IS— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 24,1979
This farmer
(Continued from Page 17)
Recollecting his visit to Washington, Coles said: “The
prettiest thing I saw - and it put a lump in my throat - was
at night in the mall, as I looked out at the dome of the
Capitol all lit up. The snow was on the ground along with
all the tractors, and the full moon was coming up over the
Capitol. It made me have a devine feeling. I thought ‘Oh,
God, why can’t they listen and understand. ’ ”
Despite the fact that the activities in Washington have
not received the official endorsement of the majority of
farmers. Coles speculates that the movement may have
more support than the actual figures indicate. While only
2000 to 3000 fanners travelled to the nation’s capital, he’s
convinced thousands more would liked to have gone.
“Everybody can’t go,” quipped Jesse Nelson, a
neighbor who also sympathizes with the movement.
Nelson, who believes unions are to blame for the
nation’s economic woes, questions why farmers don’t get
an annual cost of living raise like everyone else. “Our
income hasn’t gone up like our expenses,” he commented.
“They’re always telling us to get more efficient,” he went
on.
According to Nelson and the Coles, there’s little, if any,
room left to become more efficient.
Mrs. Coles, who is a vocal and active supporter of the
Washington tractorcade in her own right, emphasizes that
the thought of the farmers just demonstrating for higher
prices is “just not true.” There isa lot more involved, she
says.
According to the Coles, the AAM is fighting for the
survival of the family farm in America and for more
financial independence, rather than dependence on
financial institutions. They are also concerned about
conglomerates and foreign interests, both of which are
are chiseling away at America’s agricultural potential,
they say. Imports, politics, taxes, estate planning, foreign
aid, are also topics of concern. The AAM, say-the Coles,
isn’t in Washington just to parade around with tractors,
they’re in town to question and talk with legislators.
The Coles pray and hope that legislators and the general
public will listen to and understand their pleas. They
believe that if the facts are understood, support will be
forthcoming.
Members of the American Farm Bureau Federation,
The Grange, and the Woodstown Friends Meeting, the
Coles are genuinely concerned about the future of farming
as they have known it. They note that farms and operating
costs are becoming increasingly expensive. While the
farmer once used to be in charge of his own destiny, he is
becoming increasingly hemmed in by government and
financial institutions, the Coles explain. They’re worried
about that. They and other supporters of the Washington
tractorcade aren't just concerned about 1979, they’re
concerned about 1980 and 1985 and other years down the
road, the Coles added. They insist that the trends that
have been established in farming must be checked lest the
family farming concept will be destoyed forever.
Mrs. Coles, who is an enthused and excited member of
American Agri-Women, goes even farther; “There’s a big
problem in the world with farming. The future of the
country is at stake.” History has proven, she continued,
that in order for a nation to have a healthy economy, it
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neither,” she proclaimed.
“It’s about time people in agriculture stand together,”
the New Jersey farm wife continued. “Why should we
produce cheap food? ” she asked.
“I really think that the last thing those farmers want is
for the government to support them,” she went on. “A
farmer is going to farm if he possibly can. If we had, a
healthy agriculture there wouldn’t be any land to sell.”
The Coles believe that there is a direct connection
between farmers going out of business and government
and big international monied interests putting the
pressure on them. “They control the money,” they
charged, “and they want the family farmer out f business.
The Coles are fearful of eventual total world domination
by an extraordinary wealthy and powerful international
organization known as the Trilateral Commission. It
supposedly is a coalition of American and foreign
businessmen and politicians, including socialists and
communists. Clahning that Eastern farmers really
aren’t very well informed, but that their Midwestern
counterparts are, the Coles credit friends in South Dakota
for their awareness.
“Quite frankly, I doubt we would have been interested
in the Washington tractorcade if it weren’t for personal
contacts in South Dakota,” said Mrs. Coles. “They have so
much more information out there,” she added, as her
husband acknowledged agreement. Their South Dakota
friends are cattle ranchers.
“We (fanners) are propping up the economy for awhile,
but a judgement day is going to come,” Coles warned. He
says that farmers can’t continue the debt load, nor can the
nation’s economy be continually propped up by
agricultural exports. Furthermore, both Coles and his
wife claim that there are some discreptancies in the way
trade is carried on. For example, they charge that exports
are brought into the country even when domestic
production is termed surplus. ‘ ‘And please don’t think that
all of the food in the schools is government-bought sur
plus,” Mrs. Coles added. She has worked in school
cafeterias and remembers unpacking poor quality
tomatoes that were shipped in from Mexico.
Among other aims of the American Agriculture
Movement, the Coles support the 100 per cent parity idea.
“They’re taking 100 per cent of our milk, why should we
get 80 per cent parity,” Mrs. Coles quipped.
Mrs. Coles, like many other members of the American
Agri-Women, feels particularly offended by observations
and statements by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Robert
Bergland which indicate that the complaining farmers
have “overextended themselves as a result of bad
business management.” She argues: “The government
wants us to go out of business.”
The New Jersey dauy farm couple also argues that if
the laws of supply and demand are going to apply to
agriculture, then they should also apply to other segments
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of the economy, including labor unions. “We’re being
discriminated against,” Cole charged.
Another sore spot for the Coles and others sympathetic
to the AAM is that the farmer is sometimes caught in a
situation whereby he can’t make enough money to live on
from year to year, and despite his huge investments, he
can’t depend On “cashing in” because of taxes. Most
frustrating of all is the blockade that’s encountered when
one generation wants to pass the farm on to those next in
line.
Coles purchased half of his father’s 300 acre farm and
rents an additional 100 acres. (His brother owns the other
half.) Merton Coles raises com and alfalfa, has 115
Holstein dairy cows, and 60 heifers. Their farm Is located
33 miles south of Philadelphia.
Feed grain, wheat
set-aside sign-up now
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Sign-up period for the 1979
feed grain and wheat set
aside programs is from
February 15 through April
30, according to Ray Fit
zgerald, Administrator of
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Agricultural
Stabilization and Con
servation Service (ASCS).
The sign-ups will be held in
ASCS county offices.
This year producers may
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certify their fall-seeded
crops-barley and winter
wheat-during sign-up and
not have to make a separate
visit to the county ASCS
office, Fitzgerald said.
The sign-up period which
had been tentatively set to
end in mid-April, is being
lengthened two weeks to give
county ASCS employees
sufficient time to handle thef
added workload of
simultaneous certification,
he said.
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