How many go to buy their weekly, or monthly, groceries and think about the local farmer? Or after paying for those groceries, you cuss the farmer because of the “high prices of your food”?
Thanks Daniel. As you know I AM a farmer . We are now just a small farm -still raise most we need, organically, cook from scratch, and trade with other locals . I do shop some things at the grocery store, but few.
It’s a chosen lifestyle.
Kids are grown , gone to seek their fortunes...and ‘done well’. We give thanks .Great work ethics. And, though they love to come home and visit they’re ......not.going.to.farm!
The plight of the farmer has been like this for DECADES. And why the numbers of farms -what used to be - are near gone. Even the big agri systems struggle now.
Nice article , good footwork, thanks again Daniel.
Patricia, the farmer is a ‘rare breed’! You are living exactly how I lived fern I was young and living/working on the farm with my parents. Yes, it’s a ‘calling’ that are for a select few, and that few is decreasing every year. It seems the constant search for “big money” by those that don’t understand farming, or care about the farmers, overtakes the greed. Thus we have good farmland converted into concrete jungles.
Someday, people in this country will realize that you can’t eat concrete. And, without the USDA, and the extremely strict rules they have on growing produce, raising animals for human consumption, as well as the strictness of goods imported from other countries, food we eat is the best in the world. But, if the farms disappear, we will be depending more and more on imported food products. Then, you will see the cost of food skyrocket, all thanks to what Trump did when he was in office with the trade embargoes, cancelling the trade agreements with every country we had agreements with, and refusing to allow any imported goods, foods, into this country.
I must refute that last paragraph. Unless it’s certified organic, it’s toxic. We have RoundUp in our bladders as we keystroke this.
Do USDA does a terrible job at policing our food supply. They are nothing but a corporate rubberstamp. GMO corn and soy beans along with it’s necessary pesticides are killing us, and the other life on planet.
Here again, Hudson, I’m going to respectfully disagree. Tom Vilsack has done more to square away USDA than any other Agriculture Secretary we’ve had, I believe. He was there during the Obama administration and returned when Biden took office. During the serious budget cuts of the Obama administration he was snjecti cut the staff of the offices across the country, and was forced to close some offices that overlapped in territory coverage, which in essence doubled up the work of the agents in the nearby offices that were remaining operational. But, he made the cuts he had to and gut things squared away with the inspections, investigations, as well as the science departments.
Vilsack was als responsible fur upgrading the inspections to cover everything, including all incoming as well as outgoing shipments. Incoming were upgraded to include dogs going over the cargo as soon as it Dave off the ship. These dogs were trained to smell out everything from critters to drugs. Some could even smell unlawful vegetables, plants, a lot of different things.
Oh, after Vilsack made these changes, things were a lot different than they were before. Arrests were made. Inspections uncovered a lot of farmers that were violating laws with sprays, and a lot if different things. And yes, even the use of Round Up, which if memory serves me, is illegal to use within so many days of harvest.
Rules on harvesting changed, cleaning the produce after harvest. Even rules were developed to cover packaging for domestic sale.
So, yes, Hudson, you are correct that the USDA was a terrible department. But you have to understand, under Trump, all he cared about was himself and no one else. That’s why so many quit the department after he did what he did. A lot of things that were supposed to be done weren’t. A hell of a lot if inspections were not completed, but the grocery stores pouched up the slack all they could. You, being an organic farmer, are under as much, if bit more, scrutiny than most. This is because if his you have to grow your produce, feed your animals, everything.
Do you know what the agrabusiness toxic commodity producer has to go through to get certified? Half a day class every two years. Basically it’s wash your hands before you take a piss. I have to keep records of every single product I use and all cultural methods in every field. we should be incentivizing organic, removing ethanol. Stop manipulating the market when it comes to dairy, commodities, re-distribute the 400 billion that currently goes to corporate entities from SNAP to a #FarmToFamily model. One of the most important things we could be doing that are not even broaching the subject is incentivizing the use of industrial hemp. It could replace cotton the most toxic soil depleting crop grown in North America. The tree farming business on public lands mostly. Endless uses. There’s a company making concrete block type units from it that has the ease of Legos with the R 71 insulation value and three times the strength of concrete blocks. No mason required. My girlfriend and I could build a house from the ground up. Also, hemp should be mandated if not organic at least GMO free forever. It does not need synthetic fertilizer or herbicides.
The ongoing experiment that is a major contributor to things like Crohn’s disease and other autoimmune disorders that is the GMO sector should be ended. The ag department like everything else in America besides the weights and measures I heard that’s world-class, is poorly and intentionally directed to benefit the donor class. Not part of the ideal that is America.
