It's Time to Stand Up With Family Farmers - by Willie Nelson

[Ladyhawke1]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/23-0 ( see videos)

Published on Monday, September 23, 2013 by Common Dreams

[b]It's Time to Stand Up With Family Farmers

by Willie Nelson [/b]


John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Pete Seeger, Dave Matthews, and Neil Young perform at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center for Farm Aid 2013 in Saratoga Springs, NY. (Photo: Paul Natkin/Photo Reserve, Inc.) Farm Aid's annual benefit concert, Farm Aid 2013, took place at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY on Saturday, September 21.
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Every year, come harvest season, we gather for the annual Farm Aid concert. Artists, farmers, activists and eaters, we come together to recognize the crucial importance of family farmers. We take account of how far we've come and we renew our spirits for the fights ahead.

We stand with family farmers.

This strength is what's grown the Good Food Movement. Today, we're at our strongest. More people than ever are seeking out family farm food. Businesses sourcing from family farmers are searching for new farmers because demand exceeds supply. Entrepreneurs are making new connections between eaters and farmers. Community organizations and passionate volunteers are bringing good food to neighborhoods that need it most. Together, all of these people are building communities centered on a family farm economy. They're linking eaters with farmers, building relationships and nourishing bodies and souls. Their actions are transforming food and agriculture, from the ground up.

But even still, a handful of corporations dominate our food system.

There are good folks in Congress who are fighting for a family farm food system that benefits family farmers and all Americans. But they're blocked by a majority that lets corporate power, partisan politics and big money get in the way of progress. Their votes have reinforced a dominant, chemical-dependent food system that is harmful to our environment, our health and local economies, while cutting billions from nutrition and food programs for people who need food.



In recent years the Good Food Movement has forged ahead, including some progress made in the last farm bill. This movement has created more opportunities to support and promote family farm agriculture. But without meaningful action now on farm policy, those gains and more will be lost. Without better farm policies, family farmers will not have the chance to compete in a fair marketplace and earn a living. Conservation programs, so crucial in a changing climate, will be compromised. New and beginning farmers will lose access to the credit, resources and land they need to start their farm businesses. Programs for underserved farmers will disappear. Innovations happening right now on the farm to grow renewable energy will be lost. And industrial ag stands to win if efforts to reform wasteful farm subsidy programs are ignored.

Today, as the minutes tick down to another farm bill deadline, people in towns and cities everywhere are taking matters into their own hands. They're standing up with family farmers and insisting on food that is best for them and their families. They're seeking out food from family farms at farmers markets, grocery stores and restaurants. They are organizing to change the food served in schools, hospitals and public institutions. They're making their voice heard and voting for family farm food every way they can.

Our message is hard to miss. America needs family farmers. Congress, can you hear us?

2013 Willie Nelson




Willie Nelson

 

[nittygrittydirtdigger]

We're trying hard to become "family farmers" here on our four acres. It's not a lot of land, but we have been able to get some good fruits and veggies, and we grew enough to give away food this year to people who needed it.

 

[baymule]

I would love to be a farm family, but I grow as much as I can on my small city lot. I have my chickens in the back yard and people are eager to buy the eggs. It winds up paying for their feed. I buy beef from a friend who has cows. I split the beef with another friend, so together, we help support a farm. Yes, we need more family farms.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

(Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

 

[bobm]

