How to send your farmer to jail Update on Tester Amendment Post 239

[Katy]

As far as farm subsidies......that is not what is keeping farms in business. Of the current farm bill, 19% of the money goes to farm and commodity programs.....59% of it goes to food assistance programs such as food stamps and free and reduced school lunch programs. The rest is divided amongst administration, forestry programs, research etc.

 

[Organics North]

Quote:
No reason to feel sorry for me...or look down your nose at how we farm, which is what that statement implies. That statement right there is a prime example of the elitist thinking of the organic movement. You are the only ones who are right and are sure you've got all the answers and there's no way we could be even a little bit right.

The poor eating habits of this country have nothing to do with the product that we farmers produce.....it's what the middleman does with it and the cheap and fast food that people demanded and have gotten from those middlemen.

Katy how does the bolded part imply elitist thinking? I am just deeply concerned about your and other private farm owners well being... You are an endangered species...

IMO the "organic/local/sustainable" movement is partially about changing the playing field and keeping a bigger piece of the profit in the farmers pocket..

I am 100% with you on your comments about poor eating habits and the middlemen! I did not imply your farm contributes to the problem one bit! You do not mono crop.

As far as farm subsidies......that is not what is keeping farms in business. Of the current farm bill, 19% of the money goes to farm and commodity programs.....59% of it goes to food assistance programs such as food stamps and free and reduced school lunch programs. The rest is divided amongst administration, forestry programs, research etc.

Agreed again! I personally do not like the corn subsides, as I feel it hurts crop diversification, and we grow to much of it already..IMO...
When I think subsidies I think the US military and global oil prices... Great efforts are put forth to keep energy prices low... They go up and the game changes... Chem ferts become expensive. Coast to coast shipping of goods and distribution centers loose their competitive edge.. Again closing the gap for the local producers that have higher costs..

Just for the record I do get subsides in the form of a property tax break on our forestry land for participating in the states managed forest program, and abiding by the rules for sustainable forestry.

ON​

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
That sucks. I thought a lot more went to the farmers. So what are they going to do to feed kids when the new house takes over? The new AG committee is going to be almost 80% anti poor people. A lot of those kids on the free and reduced lunch program get their only decent meal at school. It may not be organic but it's better than what they get at home.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
No reason to feel sorry for me...or look down your nose at how we farm, which is what that statement implies. That statement right there is a prime example of the elitist thinking of the organic movement. You are the only ones who are right and are sure you've got all the answers and there's no way we could be even a little bit right.

The poor eating habits of this country have nothing to do with the product that we farmers produce.....it's what the middleman does with it and the cheap and fast food that people demanded and have gotten from those middlemen.

Katy how does the bolded part imply elitist thinking? I am just deeply concerned about your and other private farm owners well being... You are an endangered species...

IMO the "organic/local/sustainable" movement is partially about changing the playing field and keeping a bigger piece of the profit in the farmers pocket..

I am 100% with you on your comments about poor eating habits and the middlemen! I did not imply your farm contributes to the problem one bit! You do not mono crop.

As far as farm subsidies......that is not what is keeping farms in business. Of the current farm bill, 19% of the money goes to farm and commodity programs.....59% of it goes to food assistance programs such as food stamps and free and reduced school lunch programs. The rest is divided amongst administration, forestry programs, research etc.

Agreed again! I personally do not like the corn subsides, as I feel it hurts crop diversification, and we grow to much of it already..IMO...
When I think subsidies I think the US military and global oil prices... Great efforts are put forth to keep energy prices low... They go up and the game changes... Chem ferts become expensive. Coast to coast shipping of goods and distribution centers loose their competitive edge.. Again closing the gap for the local producers that have higher costs..

Just for the record I do get subsides in the form of a property tax break on our forestry land for participating in the states managed forest program, and abiding by the rules for sustainable forestry.

ON​

Why do I find that an elitist statement? Because it is to me just once again a comment that says you think the existing system is totally wrong and your organic way is the only way. Believe me I don't want or need anyone's pity or you feeling sorry for me because of how we choose to farm.

The system is not what is killing people.....it's their choices of what to eat and their sedentary lifestyle that is killing them. Even if we only grew one crop how would that be contributing?

I wouldn't trade my work and lifestyle with anyone else. It's a hard life sometimes with very little monetary reward, but that's ok. We do hard honest work and at the end of the day I'm very ok with my life.

 

[seedcorn]

1) Interesting that they don't even recognize their elitest thoughts. What is elitest is not "HOW" you produce, it's the concept that organic is the only one. Organic does not try to feed the masses, it's only for those that can afford it--the elite. Then statements are made with no facts that...
a) life span is reduced to mankind due to our food--wrong, average lifespan is gaining. Why do you think we now have to be 67 to retire vs. 65?
b) corn syrup is "bad" for you. There is no difference between corn sugar or cane sugar in terms of the body. It should be stated as "sugar" is bad for you. The reason some products are going back to cane sugar is because of prices. Cane sugar is slave labor produced. From a humanity standpoint, we should ban all slave labor products.
2) Corn subsidies only enter in when corn is $1.98 or less per bushel.
3) Most of the farms are owned by families that are incorporated because of taxes. Even small farmers/businesses are incorporated. Need to find another term.
4) Ag subsidies are NOT for the farmer, it's so he can repay the banks. Subsidies only enter in when the federal government forces us to produce products below the cost of production. If famers went bankrupt, land prices would plummet, banks would go broke, jobs lost.........think 1930's.
5) Pesticide usage has decreased because of GMO's. Plus Ag is an ever evolving industry as we learn better ways to produce more, we adapt. We are not stuck in 1920 technology thus allowing the rest of the world to have food. If we produced crops the way they did in 1920 (as some advocate) we couldn't even feed the USA.
6) No problem if some want to produce/buy foods produced without any chemicals at all--that is exactly how my garden is. I find it interesting that the "organic" community continues on with the labeling when they are feeding grains that are no more organic than a bushel you buy from a local elevator--which is where their grains come from.

 

[Katy]

Quote:

 

[Katy]

Quote:
That sucks. I thought a lot more went to the farmers. So what are they going to do to feed kids when the new house takes over? The new AG committee is going to be almost 80% anti poor people. A lot of those kids on the free and reduced lunch program get their only decent meal at school. It may not be organic but it's better than what they get at home.

Most people hear farm bill and think all the money for it is going in the farmers' pockets......not the way it is at all.

There were almost 42,400,000 Americans who recieved food stamps in August of 2010. That is a 17% rise from a year ago and 58.5% more than in August of 2007. I doubt that they will be able to ignore those numbers and cut any food assistance. I'm sure even tho it will be called the farm bill even less than 19% of the new bill will go to actual farmers.

 

[redhen]

Wha?? Farmers have to pay for peoples food stamps??
Do you mean that you are kinda "taxed"..kinda like us who work "normal jobs", and the govt takes money/taxes out of our paychecks to pay for welfare and food stamps ..etc..?
I'm confused as usual..

 

[Katy]

Quote:
We farmers pay taxes just like everyone else. Those taxes (yours and ours) are what fund all the different government programs.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
We farmers pay taxes just like everyone else. Those taxes (yours and ours) are what fund all the different government programs.

And then on top of you paying regular taxes you guys have to ALSO pay into those food assistence programs you mentioned? That seems very unfair to farmers!