Latest / Conservation Stories / Fighting for the Family Farm: The American Agriculture Movement and the Legacy of Farm Aid

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Fighting for the Family Farm: The American Agriculture Movement and the Legacy of Farm Aid · Conservation Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign. Conservation Stories podcast brought to you by the Sand Hill Area Research association here based out of the Slayton Lubbock area. We're glad that you're here, and I'm so pleased to introduce you all to David Center. David is a very special hero of mine, and it is really an honor to have you here with us, David. David has introduced me to some more background and information on the American agricultural movement. And I met them when they were here in January. And for folks that are close to Lubbock, you need to go out to the fibermax Museum and check out their really great display out there. It's got the tractor and all kinds of information. So, David, thanks for joining us. You're. You are coming in via video from Maryland.
• 1:07
  Speaker B: Yes, I'm, I'm very glad to be joining you and it was good to meet you in January. And I've been looking forward to our conversation today.
• 1:18
  Speaker A: Me too. Me too. So you guys have, your organization has a long history of activism on behalf of the American farmer. And I think it is really interesting to me personally. And we've had some other conversations in another podcast about, about the movement, but this is in particular to me how it got started, why it started, and there's no one better to tell that story than you.
• 1:55
  Speaker B: You know, the American agriculture movement started with a group of farmers in Colorado, and they knew that family farmers were not making enough money to buy land or invest in equipment. And so anyway, they were talking and they was in a truck stop and this trucker said, I'm tired of hearing you bellyache. Why don't you do something about it? Well, they had a farm meeting and 100 people showed up, and then others started to have meetings. And it was kind of like a grass fire. And that started in August of 1977. And so it was not an organization, it was a movement. And AAM had people that were Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, nfo, every commodity organization. And, and everybody was fighting for. We found common ground to fight for family farmers. We all wanted to make sure that our children and grandchildren had an opportunity to farm like we did. And so there needed to be change in policy here in Washington, D.C. and so first trip here to Washington, we didn't know, but it's just us local farmers coming. We got up here and there's 50,000 farmers out by the Capitol. And so that's how I am started.
• 3:39
  Speaker A: Okay, so let's, let's talk about this. 1977.
• 3:43
  Speaker B: 70, 78.
• 3:48
  Speaker A: Okay, this is, this is before, this is before you could email A whole group of people and tell them what the plan was. This was before you could have a video call like this.
• 4:01
  Speaker B: That's right. I meant there were no cell phones. It was either a landline or you had a meeting. And we had a system set up where each one in our area would call seven different farmers. And so within an hour you a few hundred people.
• 4:26
  Speaker A: Right.
• 4:27
  Speaker B: So I guess we'd really been dangerous if we'd had cell phones.
• 4:32
  Speaker A: Oh my word.
• 4:33
  Speaker B: Back in 1978. But, but we didn't.
• 4:38
  Speaker A: But anyway, so okay, so so tell me again how many people. So you didn't know what to expect because you didn't have like an RSVP form if you're coming to D.C. but you said we're going to go to D.C. and it's going to be on this day. And grassroots. Basically the word got out through the United States. Yes, grassroots.
• 5:05
  Speaker B: And from all over the United States. And the Senate passed legislation that AAM was proposing to raise prices. My voice vote, the House defeated it. And so am decided if 50,000 farmers didn't get their attention. And Gerald McCathern from out in West Texas, from Hereford, he came up with the idea. He said maybe if we all drive our tractors there next year it'll get their attention. And so everybody started talking about it and everybody said that's a yes, we're in. And so I drove my tractor from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington in January of 1979. And so we had 10,000 vehicles, tractors, campers and thousands of other farmers that just came in. And anyway, so I'm still, my mind
• 6:12
  Speaker A: is still blown that 50,000 people showed up before. It wasn't like Southwest Airlines. I mean, you know, I know my, my dad went, I think must have been the second time. And, and he flew. That was the first time I'd ever heard of anybody flying. Like I remember, I remember it so clearly because he flew. I mean and so I did to, to think about 50000 people being there now it's not, you can imagine it, you know, because it's easier to get there. But my goodness, back then there were
• 6:52
  Speaker B: farmers from my county that had not been outside their entire life outside of a three county area. And we actually, that's even more incredible farmers that that flew up till we chartered a 727 and it was full of just farmers and about half had never been on a plane before.
