Becoming a Market Society 5ucts. With its trademark phrase “Proud to be Farmer-Owned,” it was
the largest agricultural cooperative in North America.
Revenues the first year I joined were five billion dollars, but losses
were over $ 00 million. Given the company’s long history, many saw
the shortfall as a rough patch in the road. I was less sanguine. Farmland
was competing with ever-larger businesses, who had deeper financial
pockets and were marching along acquiring other companies, sometimes
on the steps of bankruptcy courts.
As the consolidation trend intensified, to stay competitive Farm-
land made their own acquisitions by taking on more debt. When a
combination of volatile markets and management missteps almost
put the cooperative under, a new president was brought in from another
company to turn things around. Though he was making progress, he
was under intense scrutiny by Farmland’s creditors. Everywhere he
went, even the men’s room, he once quipped, at least two bankers went
with him.
In the midst of almost palpable uncertainty, when entire departments
were disbanded and people who had worked for Farmland their entire
careers were let go, he commissioned a public relations firm to create a
new company logo. On a backdrop of green (the field) and blue (the sky)
was a billowy white cloud and the name Farmland emblazoned across
the front. When I learned how much it cost this company teetering at
the brink of insolvency, I contemplated leaving while the lights were
still on. In the end I stayed, intrigued by the value our president saw in
Farmland that lay beyond what the markets were saying.
My decision to stay was a good one. Farmland regained its financial
footing. When I later did choose to leave, its future looked promising. As
the years went by, consolidation across food and agriculture continued
and a new president at Farmland took over. When the economy took a
sharp downturn, the advantage fell to those companies that had seized
market control. Farmland was not among them.
In the story of Farmland, the pork industry perfectly exemplifies
the trend in consolidation. In one generation, the number of farms
producing hogs fell by almost three-quarters—while the median num-
ber of hogs per farm climbed from , 00 to 40,000. Four companies