The Influence of the Big Three -

Most farm organizations and farmers movements originated from farmers beliefs that they were treated unfairly in the marketplace (Taylor, 1953). For over a century, farmers have felt that suppliers of certain inputs needed by farmers, such as bankers and farm equipment manufactures, received a disproportionate share of the profits from food production. They also believed that the buyers of their products, the processing firms and the transportation firms which moved the farm products from the farm to the consumer --a group often referred to as "middlemen," earned an unfair share of the consumer s dollar relative to what farmers received for their contribution. When farmers joined in collective action, they were taking action against the economic power the firms had over them.