• 7:17
  Speaker A: This people were coming out of Texas.
• 7:19
  Speaker B: Yes, yes. This was coming out of the Fort Worth, Dallas area, that area, Texas. But they came in from all over the country. Some drove, others flew, but it would just. We had no idea if we was going to be the only ones or.
• 7:38
  Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. But so I'm also trying to imagine the House that. I mean, it's still, I guess there's. It's not changed much, but that like you can have that many constituents and all over the country and they completely. It just ignore it.
• 7:57
  Speaker B: In mid-1978, USDA estimated there was a million and a half people actively involved in AAM and our protests and in the movement. A million and a half is.
• 8:15
  Speaker A: That's like a lot more farms than we even have now.
• 8:19
  Speaker B: That was, it was amazing. And we, we made friends from all over the country and we just decided that fighting for family farmers, that's common ground.
• 8:37
  Speaker A: So, so you were like, this isn't about. This isn't about corn. It's not about wheat. It's not about specific commodity. It's about. The whole structure is a problem.
• 8:48
  Speaker B: Yep. And, and we were not political. In other words, if a member of Congress, whether it was a Republican, Democrat and supported, always asking for. We patted them on the back, we supported them. If they didn't, we kicked them in the butt. And so that's how we still operate.
• 9:14
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Speaker B: And, and, and avoid all these political infights. Everything else, because we're focused on family farm issues to try to get that next generation of family farmers on the land. And I. The mid-80s, during the last farm crisis, I was the first call that Willie Nelson made in August of 1985. And he said, I'm thinking about having a concert for farmers to raise awareness and raise some resources.
• 9:53
  Speaker A: Right.
• 9:54
  Speaker B: And I told him I thought it was a great idea and I would do everything I could to support it. Well, we celebrated our 40th anniversary last September. This September will be 41 years. And so I'm proud to be a co founder of Farm Made.
• 10:17
  Speaker A: That's amazing. You know. Yeah. And I've spent some time looking into farming because I've had people say, well, where does the money go? What Farmers don't see that many, but goes towards organizations that are assisting farmers. Yes, yes.
• 10:31
  Speaker B: Yeah. You can go on their website and they list every organization that gets funding. Every. I meant Willie's 92, but every grant check from Farm Aid he has personally signed since Farm Age started.
• 10:50
  Speaker A: Oh my goodness, 41 years ago. Well, I'm happy to say we are applying for a grant this year.
• 10:55
  Speaker B: So that's, that's pretty amazing.
• 10:59
  Speaker A: It is amazing. And it's on my. It's My. One of my bucket list is to go. So I'm. I'm kind of like this that I might try to come in September and see it be. Be at one.
• 11:10
  Speaker B: It's an experience.
• 11:11
  Speaker A: Yeah. Do you go every year?
• 11:13
  Speaker B: Farmers coming together from all over the country and the, the entertainers is the top you'll see in this country. And it's, It's. To me, it's the greatest music experience anywhere in this country. Every year.
• 11:33
  Speaker A: How many people come every year?
• 11:35
  Speaker B: Do you know who comes?
• 11:38
  Speaker A: How many? How many do you know? Well, it's quite a few, isn't it? I mean, several thousand.
• 11:44
  Speaker B: Oh, yeah, we've had it sells out every year. It just depends on where we're holding it.
• 11:49
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 11:50
  Speaker B: Fills up. I mean we do it in amphitheaters most time now and they'll hold 25, 000 to 28 or 30, 000.
