Organizing and operating a farm bargaining program is both an
art and a science. It requires commitment and dedication of members to improving
their well-being through group action. It also requires skillful management to
deal with internal as well as external negotiations.
Since 1957, the cooperatives service of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture has cosponsored National Bargaining Conferences annually on the
practice of farm bargaining. These conferences have highlighted case
experiences, legislative needs, and prospects for price determination through
bargaining. Proceedings from these conferences have provided a rich source of
information for classroom instructors and practitioners alike.
Out of these conferences and other activities, Ralph Bunje
emerged as the "dean" of association managers and the
"statesman" of farm bargaining for three decades before his retirement
in 1975. This book documents his perspective as a practitioner on the history,
management experiences, and lessons to learn about farm bargaining. What Ralph
Bunje presents are insights to the changing functions in farm marketing. These
insights and his observations on the changing bargaining scene are major
contributions to increased public understanding of the subject matter. Readers
will find particular value in the insightful "how to" advice in
chapters VI through IX.
As a leading spokesman for the role of bargaining
associations while he was manager of the California Canning Peach Association,
Mr. Bunje won nationwide respect for effectively communicating his views. For
these reasons he was contacted for writing this book. It provides readers with a view of the changing structure of markets faced by farmers and
the emerging role of bargaining in farm price determination.
Randall E Torgerson
Administrator
Agricultural Cooperative Service
A few years after my retirement as president of the
California Canning Peach Association, I was asked to give a talk at the annual
meeting of the Pacific Coast Cooperative Marketing Association. The topic was,
"The Book On Bargaining That I Was Going to Write." The talk was well
received, and I was asked to give the same talk at the 22nd National Conference
of Bargaining and Marketing Cooperatives that was held in San Francisco in
January 1978. Later that year, I received a request from the cooperatives unit
of the Economics, Statistics, and Cooperatives Service (USDA) that I write such
'a book, and this is the result.
Farm bargaining has been around for a longer time than most
people realize. The method of bargaining has changed over the years as the
marketing system has changed. The business of farm bargaining and price
negotiation has now matured in many commodities. The idea of farm bargaining
attracts farmers because it seems to offer a rapid and simple answer to complex
marketing problems. Farm bargaining is often born out of the frustration of
farmers who feel defeated by the marketing system for their commodity. There
have been many failures associated with the idea of farm bargaining over the 100
years that the idea has been worked on. There have also been many successes. It
is those successes that this book is about.
I became involved with farm bargaining in January 1950 when I
was named the general manager of the California Canning Peach Association, one
of the Nation's oldest bargaining associations still in business. The
peach-canning business in California was the backbone of the canning industry at the time. The peach pack was the largest
fruit pack in the world and the price of the raw product had an influence on the
price of every canned fruit that was marketed. The California Canning Peach
Association was in a dominant position playing an important role in the
industry.
The industry faced all of the problems associated with
commodity pricing: Large crops, low prices, cutthroat competition, and loss of
markets. Prior to World War II, the industry was in desperate straits as a
result of oversupplies, despite efforts to deal with the problem of large crops
and big packs in excess of the market requirements. The industry made its first
efforts toward supply control in 1927 when an industry-wide voluntary program was
attempted. In 1933 and 1934, the industry operated under a Federal marketing
agreement and licensing program. In 1936, the California Canning Peach
Association sponsored State legislation to permit marketing orders to be used
for supply control, grading, advertising, and promotion.
Supply control programs brought on some new problems for the
growers. Canners wanted a larger share of the supply. Growers, not averse to
exploiting the canners' interest in gaining a greater share of the available
supply, thus defeated in part the efforts toward stabilization. By 1950, the
industry had a problem of expanded facilities, greater acreage, and a diminished
market. In the years that followed, supplies were tightly controlled through the
use of a marketing order that equalized the burden of surplussing large crops
among all producers by requiring the elimination of all the fruit from a
percentage of the trees in each orchard.
The industry has used cannery diversion, crop surplussing,
and tree removal programs in its efforts to bring order. In recent years, the
industry's processing capacity has been scaled down to market requirements, and
the growers have turned to export markets to deal with excessive supplies.
The significance of these experiences is that the growers
learned to work together to deal with industry problems. Although many of the
efforts proved to be flawed, the industry remained flexible and was prepared to
try new approaches to deal with the marketing problems that affected the prices
that the producer received.
During my 25 years as president and manager of CCPA, a good
many ideas were tested, rejected, tried, and implemented in efforts to improve
the grower's market position and net returns. Some worked; others failed; some
were improved upon. The CCPA was favored with good and experienced grower leadership. Our activities drew a
great deal of attention from other commodity groups interested in bargaining and
price negotiations. I frequently found myself involved with the organizing
efforts of many bargaining associations that are operating in the United States
today. A few have failed, but most have grown, providing services to their
members and to the industry.
I have written this book with the idea that it serve as a
guide to growers who want to organize a bargaining association, or who serve in
a leadership role with an organization already in existence. The book can help
to show them how to use bargaining to improve their returns from farming.
Success does not come easily; considerable skill and understanding of the
marketing system are needed. These pages contain the basic information that I
have shared with many of my colleagues.
Ralph B. Bunje
July, 1980
I appreciate the encouragement that I received from my
colleagues who shared with me the pleasure of seeing the idea of bargaining
cooperatives grow and mature into an instrument of great value to the
agricultural community. I extend my thanks to all those who carefully read and
commented on the early drafts. They include: Jack Pickett, publisher of the
California Farmer, Loyd McCormick of the law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown,
and Enersen in San Francisco, Ron Schuler, president of the California Canning
Peach Association, Dick Owens and his associates of the American Farm Bureau
Federation, Dorothy Mortensen with Ross Wurm and Associates, and the late Dr.
Sidney Hoos, Professor Emeritus at the University of California.
Finally, I thank my wife, Elizabeth, for her patience and
help both in writing the book and in sharing the 25 years of farm bargaining
experience that allowed me to write the book.
The book is written with all of the biases and impressions
that I gained during those years. The errors in fact and judgment are, of
course, all my own.