European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 25, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                In the Chain agricultural counties in 1950 agricultural count pm at least 20 of Tabor and proprietors from farming farming the changing landscape i h the farm exodus 40 80 number of persons on in millions left scale 30 120 Lio 60 40 20 195o agricultural counties in 197577 t number and size of farms 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 1920 1950 1980 the Road from Market number of farms in percent of total Gross sales f Rural farm residences under in i Gross Small farms to in Gross i medium sized farms in Gross Large farms Over in 1 Gross the top 10 food producers in 1979 food represents greatest volume of Industrial sales for each in on millions Beatrice Kraft general consolidated Ralston Iowa beef general pc United new York Byan Crittenden new York times oss1bly out of some deep psychological Many americans still tend to think of food in personal terms the Small Farmer lending the the Angel of the Hearth mixing and baking the family wholesome but be my cry image of a grandmother bending Over a stove is St of Complex corporate chains link one of the food Chain to the h Many americans for that a International Telephone and Tele turns out wonder hostess seeds and Gwaltney Chicken Bologna that the greyhound owns Armour the meat Packer or that Ralston Purina not Only markets animal feeds but Chicken of the sea its own grown mushrooms and fast food meals at its Chain of Jack in the Box restaurants frequently one such As consolidated will not Only process but Ware wholesale and even retail it through restaurants and on the opposite ends of such a Chain equally vast changes have the late 20th Century has brought huge produce such As Teion agricultural partners in that Are limited established to provide tax As a corporate official once jokingly put for one thousand three Hundred according to agriculture department about 25 percent of american including most seed vegetables for Citrus chickens and is controlled by either through vertical or direct ownership of and some of the biggest food from Frozen Orange juice companies to fast food chains such As Dun Kin Are major players in the futures hedging to try to stabilize their a this is the Brave new world of a term coined 25 years ago at the Harvard business As it is used at agribusiness is defined As All of the individuals and institutions involved in the food and fiber from tractor manufacturers and seed producers to processors and thus More than 50 percent of the combined assets of farming and All corporations in the United states Are involved in it employs More than 20 percent of american accounts for about 20 percent of consumer expenditures and adds about billion on to the nations balance of a major development in the agribusiness sector is the trend toward illustrated by the production of although farms still Market 93 percent of production comes from Only percent of those among these giant producers is of the worlds largest Grain some of the largest family farms have become indistinguishable from such As Bruce Church and Bud lettuce producers in Antle is now a division of Castle the giant Honolulu based food but contrary to a widespread Only about 3 percent of american farms Are actually owned by Cor and some of those Are family held Corpora corporate control extends into actual farming More through the practice of contract farming than through outright land although there Are some major Tenn eco a Houston based conglomerate which last year had sales of 1 billion from natural Gas shipbuilding and farm also owns More than one million acres of Range land in Cali fornia and another new with significant implications for the is the Effort of some food such As general to get into Hydro Ponic production of food in soulless envy the eve increasing concentration in farming is sur passed by an even More dramatic shrinkage of the num Ber of companies in the other sectors of according to a recent agriculture department the 50 largest food manufacturing firms share of food Indus try assets Rose from 42 percent in 1963 to nearly 64 percent in 1978 and could reach 100 percent by the year the big food processors dominate the list of the largest agribusiness but such a list is for Var ious it does not include the giant Grain trading including Cargill and Continental in the United these firms Are so their in Are a Well kept the sales volumes of according to estimates by economic information a consulting Are in the several the list should also include the two leading farm equipment International Harvester and Caterpillar both companies in terms of sales and Are bigger than the largest food Beatrice and the list excludes the major retail food because there is relatively Little value added in the chains their profits Are correspondingly lower than those of the processing also not on the list Are any Farmer such As the huge associated milk although cooperatives Are becoming an increasingly important segment of about 25 percent of All production supplies Pur chased by such As and Petroleum Are now bought through and by 75 percent of Dairy 40 percent of grains and soybeans and 25 percent of fruits and vegetables were sold through according to corporate data a new Yor based re search the fastest growing cooperative is land a Minneapolis marketer