I have a somewhat different view. I'm pretty sure desperation has little to
do with cooperation among farmers, nor does presence of price supports.
I have some personal experience with this.
I 'm pretty sure that farmers will not co-operate unless they have a sense
of
community. And not just a community existing at one point in time, but a
community coherent over at least several generations.
In other words, if they "KNOW" that "we are all in this
together" and that
"the children are going to be farming", then for the good of that
community,
they will make costly sacrifices, such as paying coop dues and capital
retains (at the milk coop). or investing personal time and effort (at the
produce auction).
F. W. Owen
I think you're on target. Farmers were conditioned to believe that other
farmers were competitors instead of members of the same profession with
common goals. The farmer in any of the other 49 states is a fellow farmer,
not a competitor.
There was a period of time where neighborhood farmers banded together for
threshing crews, building construction, not unlike the Amish still do. Then
along came the machinery where each farmer could farm independent of his
neighbors. Big mistake. But we're moving out of that era. Custom
planting, custom harvesting is more widely available. There are dairymen
who buy all feed in, rather than grow crops. Many of the grazers have moved
in this direction.
And eventually, US co-ops will either change to serve the members or the
members will form co-ops that will.
Dave G.
