The convention of the National Farmers Union (NFU) held here February 25-28 drew 500 people. The NFU is organized through state chapters, the vast majority being from the Midwest, Southwest, and far West. The 140 delegates discussed, debated, and adopted a policy platform.

Others attending as observers are members of NFU, including family members, representatives of grain and livestock associations, youth from the NFU Youth Advisory Council and the Utah Future Farmers of America, and several rank-and-file trade union members. Representatives from the embassies of Austria, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom attended all or part of the convention.

"The Spirit of Rural America," was the main banner and theme of the convention. Building for the March events was a feature of the meeting. A number of NFU state chapters are organizing buses that will leave for the nation's capital March 18 and pick up people along the way in rural towns and large cities. On March 20 a town hall meeting in Washington on the rural crisis is planned as well.

Mark Uckert, of Clear Lake, South Dakota, said some 30 high school and college students, most from family farms and rural towns, are among those on the half dozen buses from that state.

It was clear from the meeting that NFU members have been actively building the protest among people living in rural areas. Endorsers of the action include the AFL-CIO, American Agriculture Movement, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, National Family Farm Coalition, National Farmers Organization, a number of grain and livestock associations, and church and religious groups. Jodi Niehoff, national coordinator for the rally, said that as of the convention about 1,500 people have signed up for the march and she expects double that number to attend.  
 

USDA: welfare for farmers

Working farmers at the convention made clear the depth of the crisis they face and the need for action now. Some were handing out a copy of a recent Omaha World-Herald article that pointed to a proposal quietly floated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The report suggests putting farm families on welfare, a sharp departure from financial assistance to farmers based on a farm's production or planting history.

The January issue of Wallaces Farmer reports that less than 4 percent of farms sell more than half of all farm products. About 73 percent of U.S. farms have sales less than $50,000, with these farmers keeping on the average about 20 cents of each dollar they take in. Their average income is less than $10,000 a year.

"I work driving a truck about eight months a year from 4:30 in the morning until I get home around 7:30 at night. My wife works as a school teacher full time," said Gary Gragekson, a sugar beet farmer from Badger, Minnesota. "That is the only way I can keep farming my 700 acres," he said.

Del Styren from Brady, Montana, said that in his region, rural towns of 2,000-5,000 people are hurting because social services are being cut. Some towns have lost their only hospital or have had to cut back on staffing because of a decline in the tax base of the county.

The only reason towns like Emporia, Kansas, which has a population of 25,000, is not hurting more, said Gary Watts, a grain and hog farmer near Emporia, is because of packinghouse giant IBP. "The company needs a hospital to take care of all those injured meat-packers they haul out of the plant each week," he said. "The businesses that are doing the best in Emporia are welding and farm machine repair shops. The ones doing the worst are new farm equipment dealers. Very few farmers are buying anything new."  
 

Railroads put squeeze on

Styren is also on the board of a local grain cooperative. "Besides low grain prices, we also have to deal with the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN)," Styren said. "Over the years a lot of railroad spur lines have been pulled up. We have had to truck our grain five to six times further to an elevator to get rail service. The railroad is in the process of extending that distance up to 100 miles, about double what it is now," he said. "It is one of the reasons we have had to merge some rural cooperatives. The BN is trying to force us to build new facilities. They want to go from 52 unit car trains to 104 unit cars," said Styren.

Farmers at the convention were enthused that organized labor had endorsed the March 21 action. For more information on the events, contact the NFU in your state or call the national coordinator for the Rally for Rural America at: (202) 314-3103, or write to 400 N. Capitol Street NW #790 Washington D.C., 20001. On the Internet go to: www.rallyforruralamerica.org. Leaflets, news releases, and other material to build the march are available.

Joe Swanson is a member of United Auto Workers Local 1672 in Des Moines, Iowa.  
 
 
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