• 12:00
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 12:00
  Speaker B: And so. But, but we've done a lot of. Last year was a stadium show and a. Oh, okay.
• 12:09
  Speaker A: Interesting. Well, you know, I mean, we do have some pretty big places in lck. I'm just saying we got a big football stadium in lck.
• 12:17
  Speaker B: The amphitheaters are better. I mean, I think they're better because you don't have to build everything. You, you have the.
• 12:26
  Speaker A: Oh, sure.
• 12:28
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 12:29
  Speaker A: Oh, that's nice. Yeah, that's true. That's so interesting.
• 12:32
  Speaker B: Now we're in another farm crisis, and I never thought I'd have to deal with another one in my lifetime, but we're. We're on the brink of losing 25% of the total family farmers that are left. And with the fuel prices, fertilizer input cost, low commodity prices, I don't know what 20, 26 is going to hold. I mean, it's, it's not good. Cotton gins closing, we got rice mills. We're losing some of our basic agricultural infrastructure we have to have. And it's. It's so damaging to our rural communities, the loss of those jobs and.
• 13:24
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 13:25
  Speaker B: So I. I don't know. It's a. Not a good situation.
• 13:29
  Speaker A: No, it's not. Not. I listened to a podcast called the Business of Agriculture and Damien Mason, he had a guy on there theorizing, you know, that maybe, you know, what we're moving towards is you have one farmer in a county and then people that want to farm or the former farmers are now employees of this one corporation or organization in the county, you know, and I mean, I. I just don't know. I don't know. I can't see that being attractive to a lot of farmers.
• 14:09
  Speaker B: You got hedge funds and you have billionaires all waiting in the wings to buy the land because they know the land's never going to go away and
• 14:19
  Speaker A: it hasn't decreased in value. That was another conversation he was having today was a guy that's real estate, you know, there. And I mean and still they own like the vast majority of land is, is you know, owned by individuals. But you know, still it's, it's an opportunity and everywhere there's an opportunity. You see. In fact I just read an article yesterday where there are corporate corporations that are coming in and buying thrift stores. Thrift stores because like I think it was almost 40% of Gen Z say that they only buy from thrift stores. And so now you're gonna have a whole, I mean it did completely messes up the whole thing, you know. And, and it takes the small business owner element out and it just disconnects that business from having any loyalty and commitment to, to the community.
• 15:29
  Speaker B: Yep. You know that one of the issues that AAM addressed at our annual meeting in January was a resolution opposing data centers being built on farm and ranch land because they're unregulated. They come out to these rural areas and they pump unlimited amounts of water from underground water tables and it leads to drying up creeks and, and ponds and wells and plus the energy infrastructure, all the rate payers end up with paying higher energy costs just to supply these data centers. And so we're, we're circulating a letter now sign on letter from organizations to oppose data centers until we can figure out some guardrails.
• 16:31
  Speaker A: Right? Yes. And, and I think some of that, I mean look in our state, I think some of that is, is coming, you know, I think we'll see some of that but I think there'll be some changes for us in a lot of areas possibly in this next legislative session that's going to bring you know, some surprises to people particularly in water, you know, conservation and that kind of stuff. So you know, because where we know to your. A lot of other states aren't right of capture and they have limits on how much these, you know, anybody can pull out of the ground. But that's not the way it is in Texas. So. But I do know, you know, I've had some concern. There's, there's one in Abilene and that one only uses, it uses very minimal, I mean it does use water but it's a closed loop, you know. And so it uses I think like 1% or something very, very small percentage of like so many households, you know, and then it uses that water for a long time and then eventually it has to, you know, get more water. So it's, you know, there's ways that they can do it that they should be made to do it.
• 17:40
  Speaker B: Yes, that's correct. They should pay their own way. And if there's any transmission upgrade, new generation.
• 17:48
  Speaker A: Right.
• 17:48
  Speaker B: They need to pay for it. Not all of us rate payers.