of poultry and Oil crops for some Farmers in the Nort Central last year land lakes had sales of catapulting it from 194th to 142nd on fortunes top 500 the trend toward bigness in food production and distribution has Given Rise to a Host of corporate who have tended to define agribusiness More in terms of Large scale corporate in their the huge agribusiness corporations have played a key role in displacing the family in substituting machines for much farm in causing higher food prices and such innovations As the tasteless because of the effectiveness of such critics As the agribusiness accountability and Jim Hightow author of hard hard the word has thus achieved a degree of or at least become associated with a distinctly mixed bag of bigness Down on the farm was one of he Carter administrations last expressed former Secretary of agriculture Bob Bergland released a report indicating that Many existing farm programs were obsolescent and skewed in favor of the largest the big time the report arc using tax Breaks As Well As Federal loan and Price support programs to acquire More and More the report confirmed what had already become apparent in recent years that the number of farms is shrinking while the average farms and share of is it seems that Berglands John himself a very Large and prosperous will regard bigness As new directions for Jean Stapleton a by Jerry Buck associated press after leaving All in the Jean Sta Pleton wanted nothing More than to put time and distance Between herself and Edith bunk Edith had been a wonderful and had Given her career an incredible but after nearly nine years she Felt she had exhausted both the role and it was wonderful to have my Freedom she want not after 8vi my Only sadness came from bidding Farewell to my fellow she last played Edith on several guest appearances on Archie bunkers As the show was in the fall of since leaving the lbs she has devoted her time to television movies and the last Stapleton starred in aunt about a feisty invalid who coached championship softball her most recent Endeavor was Angel which aired 16 on she played a Mother who discovers that a son is addicted to pc it was a powerful script based on a True she it was a straight dramatic which is what i was looking for at the everything i do on television now should be pretty far away from the character of Edith just to maintain my identity As an in also looking at some comedy movies Are being written for me at i  consider another series at this even if Stapleton wanted to return to Archie bunkers place it would be her departure from All in the family had left Archie Bunker s Home life rather Barren and Carroll Oconnor Felt the need for drastic in a special on hour episode telecast last Archie mourned the death of Edith one of the most beloved television was i watched the show with great says i was really watching to Sec How they would do i was i had an interest in seeing my coworkers play especially Carroll i was very moved by it because they played it so Well in a Way i Felt like Huck finn and Tom Sawyer watching their own but it want quite like i had separated myself from the role by a and its All you when the idea of edits death came Stapleton was called they had the Grace to talk to me about this plot she i Learned that Norman Lear was the last he was sentimentally attached to the Char i think the Public shared his i talked to i its there was a i repeated that it was Only he n site see it that but he came not because of but because of the need to give the series new but Lear was not about to forget he put up to establish the Edith Bunker memorial to be administered by the National organization of women to support women Arthur Hill and John Putch starred in an gel Putch is her real life son and a Veteran of one Day at a the Story is based on a True life it was written by the Mother of an Stapleton her family struggled to Rescue the boy and she kept a journal about that i was attracted by the and its about a not an addict who goes its about a Moth a a brother and a All of whom Combine forces to help the other All become intimately involved in the pc is a narcotic which unleashes Waves of terror in addicts after the initial addicts think every person is trying to kill they become frightened for their As a pc addicts literally go wild and May perform incredible feats of in hoping it will open up an understanding for the people going through she i Hope  Sec that the caring and the love must it must last throughout the Healing Between aunt Mary and Angel Stapleton toured for 21 weeks in Daisy a George Kelly comedy about an Independent woman in her Hus William directed and was during the summer she was at the totem pole playhouse in where Putch is producer and she is now looking Forward to her role As Eleanor Roosevelt in a dramatic film for the script is nearly this is my Dearest priority and has been for four she its set in a period when she was after her husbands after she had left the White and when she had drafted the Universal declaration of human rights for the United its not her first time As she appears in a 12minute film used to raise funds for the private Retreat Roosevelt had built for her at Hyde this is a different Eleanor than weve Ever seen be she its a period of her life when she she was she came into her own after her husbands Page 14 the stars and stripes february the stars and stripes Page 15