D6-Lancaster Farming Saturday, June 22,1991
NFO Commodity Programs Fit In With Ag Marketing Clubs
AMES, lowa Agricultural
group marketing clubs are in a
growth trend across rural America.
And they represent a potential
growth opportunity for the Nation
al Farmers Organization (NFO),
according to Richard Ellinghuy
sen, assistant director of NFO's
livestock department.
“Marketing clubs arc a popular
topic in the farm media and within
farm groups these days,’’ said
Ellinghuysen. “The farm maga
zines feature marketing club sto
ries. The extension service is
promoting the trend. The National
Pork Producers Council is promot
ing group marketing. Neighboring
cattlemen in southwest Missouri
pool their feeder calves for market
ing each fall. Such clubs are spr
outing up all over.”
Ellinghuysen sees the interest in
marketing clubs as a natural
response to economic conditions
in agriculture. “Commodity prices
are low. There’s general discon
tent with the farm bill. Farmers are
finally perceiving that they need to
create an alternative to their so
called ‘normal’ marketing
activity.”
The existing clubs have several
activities. According to Ellinghuy
sen, some try to pool production
with emphasis on quality, quantity,
and consistency of hogs or grain.
Others try to act in a buy/sell rela
tionship with packers to negotiate
a better price.
Still others educate members
about risk management and futures
options, forward contracts, and
other marketing strategies. Mem
bers exchange ideas and often call
on outside industry “experts” to
fmd out about industry trends,
commodity outlooks, industry
standards, politics, trade, weather
patterns, and the farm program.
“What does all this marketing
club activity tell us?” he said.
“Ironically, it tells us that the pen
dulum has swung back to where it
was some 35 years ago when far
mers became unhappy with the
economic conditions in agricul
ture, and created their own struc
ture which became the National
Farmers Organization.
“The bottom line is that these
restless farmers feel they are not
finding the type of marketing
structure that they want within the
industry, so they are creating their
own structure,” Ellinghuysen said.
“They don’t realize the NFO offers
all these benefits in place and
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) County conservation dis
tricts should pursue a stronger role
in helping local governments pro
tect water quality, said Caren Glot
felty, deputy secretary for water
management. Department of
Environmental Resources.
In remarks before the State Con
servation Commission recently in
New Hope, Bucks Co., Glotfelty
expressed the need for technical
assistance at the local level.
“Increasingly, municipalities
are finding it difficult to comply
with the requirements set before
them,” she said. “I would like to
see the involvement of conserva
tion districts strengthened with
regards to wetlands protection,
nutrient management, land use
planning, and sewage disposal.”
Currently, conservation districts’
primary role in assisting local gov
ernments centers on erosion and
sediment pollution control.
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ready to work for them immediate
ly, but on a national basis through
collective bargaining.”
Steve Halloran, director of the
NFO grain department, also sees
marketing club numbers on the
rise. “It’s not a social phenome
non. It’s an economic one,” he
said. “The purpose behind their
formation is not a long-term mark
eting plan per se, but extracting
more income from the marketplace
short-term. Farmers realize that
many outside forces and factors
are affecting their farms’ incomes,
and they are trying to keep abreast
of those changes.
“That’s why such clubs give
Conservation Districts Should
Pursue Stronger Role
In noting the partnership
between conservation districts and
DER, Glotfelty said that it’s
important to have a local presence
in many areas of water quality,
especially where there is a close
link with agriculture.
In response to a related report
from DER spokesman, Michael
Steiner, the commission supporter
the notion of involving conserva
tion districts in DER’s program for
the application of sewage sludge
on agricultural land.
“Conservation districts could
and should get involved up front in
the preliminary stages of the per
mitting process,” said Steiner,
“before the formal permit applica
tion in made.”
By screening farms for sludge
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NFO a real opportunity to ‘plug
into’ their formation and opera
tion. We’ve successfully been
doing for years, what these clubs
are trying to do,” he said. “We
have the experience and the exper
tise to give the clubs leadership
and direction that can lead to
success.”
Halloran cites one specific
marketing club in Nebraska that
invited NFO input into its prog
rams. Over time, NFO collective
bargaining concepts predominated
in the club. Currently, an Illinois
marketing club is considering
NFO marketing concepts. ‘That
application, conservation districts
would help DER get only quality
applications, thereby saving time
and money.
The Commission also heard a
report on the state’s erosion and
sediment pollution control prog
ram, which is administered jointly
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club is coming along slower, but
NFO is assisting every way it can,"
Halloran said.
With growing interest in mark
eting clubs. Ellinghuysen said that
“given the nature and goals of
these clubs, which coincide pre
cisely with what NFO programs
can do for them, it seems that
NFO’s programs arc one of the
‘best kept secrets’ in agriculture
today,” he said. “There’s no need
for all these marketing clubs to
reinvent the wheel when NFO’s
wheel is already rolling along to
the benefit of farmers and ranchers
nationwide.”
by conservation districts and the
DER. Representatives of the Che
sapeake Bay Education Office
concluded die meeting with a
demonstration of a new education
al program for vo-ag student:
called Farm Management
Jeopardy.
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