• 17:52
  Speaker A: Right, right, exactly. So I have, I have some more questions about aam American agricultural movement. So I think the, the most fascinating story to me, I mean all of this is fascinating and I, I have to wonder like we have the best communication like you could get a hold of a million people in, in 30 seconds if you needed to. And I don't think you could get 50,000 people to go to Washington D.C. for agriculture. I just, I don't think you could do it now. And I think part, part of it is, is that everything, every time I pick up this, there, there's crisis everywhere. And it's like we have this crisis burnout. You know, we're just like. So you don't even know if it's a battle we're fighting or not, you know, and, and because it's this alarmist mentality is the only thing if you're not like the building's on fire or calling somebody a bad name or doing something ridiculous, people aren't paying attention to you.
• 19:01
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 19:01
  Speaker A: You know, so I, I want to know about the congress that you all had. To me, that is fascinating. This is something that Willie Nelson did that I don't think a lot of people know about, which I think is just. It was so brilliant and so good of him to do so. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
• 19:27
  Speaker B: Yes. The American agriculture movement, Anybody that is like to kind of keep up with, with what we're doing, we have a Facebook page, American agriculture movement Facebook page that we have a lot of activity on. I also do a weekly news letter that goes out to. We fax it out, media gets it and it's also posted on the Facebook page. And so trying to keep people informed as to what's happening and you know, policymakers, Washington D.C. have failed in so many different ways. You know, when two seed companies control and own 90 of the seed in the world and they're not even U S companies, they just bought out all the competition.
• 20:30
  Speaker A: Well our, I think that they're. The feeling amongst our, this is my opinion, the feeling amongst our legislators is that their Job is to keep their job.
• 20:37
  Speaker B: Job. Yeah.
• 20:38
  Speaker A: And. And their job is not to solve problems, because if they solve problems, what would they get people all up in arms about. And. And, you know, how could they. You know, I mean, you can't just do. Go there and do what you're supposed to do.
• 20:52
  Speaker B: You follow the money.
• 20:54
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 20:55
  Speaker B: We have the best policy money can buy. Except farmers don't have the money.
• 20:59
  Speaker A: No. And it's getting. I mean, we have less and less influence. Like, I don't really think anybody cares that much anymore, honestly, so. But I want to talk about the. The Farm and Ranch conference that Willie hosted back in probably the 80s where you all came together.
• 21:17
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 21:17
  Speaker A: And that. Yes. That I want. I would love for you to tell us about that.
• 21:22
  Speaker B: Yep. The Farm and Ranch Congress. When Congress. Well, actually the President Reagan vetoed emergency farm legislation that Congress had passed in 85. And then. So Farm Aid decided to have a Farm and Ranch Congress. We held it in St. Louis, but we started out with all the different organizations that were interested, whether it's National Farmers Union or whether it was Farm Bureau, whatever organization. A meeting was held in each county where farmers came together and they passed resolutions of what they needed, what they wanted.
• 22:17
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 22:17
  Speaker B: And then they elected a couple of people to go to a state meeting, present their resolution.
• 22:27
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 22:28
  Speaker B: And then the state would adopt resolutions and select people. And then. So we met in St. Louis and it was so amazing. Those resolutions were so similar. It was a fair price. It was country of origin labeling for all the imports. And, you know, it's fair trade and it. But they were so close from all over the country, every area. And so for farmers coming together, and we had Senator Harkin and Majority Leader Gab Hart had said, whatever policy you come out of St. Louis with, we will introduce as a new farm bill. And they did. And so. But it was. It was an awesome process. And tens of thousands of farmers came out to these local meetings. And, you know, it was a grassroots just. And so.
• 23:36
  Speaker A: Wow. And I understand that he said, I'll pay for like one person per county or one delegate or something. Like they picked who they wanted. And then Farm Aid. I mean, it's this. Something that Farmade. They. They put this on, they paid for it and put it on, and they help people get there. And just, I mean, to me, what. What a really great thing that they did.