I own 20 acres on the east side of the Central Valley of Cal. . Historically, this area has been open range land for cattle since the 1860's. This is a high and dry ( 6-9 inches of rainfall per year from Nov.- March) desert type of environment with a hardpan just beneath the surface. Also there are thousands of acres where there is so much salt in the well water that it is undrinkable. Most of the wells produce only about 4 gals. of water / min. ... just enough water for the household use, and maybe a sparse garden if one is lucky. As they say " just add water, and the desert will bloom". Well that and dynamite and deep rip plows to break up the hardpan, and dams in the mountains with irrigation canals to deliver the snow melt water. So they did and the desert bloomed. Enter the do good environmentalists that filed a federal law suit to restore the flow to the San Juaquin River ( that has been dry for over 70 years. The result ... if one could drill new irrigation wells that produced enough water to irrigate thousands of acres of orange, lemon, nut, row crops, alfalfa, dairies, and pastures or one stayed in business otherwise the land is fallow or growing more houses to create more suburbia. The lot sizes are so small and the HO Associations limit one's abilities to even have an edible garden. This irrigation water allowed the lands to produce enough food to feed the masses here at home as well as exporting worth MILLIONS of $$$s. I and all of my neighbors do not get enough water from our wells to produce enough edible crops other than to supply about 1/2 of our vegetables and some fruit. So, just how am I supposed to produce any surplus crops to have a profitable family farm. I suppose in my dreams ! I had successfully been breeding horses for 37 years, but this river water flow restoration caused my feed prices ( I purchased over 100 tons of alfalfa and 30 tons of corn, oats and barley) to double and triple. Then the doo good animal rights group caused the ban to slaughter horses in the US. This caused a drastic drop in horse values and then thousands of horses to be abandoned onto private as well as public lands. This was enough to put me out of business. Oh, now we have to pay for feeding the thousands of the so called "mustangs" now residing at the BLM holding corrals. So, pardon me for not being impressed with Willie and his type of wishful thinking do good crowd.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

I own 20 acres on the east side of the Central Valley of Cal. . Historically, this area has been open range land for cattle since the 1860's. This is a high and dry ( 6-9 inches of rainfall per year from Nov.- March) desert type of environment with a hardpan just beneath the surface. Also there are thousands of acres where there is so much salt in the well water that it is undrinkable. Most of the wells produce only about 4 gals. of water / min. ... just enough water for the household use, and maybe a sparse garden if one is lucky. As they say " just add water, and the desert will bloom". Well that and dynamite and deep rip plows to break up the hardpan, and dams in the mountains with irrigation canals to deliver the snow melt water. So they did and the desert bloomed. Enter the do good environmentalists that filed a federal law suit to restore the flow to the San Juaquin River ( that has been dry for over 70 years. The result ... if one could drill new irrigation wells that produced enough water to irrigate thousands of acres of orange, lemon, nut, row crops, alfalfa, dairies, and pastures or one stayed in business otherwise the land is fallow or growing more houses to create more suburbia. The lot sizes are so small and the HO Associations limit one's abilities to even have an edible garden. This irrigation water allowed the lands to produce enough food to feed the masses here at home as well as exporting worth MILLIONS of $$$s. I and all of my neighbors do not get enough water from our wells to produce enough edible crops other than to supply about 1/2 of our vegetables and some fruit. So, just how am I supposed to produce any surplus crops to have a profitable family farm. I suppose in my dreams ! I had successfully been breeding horses for 37 years, but this river water flow restoration caused my feed prices ( I purchased over 100 tons of alfalfa and 30 tons of corn, oats and barley) to double and triple. Then the doo good animal rights group caused the ban to slaughter horses in the US. This caused a drastic drop in horse values and then thousands of horses to be abandoned onto private as well as public lands. This was enough to put me out of business. Oh, now we have to pay for feeding the thousands of the so called "mustangs" now residing at the BLM holding corrals. So, pardon me for not being impressed with Willie and his type of wishful thinking do good crowd.

I dont know what to tell to you. But I do understand you anger. I hope you and your neighbors and friends keep up the good fight.
Your story sounds like your water resources have been privatized. It may sound like environmentalist.and I am not giving them a free pass.However privateers are good at giving themselves grass-root sounding names. We just call them Astroturf organizations.

