BY JOHN HAWKINS AND TOM ALTER
WORTHINGTON, Minnesota - More than 700 farmers and their
supporters gathered here September 19 at a Great Upper Midwest
Farm Price Crisis Rally initiated by U.S. Senators Paul
Wellstone from Minnesota, Tom Harkin from Iowa, and Byron
Dorgan from North Dakota.
Although the rally was called, as one farmer put it, "to drum up support for the Democrats," many farmers saw it as an opportunity to voice demands for guaranteed prices for farm commodities and relief for farmers this year.
In addition to farmers and their supporters from throughout Minnesota, participants in the event came from Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Among those attending were members or affiliates of a number of farm organizations.
The Farmers Union in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota organized the largest contingents. Farm activists from Groundswell, based in western Minnesota, were also present.
Featured speakers at the rally were the three Democratic Party politicians. They focused their fire on the "Freedom to Farm Act," adopted by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1996 - legislation that Dorgan dubbed as "Republican heaven." The law made the biggest cut in government crop subsidies to farmers since the 1930s -about $2 billion over seven years.
Wellstone promised to continue raising in the Senate legislation to guarantee farmers a "fair" price for their products and to lift the cap on loan rates, although this latter measure had been defeated in the Senate earlier during the week. The loan rate is the amount farmers can borrow against particular grain crops placed in storage.
Dorgan also called for protectionist trade measures that would put barriers to farm imports into the United States. He pointed with approval to the punitive inspections of trucks carrying livestock and grain from Canada ordered by some state officials.
On September 16, state officials from North Dakota, and South Dakota began pulling over, delaying, or turning back truckers from Canada. They used food safety, truck weight, and highway safety laws as a pretext for stopping the trucks. Five days later several hundred farmers and ranchers staged jingoistic protests on the Canadian border in Montana and North Dakota, blocking truckers from entering the United States and dumping grain on the northern side of the border.
The senator aimed his fire at Canadian farmers whom he accused of dumping grain and beef on the U.S. market. This, he said, is an example of "the loss of markets to the subsidized farming of other countries." He also called U.S. trade officials "boneless" for not standing up to farm imports from Canada.
The farmers that spoke at the rally described the harsh reality facing working farm families today and stressed the importance of immediate action. Linus Solberg, a hog farmer from Cylinder, Iowa, was one of three farmers scheduled as speakers on the rally program. He pointed out that the prices farmers are getting today for their commodities are falling dramatically. "Wheat is at a 20-year low," said Solberg. "Corn, cotton, and soy beans are also at a 20-year low."
Solberg pointed to storyboards on either side of the speakers' platform, which illustrated the consequences of the crisis for farmers. To the left of the speakers were boards comparing the cost of typical consumer goods such as jeans or a gallon of gasoline in bushels of corn, wheat, or beans. To the right of the speakers platform were boards detailing the cost of producing a bushel of corn, wheat, or beans by inputs such as fuel and fertilizer - all of which showed that at today's prices farmers cannot cover their cost of production.
"This is what the Freedom to Farm Act has produced for farmers," Solberg said. "If we don't turn this around all farming will be like poultry where the entire process is controlled by big business from the chicks to the plant. What we need is immediate relief, guaranteed prices, and price stability."
Marcy Svenningsen, a farmer from Valley City, North Dakota, walked to the microphone holding aloft a sheaf of papers. "Here," she said, "are 21 auction bills for farms in my area whose owners were driven out over the past five months.
"These were our neighbors and we're in much the same shape as they were. We raise beef cattle and for three of the last five years we have not been able to make all our payments.
"Eighty-five percent of the farmers in our area," said Svenningsen, "have not been able to make all their required payments in the past year. Fifty percent have not even been able to pay their operating loans.
"If it were not for my job we couldn't keep farming.
"Farmers are tired and angry. We face ever-increasing expenses and low commodity prices. Congress has passed laws protecting other groups in society," said Svenningsen. "It's time they acted to protect family farmers."
Michael Erickson, a livestock and grain farmer from Balaton, Minnesota, said, "I can't get enough income to keep the wheels turning. After the '80s debacle it hasn't been happening.... Agribusiness doesn't want to pay people what it's worth."
Another Minnesota farmer told the Militant that at today's prices he and his family would make only about $5,000 on their crops above and beyond expenses. He said he was planning to store the crops and not even take a loan on them at the low rates being offered. If farmers made sure there's a lot of unplanted "black land" throughout the area come spring, he said, that might get some action.
Barbara Bernkpes, also from Minnesota, told the Militant, "It's clear what has to be done. The federal government has to step in and buy up the excess crops."
Also present at the rally were half a dozen supporters of Lyndon LaRouche, comprised of area farmers and small businessmen. LaRouche, a fascist politician who operates within the Democratic Party, is currently seeking its nomination for U.S. president in 2000. LaRouche supporters blame the farm crisis on London banks that they claim control Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
Parsons called for a moratorium on all farm foreclosures, for low-interest loans to working farmers, and for government insurance on crops and livestock with 100 percent coverage against natural disasters.
Tom Fiske, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Minnesota governor, and Ray Parsons, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Iowa agriculture secretary, addressed the rally during the open mike period.
"I work for Eaton," Fiske continued, "where we make hydraulic motors for farm tractors. The company brags every month in its newsletter that it is making record profits. These huge profits of the monopolies come out of the sweat of both farmers and workers. We need an action perspective for workers and farmers to defend farmers. We need committees of workers and farmers to monitor and publicize the prices charged by the agriculture monopolies."
Responding to the events along the Canadian border, Fiske issued a statement September 28 that read, "The U.S. rulers, including the agribusiness giants, are using this crisis on the land to fuel reactionary, chauvinist `U.S. first' notions to improve their position against capitalist rivals in Canada.... Workers in the United States should fight alongside farmers by aiming our fire at the U.S. government, not farmers in Canada."
Tom Alter is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1149 and the Socialist Workers candidate for governor of Iowa. John Hawkins is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 7263 and the Socialist Workers candidate for lieutenant governor of Minnesota.