Nebraska Farmer Declares Independence From Subsidies

Omaha World Herald ^ | 1/12/02 | Bill Hord

[RepRivFarm]

Nebraska farmer declares independence from subsidies

PAWNEE CITY, Neb. - Boyd de Koning is proud of his newest tractor. He starts it up and listens to it purr. It is a 1962, 1963 or 1964 Oliver 1800. They quit making Olivers more than 25 years ago.

"You can get a lot of work out of one of these," said de Koning, 46, climbing down from the green cab on a mild winter day to walk around the place where three generations of his family have made a living since 1923.

Neat and orderly, the 283-acre Pawnee County farm a mile from the Kansas border has everything needed to grow and harvest corn, oats and milo, to raise chickens, to raise hogs from birth to slaughter, to graze 30 cows and to keep a family warm and fed in the winter.

What the de Koning farm does not have is farm subsidies. Boyd and Karen de Koning don't believe in them. Neither did his father and grandfather before him. De Koning said people are wrong to say farmers need subsidies. "I'm living proof that it isn't true," he said.

Rest of storyHERE

[RepRivFarm]

If only ALL Americans were like this man and his family. Government Subsidies (of any kind) are the source of all evil.

[verboten]

in 2000, government payments made up more than half of farmers' net income.

Disgusting. This is sad when the farmers have even been bought off by socialism. I have no sympathy for farmers when I read this. They use the government's gun to take my money. It is good to see that some people stand up against it. And that this guy realizes that the subsidies actually are designed to hurt him ultimately. The government's immediate help always comes at the expense of the future.

[EggsAckley]

This article is very uplifting. I was wondering if there were still people like these around.
I love his father's comment:

Boyd's father, the late Neal de Koning, saying that government ought to be regarded
as a watchdog to be fed, not as a cow to be milked.

[John H K]

BWAHAHAHA! I love that the guy has a "Rush is Right" flag.

Speaking of Socialism, it never ceases to amaze me the excuses for subsidies you see posted by their defenders on FR (and they are legion.) They always sound as nonsensical and illogical as Stalinist Soviet Propaganda.

The best one is always "subsidies, because of low prices farmers get for farm products, are needed to make sure we have enough to eat."

HELLO! Free market, anyone? If we ever have food shortages in the US, the prices farmers get for their product will go up enough to keep enough of them in business so we don't have food shortages.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Nebraska farmer

[Blood of Tyrants]

A friend of mine married a Chinese woman who was a small gir living with her parents in Saigon when it fell in 1975. Her parents, being Chinese, had everything except the closthes on their backs confiscated by the North Vietnamese and they litterally lived under the porch of someone's house while her father did odd jobs.

After two years, they were allowed to leave the country and spent another 18 months in a refugee camp awaiting permission to enter the U.S. When they finally got here, they were given welfare, food stamps, and government housing.

The were so ashamed to take government money that the mother and father both took 2 or 3 jobs to get their family out of public housing in ONE month.

Those are some of the most honorable people I know.

[RepRivFarm]

This article is very uplifting. I was wondering if there were still people like these around.

I think we would all be surprised at the number of folks around who feel this way. The USA may be very very sick, but it's not quite dead yet!

[RepRivFarm]

Those are some of the most honorable people I know.

Alas, honor is no longer considered a virtue worth having.

[jackbill]

According to data that I've found, it is obvious that Mr. de Koning's neighbors aren't ready to proclaim their independence.

According to the NE Dept. of Health and Human Services - at http://www.hhs.state.ne.us/profiles/pawnee/demo.htm - the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the total population of Pawnee County in 1997 at 3,201 individuals, all but 37 were white.

Then I went to:

Farm subsidies from 1996 to 2000

Going first to NE, then to Pawnee County, I found that 976 residents of Pawnee County (approximately one out of every three residents) received $36,464,101 from 1996 to 2000.

BTW, I did find three de Konings on the subsidy list. Relatives???

[Clemenza]

Bankers (my profession) and farmers made a deal with the devil when they decided to accept federal support. In banking, you have to put up with the federales on an everyday basis in order to stay in business.

[FryingPan101]

I wonder if this wonderfully efficient farmer would mind high-tailin' it over to talk to Coach Solich in Lincoln. Maybe he could offer some assistance in game plans to our Huskers. Just Joking, Fury! LOL

[M.K. Borders]

Americans, Real Americans, do not plan for the reciept of Tax monies. They work all their lives and understand that good citizenship means you add to the community, not recieve from it.

That goes for Social Security, Medicade/care.

There is no right to retirement.
You work until you are either dead, too sick to work, or have accumulated enough wealth to live off of.

Lessons of Capitalizm If crop prices will not support the farmers we have, then we have too many farmers.

Let the flames begin.

[EggsAckley]

I, for one, would not flame you for this philosophy. In my own case, my career was nearly undermined when tougher drunk driving laws came into effect. I am/was a lounge musician, and when the new laws came in, many of the venues which had been lucrative to me went out of business, or ceased hiring entertainment for financial reasons. I don't recall any government agency stepping in to help me out when that happened. There are/were just too many musicians available for the market; that's when I opted to retire.