• 24:00
  Speaker B: I just, you know, Farm A taught me one thing. For many years. Farmers talk to farmers.
• 24:11
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 24:12
  Speaker B: In other words, we'd have a meeting and farmers would be talking Farm Aid they talk to consumers.
• 24:21
  Speaker A: Right.
• 24:22
  Speaker B: They talk to a whole new audience. And that's the power that Farm Aid has, is to reach this constituency out there. And if consumers go into the grocery store and says, I want to buy local, what do you, you know?
• 24:40
  Speaker A: Right.
• 24:41
  Speaker B: Where'd this come from? Where was this wrong?
• 24:44
  Speaker A: Right.
• 24:45
  Speaker B: And they start asking questions. They can they force these big corporations to make changes because they vote with their pocketbooks every time they go shopping?
• 24:58
  Speaker A: No, exactly. And, you know, as we get less and less influential, it's important for us to partner with people that have influence and, and who better than the consumer?
• 25:10
  Speaker B: And I met the, the, the only successful segment of agriculture right now is those that have farmers markets, those that sell direct to restaurants or schools, or in other words, they price their product so that they can make a living, and then the consumer gets a fresh, good product.
• 25:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, I've just had this conversation. So right before you and I met, I, I introduced a young man, first generation farmer, and he and his wife were farming on about five acres and they're selling. And he said that, like, now his wife still works. I mean, basically that's. You have to have that income, you know, and he said, I wish we didn't have to do that, you know, but that was a really interesting podcast. And, and he and I referenced another young man who's a, a commodity farmer who was like, I can't make it. I mean, like, the farm's not going to have me and dad. We gotta do something different. And they've opened a little local grocery store with their own produce in it.
• 26:19
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 26:19
  Speaker A: Amazing.
• 26:20
  Speaker B: You take the price somebody offers you. And processors, they want to buy below the cost of production. The cheaper they buy, the more money they make.
• 26:29
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 26:30
  Speaker B: They'll just leave it up to government to decide whether farmers, they send them a check or.
• 26:35
  Speaker A: Right.
• 26:35
  Speaker B: Farmers want to price out the marketplace. They want a fair price out of the marketplace.
• 26:41
  Speaker A: Yes. Well, you know, one of the things that really, I mean, you talk about consumers, the, the largest employer of people on SNAP benefits, what we think of as food stamps, is Walmart. So are we actually supplementing people's food? Are we supplementing Walmart's bad hiring practices?
• 27:06
  Speaker B: Yeah. I'll tell you, the largest purchase, whatever you call it, of food in the United states is the U.S. government.
• 27:14
  Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. They have their own grocery store chain, by the way.
• 27:20
  Speaker B: They buy from the, the big corporations. Why don't they buy local from small processors? They could, usda could buy local to go to schools.
• 27:35
  Speaker A: I mean, there's like this Little program where you can like apply, you know. And I know that like my, my colleague Lacey, her beef, she sold her beef food food bank many a times because USDA will. But it's not enough investment on the USDA side to actually make it viable for everyone, you know. And so it's like this limited. You can apply for. Well we all know that all those things are over subscribed people. Too many people apply then the money that's there. Yeah, but so you guys, when you left the congress, what, what policies did you come out with? What policies did you guys decide on?
• 28:21
  Speaker B: Well, we had a price component again to increase the loan rate on all storable commodities. At that time the loan rate was structured, it floored the market for our products. In 85 farmers lost the battle and they ended up with what they called a marketing loan which fell to world market clearing levels. And so it was a race to the bottom on prices. And then they just made up the difference in a payment to farmers. And so we did not, we lost that fight. But the other half the Bill was the 87 credit act that stopped all farm foreclosures, mandated restructuring. It stopped the bleeding, the hemorrhaging across rural America. So we started turning the corner and coming out of the farm crisis. So coming out of that farm and ranch Congress, I meant that piece of legislation was so important it. We lost 50% of the total family farmers in the 85 in the mid-80s farm crisis. I'm afraid we're in the process are going to lose 50% of what's left. And there's not that many left.