You may want to check this out. Water is just one of OUR resources that are being privatized in this country.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/24-1

 

[bobm]

Well hawke please take note ... if by privatized you can say so... it is called the water flows to the Pacific Ocean that is known far and wide as a major consumer of river water and doesn't want to share it with you and me. One of my son's father in law is a lawyer who owns a law firm that specializes in water rights. His firm worked on that case. So you can bet your bottom dollar that these do gooder environmentalists that are h*** bent to destroy the larger family and family corporate farms are indeed the culprits. Just who are they taking their marching orders from? A friend used to grow 800 acres of grapes and relied on the canal water has been reduced to 100 acres for producing grapes with water from his own irrigation well. He pulled out the vines on the other 700 acres which now can only grow winter wheat that depends on the big sprinkler in the sky. His income has been reduced to 1/10th . He used to employ 7 full time people, now only himself and one part time laborer and seasonal farm laborers and almost all are illegals. Many productive farms are now reverting to tumbleweeds. Just 30 miles South of my ranch is Tulare County. There, they produce more milk than the entire State of Wisconsin . The average family dairy is 1,700 cows and each on over 1,000+/- acres of corn and alfalfa and still have to buy additional feed . Just about every one of their cows produces 2x +/- more milk due to much better genetics than any single family cow farm and each of these cows produces milk at about half the cost as the single cow farm operation. So how on this green earth can anyone with a single cow on a very small family farm provide for enough milk, and milk products such as cheese and yogurt to supply the needs of any average suburban / city people and their children. I provided income to one equine Veterinarian ( now he moved out of state and treats dogs and cats) , 2 farm laborers, a horse trainer ( no longer training horses and is unemployed) , alfalfa growers by buying over 100 tons as well as 30 tons of corn, wheat, and oats. Today, I am not able to due to this type of VERY ILL ADVISED do gooder groups. My 20 acre small family farm now is reverting to tumbleweeds as it can no longer be a viable operation. How am I able to compete on any sale when the BLM is selling all of the feral horses or so called "mustangs"for $ 25 each just to get rid of them and only a small fraction are actually being sold and we all are stuck with the feed bill for thousands of unwanted horses. If one can buy a horse for $25, why oh why are the bleeding heart rescue groups charge rescue fees of $100 +++ for each mongrel dog and cat that they got for free and still demand donations from the public , as well as the city and county ( here they want to charge $ 350 + the $100+++ rescue fee for each dog and cat that they " rescue" ) ? I have been trying to sell my property ( lost 2/3 of it's former value) for the past 5 years to no avail and still my property taxes have risen. There isn't enough available productive land nor people to support the do gooders idealistic ideas. I hope that you and those like you wake up real soon and face the damage that is caused by the do gooders to realities of life but are unwilling to pay for it themselves. Where do I send my bill ( as well as all the rest of the people negatively affected ) for my losses to ?

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

We used to live in the suburbs and eventually got interested in having a little farm. We now live here on a rented 10 acres or so, with a cr@ppy landowner. We have a flock of a little over 100 birds. Most of them are ducks but we do have chickens and geese mixed in there. We use them for meat and eggs. We give some meat to our neighbors, sell some of the eggs. The rest of it gos into feeding the family. We also have a 1 1/2 acre garden that has really not done good this year, so anything that we did get went towards feeding us. We have plans to move next year to a larger peice of property we can call our own. We also have big ideas about fruit and nut orchards, a larger garden, and goats and long cattle, to name a few. So I guess you could say that we have something started.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

bobm, I read you first post and quickly scanned through your second. I am not sure exactly what I should say. I agree with you that corporate farms are putting down small farmers. There doing it all over the place. Over here it is illegal to sell raw milk, I think it is in most states. But I have heard stories about hole farms being shut down and houses invaded, just because they sold raw milk to someone, they say it is unhealthy when it is completely fine. Another farmer in Michigan lost everything he had because Monsanto sued him, just because his organic soybeans crossed with Monsanto's patented soybeans. I could wright a book about stories like this. I bet that I'm actually on their watch list. The only other thing that I guess that I can say is, risk is a larger part of farming and ranching than ever before, it's just part of the job. Keep up the fight and good luck!

 

[Ladyhawke1]

I am not going to comment because sometimes people here get mad at me. However, I am going to recommend a book for those who are interested and who are not afraid of reading such material.

Much of the U.S. Constitution is based on the Iroquois Confederacy.. From the book by Tom Hartmann

http://www.amazon.com/Screwed-Undec...80244216&sr=1-1&keywords=Screwed+tom+hartmann