NATCHEZ &8212; A small group of eight men and one woman met for the National Farmer&8217;s Union meeting and listening session on Thursday night.

But coordinator Ronald Albritton still thinks guest speaker Bart Chilton&8217;s message had an impact.

&8220;Even though the attendance was low, I have 80 people that have joined the National Farmers Union since the meeting,&8221; Albritton said Monday.

The meeting&8217;s purpose, Chilton said, was to see if anyone in the Miss-Lou was interested in forming a NFU charter.

The NFU is a nonprofit organization that lobbies for farmers on issues such as farm bills, disaster assistance, and trade.

Currently there are 1,250 people in 26 states in the U.S. that are part of NFU, Chilton said.

&8220;Our purpose is to give power and more profitability to smalltime farmers and local communities,&8221; Chilton said.

According to a pamphlet, Chilton distributed, of comments gathered from nationwide farm bill listening sessions, there is a strong feeling that the next farm bill&8217;s focus should be on solving the problems that are barriers to a fair, open and competitive marketplace.

&8220;Right now a box of Cheerios cost about $4, of which grain farmers get about four cents,&8221; Chilton said. &8220;That isn&8217;t right.&8221;

But what most people at the meeting, including Mayor Phillip West, were interested in was whether NFU could help organize a cooperative in Natchez.

Chilton said there were no NFU co-ops in Mississippi but that did not mean he would not be interested in starting one.

Chilton said what the union usually does is hire someone from their office in Washington, D.C., to start and run a co-op for a while until a suitable person from within the community, where the co-op was founded, takes over.

After the meeting, West said he would support a co-op or NFU chapter forming in the future if enough people were informed of the benefits.

&8220;I think when you can form a cooperative, union or something like that, a community can be strengthened by it,&8221; West said.

But Monterey farmer Tommy Ellett, from Brookhaven said he is not ready to become a member just yet.

&8220;Personally I would rather see the benefits first hand before becoming a member,&8221; Ellett said.

Ellett also said he feels Miss-Lou leaders are already committed to doing good things for the farming community.

&8220;Leaders like West are already committed to doing something with bio-diesel and other alternative fuels, so there is not yet a need to have a union organized to get things done,&8221; Ellett said.