• 29:59
  Speaker A: No, there's not. There's less than 1% of Americans are on the farm. So that, that legislation that you're talking about, probably a lot of people, you know, in my generation, their parents probably if they were on the farm, their parents probably participate in some of this. And basically it was, I mean these people were in debt to the government by so much it was impossible. And so it was a write off program. And I know that there's a whole lot more to that story. I'm gonna, we're gonna interview somebody else to talk about that too. Just about that whole process and what that looked like for people. Because it was not, it was not necessarily easy to do, you know. And so not. Not as many people participated as, as you know, could have. But I think it's, it is interesting that that the debt that people have now too is. It's to the government. This is, this is money that you know that you're prevented from really being able to participate in the free market. You really aren't. You know, it's not really free market. And. And then the government's supposed to be supporting you in effort to what people say, keep grocery prices down. You can't tell a corporation how much they can pay, how much they can charge somebody in the grocery store, you know, and so it's just the farmer that's on the losing end of that, you know.
• 31:33
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 31:35
  Speaker A: And so I think that there's just a lot of. It's a very complicated issue, and I think a lot of consumers are really not aware of, you know, the impact that it has on. I would, I would say like global. Global producers, global food producers or global commodity farmers.
• 31:56
  Speaker B: Yeah. Family farmers are in trouble worldwide. I mean, they all are struggling with low prices and high input costs. And I know I get comments from countries all over the world on the Facebook post today puts out. And it's just amazing the positive comments that. That come back in worldwide and. But it's. It's a fight that I can't walk away from. I just, I'm gonna keep working to try to get. To carve out a way for the next generation of family farmers.
• 32:49
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 32:49
  Speaker B: To get on the land and, and make it. And it's just we can throw money at anything, at everything. We got all the money. But then when it comes down.
• 33:07
  Speaker A: Right.
• 33:08
  Speaker B: All farmers are looking for is a fair price.
• 33:10
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 33:10
  Speaker B: In the marketplace.
• 33:12
  Speaker A: Yeah. I was in Poland a couple of years ago and shocked at how much. How much subsidies they are getting from the eu and, and when. What I understand is when countries entered the. The eu, they negotiated what those rates would be in Nepal. Poland did a really good job because basically they, I mean, I'm probably not going to remember the numbers. Right. But they. 30% of their taxes goes to the EU, but they get 70% back in subsidies. So half of your expense for what you're buying your equipment, you want to buy new equipment, then you're going to. You don't want to subsidize half of it. They're going to subsidize money for you to buy land. They're going to subsidize money for you to build a silo. They're going to, I mean, half. Like, we had a farmer here and she was like, yeah, we, you know, my family were building like this, you know, huge facility and they paid for half of it and took two years to do the paperwork, but still they paid for half of it, you know, and so. And and that, you know, that we were setting in a co op and looking at the price of the same commodity for Polish farmers and for American farmers. And it was nowhere close. Nowhere close. And they're also, their yields are outrageous, of course, you know, because their land is just amazing. But I mean, just this. I think that they, that is a country, that whole area. And especially since the war in Ukraine, it's like people went, we could go hungry again. We better be real careful. We, we do not want to go hungry, you know. And I just, I think it's amazing that there's that kind of support, you know. And I know that there's a lot of over regulation, all that kind of stuff that goes on. So there's always good and bad, but you just don't see that kind of. We want to keep these people on the land no matter what
• 35:14
  Speaker B: in the U.S. yeah, it's. I, When I started farming, we had supply management and I can remember measuring and my dad, you know, we go out and said, well, okay, we gotta plow up 13 rows of cotton.
• 35:40
  Speaker A: Right.
