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Apr 13, 2009
"Literally Watch"
Every now and then the perfect example of the correct use of "literally" shows up, and we like to highlight it along with the more frequent misuses.
Here's one from an AP story today:
(AP) — SILER CITY, N.C. -- Four years ago, Andrew Meeks literally bet the farm on chickens. Now he fears he made a losing bet.
His three massive chicken houses are empty, and a "For Sale" sign has sprouted out front. Meeks, a contract chicken farmer, borrowed nearly half a million dollars to refurbish his 25-acre farm, putting up as collateral his home, the farm itself and virtually everything else he owns.
Farmer Meeks did in fact (i.e. literally) "bet the farm". Go AP! (Uh, sorry about the farm, Mr. Meeks.)
["Literally Watch" is a public service of this blog, with the goal of preserving the original, and we believe correct, use of the word. Earlier today I heard the phrase "very unique" in a news broadcast. Should I start a "Unique Watch" too?]
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It's sad that Mr. Meeks' family property is now owned by the chicken company, bank or whomever.
ReplyDeleteYet what's even more sad is the system of contract growing under which Mr. Meeks went bankrupt. It is the modern day equivalent of sharecropping, a once-widespread practice of farming in the Southeast wherein a tenant farmer (and family) would live on a tract of land and work whatever crops they raised, giving a portion of the crop to the landowner as payment in kind for the purchase of the land itself.
Such a practice was most widespread among wealthy landowners whom practiced indentured servitude, and frequently whose laborers were emancipated slaves or poor Whites.
Today, chicken-growing companies Tyson, Gold Kist, Perdue Farms, Pilgrim's Pride, Foster Farms, Claxton, Piedmont, Cagle's, Mar-Jac, Con-Agra, Continental Grain, Wayne Feeds, Vitarich, Sanderson, and a veritable host of others, populate the field. Tyson, Gold-Kist and Con-Agra are perhaps among the larger, or well-known operations.
The term used to describe Mr. Meeks' situation is "contract growing." It is the practice where in the big company pays a farmer to grow their birds on a six-to-eight-week contract period, also termed the "grow out." The company owns the feed and the chickens, but the farmer owns the land and chicken houses... which must be built to company specifications, or else they risk losing contracts with the company. Such houses are not cheap, and it's not uncommon for a single chicken house to cost in excess of $250,000 to construct and outfit. Frequently, at least five houses are in an operation, because the fifth house will be the profit - according to the companies. And, the companies encourage farmers to borrow money to build the houses to company specifications... or else risk losing "contract." Further, as the houses age, the companies require farmers to "update" their houses, again to company specifications, and again borrowing money to do so. As well, the companies often own the firms whose products are specified.
The companies supply and retain ownership of the chickens, the feed, and medications the birds may need. Complicating matters, farmers have little or no say in the health of the birds they receive, or the quality of feed they're supplied.
In essence, the farmer assumes all the risk, and reaps little reward, because the companies hold the upper hand and write the "contracts" to which the farmer must coalesce. They have little rights or ability to negotiate contract terms.
"Tunneling" is a term used to describe the practice of installing a central tunnel through the upper eaves of the chicken house to cool it during summer months. The installation of the tunnels is costly. Again, the farmer must purchase the materials and pay for installation, bearing most, if not all, of the financial burden... or else the company will not award a growing "contract."
The contracts are for eight-week periods for broilers, while layers (chickens that lay eggs) contracts are often for one-year periods. The National Chicken Council estimates that over 90% of all chickens and eggs grown and produced in the United States is produced under such a contract system. To further complicate matters, the "contracts" rarely provide opportunity for legal recourse through our courts, and instead divert to binding arbitration. Further, under our present system of law, "contract workers" are outside of any system to seek legal recourse using labor law.
The "payout" or "settlement" given by the companies are unusual as well. The most popular is a "tournament system" to rank growers based upon how much each farm produces, with monies being paid from a limited, fixed pool in greater quantity to those who rank in the top. In other words, the farmers whom grow the heaviest birds (or most eggs) with the least feed and medicine are paid more, while those who use more feed are penalized... even though they may produce the same weight birds or eggs. The companies call it "efficiency," while it pits one farmer against another, rather than creating a model of collaboration and cooperation... the idea of a Co-Op.
Our nation's laws - the "Packers and Stockyards Act" of 1921, written in response to a Federal Trade Commission inquiry on unfair practices in the meat packing industry, and under the USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration - is not much help.
So-called "modern" practices wherein Multi-National Corporations such as ConAgra, Cargill or Archer Daniels Midland own the product, and control to a great extent the means of production, is a disconcerting trend throughout agricultural America. Family farms are a rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Corporate-owned farms (vis-a-vis contract growing operations) are the trend, and are increasingly found in cattle, pork, tobacco, corn, soybean and almost every other agricultural product.
In these cases (contract growing), farmers don't own their own crops. They're merely tenant tenders, or employees without benefits, because they have little or no decision or ability to control how or what they do. They must perform to company specifications in the smallest of issues.
Though we are at perhaps least three generations removed from the Great Depression and the ill effects of the injustices to the American people from which we revolted, writing laws to protect the people from unscrupulous acts by Big Business, there is a song popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford which is entirely apropos to this issue. The song Sixteen Tons, originally sung by Merle Travis, has a line which says in part "I owe my soul to the company store."
In this case, it could not be more true.