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Alliance farming Farmers and ranchers across
North Dakota and other farming states are beginning to band together
to market their products. They hope to be able to get a premium price
for their products by marketing together. Economists have been telling
farmers that, in the future, large grain-buying companies, as they call
them "the integrators", will want to deal with fewer producers
that can offer the most volume. They will also be buying only certain
varieties of grains. An alliance of farmers could offer "integrators"
large quantities of a certain variety and the opportunity to work with
one person representing the alliance. A Kansas alliance has contracted
with integrators for specific commodities the alliance is producing.
A Minnesota group has also been working hard to get organized. North
Dakota cattle and dairy alliances are forming. Cotton growers in Texas bought
a denim plant from a brand name manufacturer and contracted back with
that company to operate the plant and market the blue jeans. The United
State's fourth largest beef packer, National Beef, which is owned by
Farm Land Industries, sold an ownership position to US Premium Beef,
a cooperative made up primarily of beef feedlot operators. Equipment Sharing Sharing equipment is nothing
new in North Dakota. Brothers farming together and neighbors have being
doing this for years. Sharing eases the financial burden of the cost
of today's technologically advanced equipment. "Can producers find
ways to use their equipment during the off-season? Can a North Dakota
grain producer share ownership of a combine with a wheat producer in
southern Texas, a grain producer in Kansas, and a corn producer in Iowa,
for example? Can four such owners plan their farm operations so a machine
could be moved from one farm to another as needed? Can they develop
an arrangement that will keep their co-owned machine operating for most
of the year? For the right combination of producers, the answer could
be "yes." David M. Saxowsky, Jennifer M. Saxowsky, Thinking Globally - Farming Globally, July 1999 |