• 35:41
  Speaker B: To fall within the allotment. And so all of a sudden we got to the point to where the seed and chemical and, and the processors, they wanted full production. That way they have a bigger market to sell to. And we're wasting natural resources. Why are we producing a surplus that drives prices lower and lower instead of conserving some of this land and saving it for a generation when we have to have.
• 36:21
  Speaker A: Right, right. Oh yeah, yeah. Because it is definitely, you know, about. And you'd hear about that. You know, you see these companies pushing for yield, yield, yield, yield. You know, I think a lot of farmers that I know are being a lot of them here. Like I'm not. I'm just really more selling water.
• 36:41
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 36:41
  Speaker A: Than I am anything else. You know, because that's the most valuable asset. It's like, is it worth putting water on? And people are like this, you're going, probably not. You know.
• 36:51
  Speaker B: And so water situation in Texas is very severe. It really is loss of the aquifers, they're not recharging on what's being removed. And it's.
• 37:07
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 37:08
  Speaker B: You know, what's a town like love? Where they gonna get their water from if they can't pump it right from the Olala.
• 37:17
  Speaker A: Yeah. So that, that leads me to another question. Why, why lck? Why you meet here? Every January you have a meeting here, which is really interesting and so much fun. I went to the meeting and just really enjoyed. I didn't get to come the Whole time. But I really enjoyed the time that I was there. But why do you come to Lubbock and do this?
• 37:38
  Speaker B: Well, we used. We met in Oklahoma City for a number of years, and before that we was in Nashville and. And Memphis, and, you know, we was all.
• 37:50
  Speaker A: All okay.
• 37:52
  Speaker B: But when. When our heritage exhibit opened at the Fiber Max Museum of Discovery, we. We moved the meeting to Lubbock to open the exhibit so everybody could see it, and everybody just loved it there because, you know, sure, you might have cold or you might have a little snow, and then the next day it may be 70 degrees.
• 38:24
  Speaker A: Right.
• 38:25
  Speaker B: And. And so. But there's so much to see. I mean, the museum and. And the hotel. I mean, it's a cheap place to.
• 38:36
  Speaker A: Right.
• 38:37
  Speaker B: To. To go and meet. And we just. Everybody, every year, unanimously, just votes. Yeah. We're going back to love next year.
• 38:46
  Speaker A: I love that.
• 38:47
  Speaker B: And so that's great.
• 38:49
  Speaker A: So who.
• 38:50
  Speaker B: Who.
• 38:51
  Speaker A: Who thought to put in the fabric Fiber Max, who thought to put the exhibit there? Do you know who thought of that? Was that Dan Taylor.
• 38:59
  Speaker B: Dan Taylor. Okay. And Dan came up with the idea, and. And then he came and Oklahoma City and presented the idea, and aam, we loved it. And at the same time that Dan came up with that idea. Kent Hans.
• 39:19
  Speaker A: Oh, yes. Okay. Yeah.
• 39:23
  Speaker B: Well, AAM helped him get elected in 78, so he's very close with Kent.
• 39:30
  Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
• 39:31
  Speaker B: And so he came up with the idea to establish an AAM archive at the South Collection. Sure.
• 39:40
  Speaker A: Good idea. Right? That was his idea. Okay. Yeah.
• 39:45
  Speaker B: And so we was about to lose all of our history because somebody clean out Grandpa and Grandma's basement with the boxes of clippings and pictures and stuff, go in the dumpster, you know.
• 39:58
  Speaker A: Right, right, right. And that's how. That's how I found out about y' all being in Lubbock was through the Southwest collection, which is a great place for people to go, by the way.
• 40:08
  Speaker B: Yeah. And so we have. Every newspaper that AIM has published is now searchable online. Our documents, pictures, other things are getting searchable. We have oral histories that. Oh, hundreds of them that's been recorded, and many, many of the people have. Have since passed.
• 40:32
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 40:32
  Speaker B: But they're online where you can go listen to their story.
