from getting to market in order to force bargaining agreements with the processors. Still an NFO activist, he is also part of the Feedlot Front.
Lips said that he was planning to join other farmers at the State Capitol September 1 for a hearing on farm prices initiated by Wellstone and U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan from North Dakota.
A week before the Waconia rally Gov. Jesse Ventura angered many farmers when he took a tough line against more emergency relief. At the Minnesota Rural Summit in Duluth he said, "We just need to get the government, doggone it, out of the way." Ventura criticized the $70 million in aid approved by the state legislature, which he allowed to become law without his signature. He had called for only $10 million in relief.
Doug Jenness is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 9444 in Minnesota.