NFO's Olson wants a better tomorrow for agriculture
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/04/2010 8:38 AM
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CORALVILLE, Iowa — Farmers at last week's National Farmers Organization Convention in Coralville are saying goodbye to 2009 and looking forward to better times in 2010.
"We're here to make that happen," said President Paul Olson, a Taylor, Wis., organic dairy farmer.
In an interview with Agri News, Olson said many NFO members are dairy farmers, and 2009 brought the lowest milk prices since the 1970's coupled with dramatic cost increases.
"No one can make that work, not at 30 percent parity that we have today," Olson said.
The general consensus among members is that all of agriculture is really down right now, and everyone has to work together to improve farm gate prices, Olson said.
"They cannot survive these prices very long," Olson said. "It's not just dairy. Hogs and feeder cattle prices have been bad. Grain farmers had a good crop, but there were issues getting it out. Moisture was high, test weight was low, there were problems with mold, and the price is not that great to cover all those things."
Olson said NFO is promoting a growth management program for dairy producers similar to what his dairy cooperative Organic Valley has implemented. Through a partnership with Ganeden Biotech Inc. NFO will also begin producing priobiotic-enhanced milk as a value added product.
"We need to get supply back in line and work the price back up so producers can prosper again," Olson said.
For grain and livestock producers, NFO offers risk management programs to buffer market volatility.
Olson said it's times like these when members see the value of what NFO has to offer.
"Our members are frustrated and I sympathize with that frustration, but I don't hear anyone saying that they want to give up," Olson said. "We want to put last year behind us. The attitude of the farmer is that this year will be better. At NFO we want to help farmers now and into the future."
Farmers play a key role in the nation's economic recovery, Olson said.
"If farmers don't receive a fair price in the market place, I don't know where the new wealth is going to come from to rebuild the country," he said. "If farmers sell at less than the cost of production, they can't produce wealth. If a farmer has money, he'll spend it."
At the convention members announced support for creating a world food reserve in the wake of the Haiti disaster. NFO members urged all farm groups and cooperatives to support the concept. The new food storage reserve would complement the United Nation's World Food Program.
Delegates voiced support for legislation to add transparency to futures markets and close the door to excessive speculation. The policy plank would tighten key investment laws and clarify the oversight mission of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
Members said that U.S. farmers need to be provided with a solid, verifiable analysis — free of political influence — of the potential impacts of climate change. They noted that recent conflicting data and reports of climate change trendlines indicate that more knowledge is needed before implementing policies that would significantly impact ag producers financially.
Members commended the Department of Justice and USDA's series of anti-trust workshops, and encouraged all farmers and ranchers to attend. There will be workshops March 12 in Ankeny and June 7 in Madison, Wis.