• 40:37
  Speaker A: Yeah, I think you can read them online. I don't think you can listen to them go in there to listen, but you can read. All of them are transcribed. Yes.
• 40:44
  Speaker B: So it's. It's. It's just wonderful that we have that. That archive.
• 40:49
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 40:50
  Speaker B: And we're always proud that they come every Year to our meeting and record some more. Now we're getting some young farmers telling their story.
• 40:59
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 40:59
  Speaker B: Because it continues. It's not just telling stories from the Tractor Cade or.
• 41:06
  Speaker A: Right.
• 41:07
  Speaker B: Right from us old timers. It's. There's new stories and so that we won't. We want that know too.
• 41:17
  Speaker A: Yeah, that's. I mean everything that that's on your Facebook page is relevant. I mean, you know, it's. And then if you want to find, you know, other people that are talking about it and other people that are like minded, you read through those comments and you see all those people that you know or are thinking about and worried about the same things and. Yeah.
• 41:35
  Speaker B: And I've been working hard to get young farmers, young people involved in a. And I'm very, very happy that been successful. I've got some young officers in AAM coming up to.
• 41:50
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 41:51
  Speaker B: To take the reigns. I can't do it anymore. And I'm just. That's been. My goal is to get some young people involved because if we had the answer, we would still have a problem.
• 42:11
  Speaker A: Right?
• 42:11
  Speaker B: We still got a problem.
• 42:12
  Speaker A: We still have a problem.
• 42:13
  Speaker B: Well, is to support the young people and new ideas and that's what.
• 42:21
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Well, I know. No, I think that the, the things will change in the next couple of decades and I think it's, you know, it's kind of like this, it feels like this ball that's kind of, you know, pushed up the hill. Pushed up the hill and now it's like rolling down and gaining momentum towards a hard crash at the bottom is what it feels like, you know. But I think farmers are also, you know, the ones that are, you know, there's some that are great businessmen and some that are great innovators and you know, those are the folks that are gonna, that's who's gonna be left. You're gonna innovate, you're gonna do business and you're gonna find a way, you know, and maybe it, maybe that way will be completely separated from the government, not involved at all with them. You know, who knows what happened. Yeah, you know, it's a whole, it's a whole new world. Sure is. Well, this has been really great conversation. Is there anything you'd like for people to know? We're going to put all of the links to the Facebook page and we'll put the links, maybe some of the Southwest collection links up there so people can go there and so people can learn more about you guys. But is there anything else you would like to leave people with? Before we say goodbye.
• 43:36
  Speaker B: No, I just appreciate it so much that you thought about inviting me to be a part of podcast and so. And I'm so glad you came and joined us in Lubbock. So we got a chance to visit and then you got the chance to talk to Don Kimmerel.
• 43:57
  Speaker A: And I love them. I'm. I'm gonna go see them next month
• 44:01
  Speaker B: that you know, from. From that area. And so.
• 44:06
  Speaker A: Yes, I love Dawn.
• 44:07
  Speaker B: He was so great, so much.
• 44:10
  Speaker A: Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us. And friends, I hope that you will take some time. You know, the. The very wise saying that says, you know, if we don't know our history, we're doomed to repeat it. I think it's really important to not only. I think that there's things that we should repeat in history and we don't have to reinvent the wheel. You know, we are in a different time, our generation, you know, we think differently than. Than your generation, you know, David, and in some ways, we're just not as connected. So some of the ideas might not work now, but I think it's worth a shot looking at what you did and what you guys pioneered and made a way for some of us as kids to stay on the farm. I mean, I know for sure that if that hadn't happened in the 80s, my family would. We would not have grown up with a life that we had. So I appreciate and value what you did and thank you so much for your work on behalf of the American farmer.
• 45:09
  Speaker B: Appreciate that, Tillery.
• 45:11
  Speaker A: Yeah. Well, friends, I hope that you will join us again. We will be back, of course, every Friday for another episode. Thanks.