Posted on 02/27/2009 2:07:46 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
As our government enacts a stimulus package and President Barack 0bama announces bold initiatives to stem home mortgage foreclosures, disaster threatens family farmers and their communities.
The government's response to plummeting commodity prices and tightening credit markets leads to the basic question: Who will produce our food? This is a worldwide crisis. U.S. policy and the demand for deregulation at all levels -- from food production to financial markets -- contribute greatly to the global collapse. The solution must be grounded in food sovereignty so that all farmers and their communities can regain control over their food supply. This response makes sense here in Wisconsin and was the global message from the 500+ farmer leaders at the Via Campesina conference in Mozambique in October.
Many U.S. farmers are going out of business because they receive prices equal to about one half their cost to produce our food. How long could any enterprise receiving half the amount of its input costs stay in business? As an example, dairy farmers in the Northeast and Midwest must be paid between 30 and 35 cents per pound for their milk to pay production costs and provide basic living expenses. Until 1980, farmers received a price equal to 80 percent of parity, meaning that farmers' purchasing power kept up with the rest of the economy. Unfortunately, a 1981 political decision discontinued parity, and today the dairy farmers' share is below 40 percent.
"Free trade" and other regressive agricultural policies have decimated farms. We are now a food deficit nation dependent on food imports, often of questionable quality.
Our food system is nearly broke, which is almost as serious as our country's financial meltdown. With fair farm policies, farmers would get fair prices that would not require higher consumers prices. The Canadian dairy pricing system is the best example that proves fair farmer prices can and often do bring lower consumer prices and a healthier rural economy. In addition, excessive middleman profits are taking advantage of both consumers and producers.
As more farmers face bankruptcy, we all face a food emergency. European farmers speak from thousands of years of experience on the importance of family farms when they warn us, "Any time a country neglects its family farm base and allows it to become financially bankrupt, the entire economy of that country will soon collapse. It may take generations to rebuild the farm economy and that of the country."
Despite the magnitude of this food emergency, the "farm crisis" does not appear in headlines, so politicians are not compelled to provide political or financial assistance to something that would likely fail to bring votes. As farmers, we are now only about 1 percent of the U.S. population, and have little power to expose and prevent our demise. However, our urban and rural friends could be vital voices and advocates.
Bailing out the financial giants will not solve the financial crisis in the country, but the right policies and stimulus dollars could prevent a severe food crisis by saving farmers and workers. Furthermore, farm income dollars remain in and multiply at least two to four times in the local economy.
Family farmers have proposed fair food and farm policies that can be implemented at a fraction of the present multibillion-dollar policies destroying us. As the Treasury Department develops plans to distribute the bailout funds, the National Family Farm Coalition and others urge it to require banks receiving funds to treat their borrowers fairly by providing debt restructuring as an alternate to home or farm foreclosure or bankruptcy.
Concerned citizens can call the White House, 202-456-1111, or your members of Congress, 202-224-3121, to urge them to support policies that enable farmers to earn a fair market price; request an emergency milk price at $17.50 per hundred weight; provide price stability through government grain reserves and effective supply management; support the TRADE Act to be reintroduced in Congress; increase direct and guaranteed loans to family farmers; and ensure that the food we raise can be marketed to local schools and institutions, providing a better food supply at a fair price. We need these immediate changes in our food and farm policy.
(John Kinsman, a dairy farmer from La Valle, is president of Family Farm Defenders, based in Madison.)
California’s going to further limit our farmers’ water supplies.
How dumb can that be???
Farmers grow FOOD.
LOL!
Even as the crow flies, I have 10 miles to the Bay and 15 to the Ocean.
Lots of bridges to get to the ocean, and we have to cross Chincoteague Island to get to Assateague to get to the ocean. But, it’s still close enough for me, without the issues of one way on and one way off that comes with living on any of the islands around here, and of course the flooding that comes with living too close to the water at sea level.
Yeah, I think Baker Creek is well worth a look. =-)
I won’t be ordering from them this year, but I just ordered the Seed Savers catalog. If they are around next year, I may add to the heirloom collection I’m starting.
Yeah, for you. Not so good for us out here in the boonies.
Amazingly, I just got back from Food Lion and the milk, bread, and toilet paper shelves were fully stocked!!!
I’ve gotten seeds from Baker Creek, they have a nice selection.
I have no doubt Seed Savers will still be around next year, and long into the future. They only offer a certain amount of the varieties their members have to the general public. I will probably join it next year.
As many varieties of tomatoes, for example, they have in their catalog, it is just a drop in the bucket of the nearly 5,000 varieties their members offer. And those are just heirlooms.
When you think about all the kinds of hybrids on the market, there are actually a staggering number of tomatoes alone on this planet. It’s kind of mind-boggling, but cool at the same time.
So far this year, the plows have produced no income. The salt spreader is doing ok, though.
Neither has been needed over here at all. We’ve had a couple of dustings, but they were only noticeable on lawns and fields and only for about an hour or so.
I was being a bit snarky considering the state of the economy. I don’t really expect them to be out of business, but with things they way there are, you can’t be completely confident.
I’d like to see as many people as possible turn away from hybrid veggies and start heirloom gardens and seed collections. If I can get a decent stock built up, I plan to start seed trading in addition to planting my own.
One of me commercial customers has a parking deck - that sucker freezes fast.
So there is always some income.
I totally understood where you were coming from, which is why I emphasized the difference between what is available to members versus what is available to the general public.
I’m totally with you on working with heirlooms, I’m trying to avoid hybrids as much as possible.
Income is good -— I’m not familiar with it at the moment.
We’re headed over to Chincoteague. The American Legion, Sons of the Legion, the USO, and the VFDs are helping out our GS Troop with cookie sales. We’re setting up a booth solely for the purpose of Operation Taste of Home. OTH has been so successful, in fact TOO successful, so this year 30% of the donations are going to go to the local VFDs and EMT units, with the other 70% going to the Military.
Sea level? BWAHAHA When my kids were little, the only “hill” they’d ever seen was the high rise bridge!
Living here has its—dare I say it? Ups and downs. :)
I’m so happy! Doing the happy dance! My LIAM that were just curls this am are now up 1/4” and have 2 leaves! Only a few, but the rest will prob be up by Mon. :)
Sorry about the income thing, but congrats on the cookie sales!
ROFL!!!!!!!! I hear ya. Other than when she was 2 and we visited family in California the only “hills” my kid has ever seen are sand dunes and bridges. But she will see some real ones when her GS Troop goes “camping” in the Shenandoah over Easter break.
If memory serves me correctly, it was the military that requested the scale back on the amount of cookies being sent to bases here and overseas. For various reasons a lot of people really don’t want to buy the cookies, but are very willing to toss a few bucks toward buying cookies for the Troops and First Responders -— and that, to me, is a good thing!!!
Yeah, that is what I would do. Not a fan of cookies.
Of course, leda would kill me. LOL!
I don’t have one wollyone. In fact, my home ocmputer just crashed and I lost (am hoping to recover) all my bookmarks. I had a ton of bookmarks on gardening sites.
Ping gardengirl, Diana in Wisconsin, and they can help you with this. GG just sent me some heirloom tomato seeds and I am thrilled.
If these freepers can’t help you, they can point you to some who can. Several freepers have these links. Diana works for a seed company and she and GG are VERY knowledgable about all things gardening.
Are ya wet enough yet? LOL! We had buckets of rain on Thursday night into Friday, then it FROZE. What a mess.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php
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