28 Comments

Sorry that I cannot recall the exact quote, but it went something like this: "Only when the last plant has died and the last crop has been destroyed, will man realize that we can't eat money!"

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There is a new book on this subject. It is called “Barons money power and the corruption in the food industry”. by Austin Frerick”. This is exactly what he has researched in depth and the stranglehold for corporate CEOs have on the food industry and food production

Buy it read it get the word out to farmers everywhere

We really need to stop this page of Robber Barrons. I’m a business owner but we have capitalism run amuck

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The game is Monopoly which ends with no other players being able to afford to participate and the bank running out of money. Of course that was before credit cards and deficit spending

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Yup. Money has no intrinsic value. You can't eat it!!! : )

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Thanks Gordon.

JJY

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I tried to use the farmaid link to offer my support and found it difficult to use, however, I sent an email message to my U.S. Representative, Grace Meng, expressing my concerns. I also suggested that Jim Hightower be consulted on farm legislation. I hope that this helps.

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SO TRUE of the situation here in Iowa - anticipate 212-214 bushels/acre for corn, about 65 for soybeans, but - as you point out - prices are low enough that farmers will lose money. Then again, there's the emphasis on corn growing for use as ethanol (more than 50% of the crop, I believe). So where would a farmer turn for help? "Big food" and "big fuel" have him/her in a very real bind.

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Wasn't it 'The Victory Garden ' campaign that fed US while recovering from the devastation of World War ll ?

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The Victory Garden started during the war, and it continued after the war ended. People grew their own vegetables and fruit and shared with family and friends.

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While it may not work for everyone, there is a good argument for regenerative agriculture that greatly reduces the amount of inputs into production so that farmers don't have to borrow nearly as much and can investigate other means of selling their products. The industrialized agriculture system (Get Bid or Get Out) is guaranteed to screw over the little guys.

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Crop rotation is in danger. When they register their Genetically Modified seed, the farmers can't rotate their crops without violating the agreement they signed with the seed company.

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Stephanie Anderson has a good book, One Size Fits None, by the Nebraska University Press that is an excellent introduction to the problems with industrialized agriculture and how regenerative agriculture allows farmers to opt out of the rat race.

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founding

I have known farmers that got paid not to plant crops good example of government doing too much. I don't know why suits corporations and commodity exchanges have their greedy hands in our food supply in the first place.

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Good source of money when you have a monopoly like the meat packers, the fertilizer producers, the chemical manufacturers, the middle men, the processors, the equipment manufacturers, etc. have.

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founding

Etc. Etc. Good examples of why there are so many greedy hands in the food supply. Can't wait to pick pecans in my own backyard next month.

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Because the policy makers' campaigns are paid for by the lobbyists (so they no longer need to listen to their constituents); and their constituents will vote for whoever can spend the most money.

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If it wasn’t as bad as it currently is, I’d probably laugh at the “suits “ making the laws

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My concern with the farm bills is that while they do help small commodity farmers they have NOT limited the program’s payments to large operators who should be severely limited in amount of subsidies or payments received. The “revenue insurance” program covers crop loose AND low market prices. It’s very expensive with the government paying out way more than the premiums paid by the insured farm operator, no matter how large.

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founding

Thank you Jim for placing this issue right on the dinner table.

Every second we are finding out how unregulated capitalism allows the slimy, greedy, monopolistic Sapiens make every inch of our existence about them having it all . Aren’t we ready to grow up and to demand a well regulated and educated government for the people and by the people? Why are we so inclined to pretend that having billions of dollars seems to mean you are better than every other living thing. Such vulgarity.

What happens to tiny people who are born and never have guidance, boundaries, discipline , purpose other than to demand attention. That is how we treat our government. No boundaries, no regulation kids!!!! Does not make a happy successful citizenry.

Demand things that really help future generations to understand what actually makes a successful country. And it is not trickle down!!! All we feel is the spit!

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Raising awareness of who writes farm legislation.

Thanks Jim!

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This is the history of farming in a nutshell. It's been going on forever. The wealthy buy the crop for pennies and sell it at a huge write up. The farmer gets pennies on the dollar for all the hard work and expense. That's how they drove the sharecroppers out of the business after the Civil War.

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Maybe you could put out an SOS that ranchers in MT & WY that had thousands of acres burned over in the last 10 days need help: feed, rebuilding fences, moving cattle, etc. that is if they have any cattle left.

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Jim Hightower for Secretary of Agriculture! YES!

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And A Happy Harvest,!

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Thank you for putting reality in a concise easily understandable format. I know land owners in farmland that have been paid for decades not to farm. Ridiculous! There is a group of young upstarts in VA taking a stand and trying to share methods and attitudes for becoming small family farmers in today’s political quagmire.

https://stan.store/sylvanaquafarms/p/first-generation-farming

They are close enough to Washington DC to possibly have an impact with your support. The author of the book and producer of YouTube videos is a funny, yet serious and gregarious person that has a perspective that is what we should be seeking to emulate to get back on track. I invite everyone to check out their YouTube channel to get a sense of the uphill challenge all of the young farmers are facing.

@SylvanaquaFarms

They could really use some support to defy the odds that are stacked against them.

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Back before Jesus' time money was invented as a means of exchange for food. Big corporations, sanctioned by the government, worship money and controlling more money (therefore controlling more lives) is the desired end result of the corporate economic system. When good health and well being becomes the desired end result and this corporate run government gets woken up from the dollar signs that blind them, then we'll have a chance for common sense to prevail .

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