t FTC co-op
By DIETER KRIEG
in 1973-74, people became
WASHINGTON, D.C. suspicious. The general
Food is a sensitive issue, and population went on a search
when prices of groceries for a “villain.” Con
began to rise, rather rapidly sequently, politicians,
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2020 Horseshoe Rd., Phone 717-397-0035
Lancaster, PA
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government agencies, and
the Justice Department have
been aroused to prompt
investigations.
One of the first
agricultural concerns to be
looked at were farmer
cooperatives, and that in
vestigation continues to go
on. Cooperatives have
become a scapegoat.
Ken Naden, from the
National Council of Fanner
Cooperatives, which has its
headquarters here in the
capital, presented some of
his views to newspaper farm
editors recently. The oc
casion was the annual
meeting of the Newspaper
Farm Editors of America.
Asked if labor unions
aren’t operating under
similar legal guarantees and
rights as farm cooperatives,
Naden said there is no dif
ference. Except one “an
enormous difference in
political power.”
Naden spoke out in behalf
of cooperatives, claiming
that the Justice Department
and some consumer groups
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investigations to continue
were “out to get” the co-ops.
The suggestion was made by
one reporter if the
elimination of cooperatives
might not lead the way
towards the elimination of
individual enterprises after
that. Naden did not rule that
possibility out and suggested
that the farmers’ story be
told more frequently.
“Communication is what
farmers cooperatives
need most,” he reminded.
Farmer cooperatives are
not instrumental in
enhancing any unfair prices,
Naden said, and there is no
need to repeal the Capper-
Volstead Act which gave
birth to farmer cooperatives
more than 50 years ago. “But
the Justice Department
would find any enhancement
of price as unjustified,”
Naden declared.
The cooperative leader
said farm co-ops were for
med to insure farmers
greater equity in the market
place, as an instrument for
group action, and for a “fair
degree of bargaining power
between buyer and seller.”
Furthermore, cooperatives
are a “democratic system of
management run by
farmers,” Naden said.
Cooperatives are also,
instrumental in'
strengthening the family
farm and encouraging high
output through free en
terprise, the co-op leader
said. “Cooperatives
maintain the integrity and
usefulness of the family
farm and individual en
terprise competition,”
Naden told the group.
Also present on the
program with Naden were
Judd Mason, from the
economic division of the
National Milk Producers
Federation (NMPF) and
Alfred Dougherty from the
Federal Trade Commission
(FTC). The FTC is one of the
agencies looking into the
cooperative system of doing
business. NMPF is an
organization made up of
numerous dairy
cooperatives across the
country.
“The real story of milk
must be told,” Mason told
the farm reporters. “The
hard work and so forth it’s
not getting many headlines.”
Mason went on to note that
the symposium which was
sponsored by NMPF last
month in Washington was
well attended by the media.
Government agencies,
consumer groups and critics.
“They were all invited, and
all were there,” he
proclaimed proudly.
He asked the reporters:
“Would organized labor drop
wages which were over the
minimum wage set by law?”
He does not think it
necessary for farmers ,to
have to accept the
“minimum” price suggested
by lawmakers and defends
the right of cooperatives to
negotiate for over-order
pricing.
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Mason said he was “fairly
sure the Capper-Volstead
Act will remain untouched
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I don’t think Congress will
dismantle something it has
built after all these years.”
Referring to the Symposium
again, Mason said his
organization had not
received any feedback to
date, but “I think, if
anything, maybe they’ll
have some second thoughts”
before more inaccurate and
derogatory information is
published. He was referring
in particular to a series of
stories written by nationally
syndicated columnist Sylvia
Porter.
Dougherty, from the FTC,
claimed he was not aware of
Miss Porter’s published
reports on the dairy in
dustry, and milk
cooperatives in particular.
He also claimed his
Department has neither the
resources nor the data to
undertake a complete study
of the milk marketing
system. That was challenged
by at least one reporter since
milk marketing orders have
large volumes filled with
marketing statistics.
“The fact is we know very
little about the economics of
the marketing order system
... and we don’t know what
would happen if we didn’t
have milk marketing or
ders,” the FTC represen
tative announced. “We
should have a cost-benefit
study,” he suggested, hin
ting that it was a subject the
media could look into as
well.
The FTC has recom
mended that cooperatives be
investigated further.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 8.1976
17
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