AMES, lowa In an era ot
accelerating agricultural change
and educational needs, a Universi
ty of Wisconsin agricultural eco
nomist says independent farmers
need to leant to fully exploit, in a
modem context, the collective
bargaining and group marketing
benefits available to them through
an old U.S. law the Capper-
Volstead Act.
In an address to nearly 50 Wis
consin National Farmers Organi
zation (NFO) dairy staff members
meeting in Eau Claire, Wis., Dr.
Bob Cropp said that the NFO is
uniquely positioned to lead, and
implement, a broad-based educa
tional program about the market
ing and commodity pricing oppor
tunities offered by the Capper-
Volstead Act.
Cropp, a nationally recognized
authority on cooperatives, is
director of the Center for
Cooperatives at the University of
Wisconsin, Madison and an exten
sion milk marketing specialist.
“Capper-Volstead was passed
in 1922 to give fanners protection
from the antitrust provisions of the
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1899,”
Cropp said. “Capper-Volstead
gives producers of agricultural
and horticultural products the
right to organize for purposes of
marketing as long as those pro
ducers don’t unduly enhance
price.
“Three main provisions of the
act lay out the ground rules,” he
said. “The group must mutually
benefit all members. It must have
one-member one-vote representa
tion. And it must not do more
business with non-members than
with members.”
Cropp emphasized that “today,
farmers look at the concentration
happening in agricultural produc
tion, processing and marketing
and they think they’re helpless.
Nothing could be further from the
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truth. No court case since Capper-
Volstead was passed has ever set a
limit to farmers’ control of their
markets through such organized
groups. And no co-op ever has
been found guilty of unduly
enhancing prices.”
The economist reminded the
NFO staff members that a few
years ago the Government
Accounting Office thought some
ag cooperatives were getting too
large. The ensuing study found no
evidence of undue price
enhancement.
“What that means is that far
mers have a-lot more opportunity
to price their production than they
think. The sky’s the limit. Under
the Marketing Agency In Com
mon (MAIC) provisions of the
Act, multiple cooperatives can
work together to enhance com
modity prices,” he said. “Farmers
don’t realize what they can do
together. They need to keep the
heat on their cooperative leaders
to work together.”
He cited several instances
where dairy cooperatives are
beginning to work together to
share production, inventory, and
sales information. “Hopefully,
this modest beginning will esca
late into a full-fledged MAIC,” he
said.
Cropp pointed out that part of
the problem is that “the school
systems don’t teach a lot about
Capper-Volstead and copperative
marketing. That’s an educational
need that I see as a great opportun
ity for the National Farmers Orga
nization to satisfy.”
He said that growing numbers
of farmers feel poorly represented
by their agricultural organizations.
“The social climate is right for a
group marketing message like the
NFO has to tell to take hold and
grow,” he said.
Cropp stressed the importance
of national or very large regional
group marketing efforts, if those
efforts are to be successful.
“We’re very quickly getting
into situations where there are
only two or three large buyers
operating nationwide,” he said.
“The only way for farmer group
marketing programs to deal with
such large buying entities is for
the farmers to have equally
national or regional capabilities.
The days are gone when a group
marketing program in a single
county or even a state will work
for long.”
As an example of why regional
programs aren’t as effective as
national programs, Cropp cited
Dairy Extension Gears Up
For Manure Management
COLLEGE PARK, Md.
“Get involved now with your
Coastal Zone Management peo
ple,” said Lynn Shuyler, nonpoint
source coordinator for the Chesa
peake Bay program office (Region
III) of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
Shuyler spoke Tuesday, June
15, at a Dairy Manure Manage
ment symposium during the 88th
annual meeting of the American
Dairy Science Association, hosted
June 13-16 by the University of
Maryland.
Addressing his challenge to
dairy extension professional
workers in the 29 states or territo
ries affected by the federal Coastal
Zone Management program.
Shuyler said that failure to get
involved can mean loss of poten
tial funding for state programs.
He noted that now is an oppor
tune time to get involved because
the Coastal Zone Management
program is scheduled for re
authorization in 1995. Thus,
To Exploit Act
the dairy situation between the
upper Midwest states and Califor
nia. “It’s hard to bargain for high
er M&W milk prices when Cali
fornia has a state milk marketing
order that allows cheaper milk to
go into cheese. That’s why nation
al bargaining programs offer the
most opportunity to influence
prices,” he said.
Departing from his discussion
of the dairy industry, Cropp
observed that the NFO has a “wide
open marketing opportunity in
dairy cull cows. It provides a ser
vice, adds value, and benefits
farmers.”
Another area of NFO opportun
changes can be suggested. Re
authorization of the federal Clean
Water Act also is under way.
Most of the 29 affected states
have Coastal Zone Management
offices operated by two separate
federal agencies the Environ
mental Protection Agency (EPA)
and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA).
It is important to make contacts
with both offices, Shuyler said,
and to be prepared for the fact that
there is little coordination between
the two.
He noted that “Coastal Zone
Management is significant
because 75 percent of the U.S.
population lives within 50 miles
of the Chesapeake Bay, the Great
Lakes, or an ocean.”
Delaware, Florida and Guam
are the only states or territories
located entirely within the Coastal
Management Zone. But major
portions of Maryland and most of
the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard
states also are involved, along
with the Great Lakes and Gulf
Coast areas.
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Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 26,1993-D7
ity, according to Cropp, is in hog
marketing. “The structure of the
hog business is changing so fast
that group marketing programs
like the NFO offers is one way
family farmers can compete with
the big corporate hog farms,” he
said. “Another NFO opportunity
is with beef producers in forage
heavy areas where beef expansion
should occur.
“I’d like to sec NFO and the
various co-ops begin discussions
on joint marketing programs.”
In closing, Cropp said, “1 hope
farmers close ranks and make
group marketing programs work.
It’s the best kind of rural econom
ic development.”
Deanne D. Morse, extension
dairy specialist from the Universi
ty of California at Davis, followed
up Shuyler’s talk with a presenta
tion on the National Model for
Dairy Manure Management, deve
loped by the national extension
dairy manure management com
mittee. Lester E. Lanyon, a
research agronomist at Penn State,
is a member of that committee.
Lanyon also spoke at the ADSA
meeting.
Morse noted that the manure
management model is an out
growth of the National Livestock,
Poultry and Aquaculture Waste
Management Workshop, held in
1991 in Kansas City, Mo.
One part of the model involves
a nationwide computer base of
information relating to dairy man
ure management. A Purdue Water
Quality data base also is available
through electronic mail.
And extension dairy specialists
in three states Wisconsin, Ore
gon, and Florida are gearing up
for pilot projects that may help
establish manure management
guidelines for the rest of the
nation.