Martha Stevens is livestock farmer who lives and farms near Hatfield, Missouri. This article is part of an ongoing series by Martha Stevens - Straight Talk - commenting on the life and politics of farming in Missouri and the U.S. as a whole.

Hog producers are losing money. Correction: MEGA HOG FACTORIES are losing money. And they don’t like it one bit. Like a knight in shining armor, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC aka NFFC National Factory Farm Council) would send taxpayers to the rescue! I don’t think so. Of course, the NPPC will do virtually anything to help their good buddies, but a sow buy-out when this industry is still in the midst of huge expansion projects? Ridiculous!

Remember, this is an op ed (opinion editorial), so the following comments are my own opinion on the situation, no doubt subject to dismissal as so much "hog-wash" by the Big Boys, just as their PR FAX releases are to moi! However, since this is my spot in the grand scheme of things, I shall shed a little personal (admittedly prejudiced!) insight into the current push by NPPC for a government sow buy-out.

First, what would such a buy-out do? It would provide for a guaranteed price -- at taxpayer expense -- of sows so that those mega facilities could rid themselves of sows that they sell periodically anyway, and enable them to purchase NEW replacement breeding stock and /or expansion stock.

Second, I have never seen an industry with such a cry-baby attitude. It is like they, and only they, have a God-given right to profit. Where was the NPCC and all their concern when the independent producers were being bankrupted by sweetheart deals with packers by the megas that effectively shut real farmers out of the marketplace? We are now in a situation where virtually every independent-thinking pork producer has "fled the scene" -- or plans to do so -- rather than become a hired man for the corporate hog factory. Lose producers? I have news for you -- they’re gone!

Third, other segments of the farming sector are in equally poor economic shape. Cattle producers have lost money at least three of the last five years. Where is the hue and cry for a buy-out for that industry?

Grain farmers, too are producing at below cost of production. Of course, that scenario is much to the liking of the mega hog factory and corporate-owned feed lots, since it provides cheap feed (and more profit for you know who). Interestingly, many of those cattle feed lots and mega hog factories are also connected via mergers, alliances, etc to mega grain exporters/processors of that cheap grain.

Any questions so far?

The fact that many of the state pork producer councils are refusing to support the NPPC concept should be sending a message loud and clear: state councils are under more grass roots level influence and likely reacting to their membership demands, while the national office goes about business as usual, in this case helping the biggest get the mostest from the taxpayer cookie jar.

News flash from a REAL farmer: Farming is not for the faint-hearted. It takes guts and an incredible ability to tighten the belt at times of low prices. There is no guaranteed profit in agriculture; never was; probably never will be.

So STOP THE WHINING! When you eat too many green apples, you get a belly-ache. When you get so greedy and power-hungry that you over-produce to the point of making your product virtually worthless; when the consumer finds herself saturated with an oversupply of tasteless water-filled pork (albeit uniform!), expect to pay the consequences in the form of low prices.

In the past, hog factory CEO’s loved to talk about their so-called "superior efficiency;" a get big or get out (or work for them!) mentality. Guess what? The independent pork producer is gone! It’s all in your back yard now, and the big dominoes are now starting to fall: Murphy’s has bit the dust; PSF has bankrupted and sold to a higher power; Smithfield has bought out the other shareholders of Circle 4; and so it goes. In the grand scheme of things, we will likely have only two or three players left; mega corporate producers who may very well continue their march toward total control or our food supply. Are we ready for that? And what happens when disease enters that closed circuit of pork production, killing massive numbers of animals in a single swoop?

The mega hog factory likes to call itself a "farm." Or is that only when it is expedient to do so? Sorry, boys; welcome to the real world of "farm economics." A sow buy-out? NO WAY! Let there be no more special favors and "corporate welfare." My advice to the NPPC: Just distribute a few "crying towels" and be done with it.

Today’s quote: "Agriculture, once the lifeblood of rural America is now just a commodity to be controlled, bought, sold, or traded by Corporate America." -- Dane Hobbs.

Published in In Motion Magazine - September 19, 1999

Also read other essays by Martha Stevens