I will certainly agree that the Democratic Party is better than the GOP, but that’s an incredibly low bar. It’s a race to the bottom
I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say to that other than none of it is connected to reality. There are no laws concerning sprays other than concoctions that have been banned.
The only cut made to the budget were concerning crop insurance. A loser to the taxpayer as if they aren’t subsidized enough.
It was a $5 billion cut which is barely over 10% of the total budget and a ridiculous part of the program. Simply subsidizing make a farmers on the backs of the taxpayer. I think they receive enough.
I’m sorry it’s barely over one percent of the total budget. Which is almost half a 1 trillion.
I must say sir, claiming that the democratic party offers good government and quality policy is far from the truth. They are beholden to the donor class and just like the GOP. They screw us over with a smile and a bit of grace, the only difference.
I'm sorry thyat you feel this way, Hudson. But, I guess that's why you moved to Portugal. Maybe to not pay taxes, or anythning. It's Okay. Believe me, if this country goes to the likes of Trumpism with his authoritarian dictatorship ways, I'll be moving, or dying, one. I will not live under a dictatorship.
Something else. the Democratic Party is far from perfection, but, we now have a president in office that is trying his best to bring things back for the common people of this country. He, nor the Vice President, were born with silver, gold, or platinum spoons in their mouth. They had to work for what they have and where they are now. That's what I appreciate about them, and the Democratric Party now. If we could weed out some of the stale meat from Congress, it would be a big help.
The best thing that could happen to Americans concerning their dietary intake would be for the agrabusiness model that is toxic from input to product to suffer a complete collapse. It’s a soil killing, life on the planet killing, endeavor.
Yes, and that’s exactly why most people in this country will not work the farms. The work is hard, back aching, work, and the pay sucks “dirty canal water”. Thus, the immigrants come into the picture.
I think if we took these politicians to the farms, gave them a hoe, and had them put 12 or so hours a day for a few months working in the fields, in the rain, hot summer sun, getting paid a shit salary, with little to no benefits, they might change their tune about the border situation, which has actually been going on since before the 50s!
I read somewhere long ago that immigrants came for the season & returned home after the harvest. It was only when the government shut the border that they needed to stay year round (& of course bring their family)
A lot of them stay year round now because they travel with the harvest across the country/states. Most of these have their families here now and have became citizens. Thanks to laws changing like H2A, they became citizens so they could continue working.
In all the funding bills awaiting House action while representatives are feasting on their Thanksgiving meals, is not one related to or rather encompassing Farming subsidies? I certainly hope so, if not yet passed. And I hope consideration is given as well to the immigrants who do the major portion of this manual work considered unseemly by many of our own citizens as unworthy of their efforts. While buying local is well known, it is seasonal so imports must be utilized, if canned, frozen, otherwise preserved. Daniel, you grew up under a barter system, correct? For the most part. I have a former student that is operating very successfully a barter network of many businesses, all kinds actually, very successfully. I think her success as an entrepreneur in this field indicates it is the wave of the future. We have many changes in current lifestyle coming like it or not based on climate change, soil degradation, overpopulation, etc.
Very informative; thank you. Now those photos have made me enormously hungry for my dinner! Happy Holiday to you! You mentioned a caregiver? Yes, I have one of those too but am grateful to be productive here on Substack I hope. ❤️🦃
Judith, one of my very special ladies, thank you for this reply. I will try my best to answer all your questions you have raised.
First, the important question deals with the subsidies for the farmers. Yes, this is called the Farm Bill. It renews every five (5) years. The last renewal was in 2018, which was almost a carryover from 2013. It contained the same subsidies as the 2013 (Obama Farm Bill), but, those subsidies were drastically cut by the Trump Republican Congress. The 2018 Farm Bill is one of the worst ever written for our farmers.
The Farm Bill is comprised of many, many, parts. Each subsidiary part has to be discussed, and voted on, and passed, by the House Agricultural Committee. After each is discussed, written, passed, it goes to the House floor for the vote. Then it goes to the Senate and everything starts over with their Agriculture Committee and floor votes.
In 2018, with Trump in the White House, and a total Republican controlled Congress, Trump had his way about everything, as we all know. Well, the Farm Bill was no different. He had all subsidies cut drastically. Trade eliminated, and a lot of other cuts. He put just about 40% of this nations farmers into bankruptcy, losing their farms, livelihood, and a lot lost their families at the same time.
If you think back, there was a time when you went to the grocery stores and a lot of items you normally could buy were not on the shelves. The shelves had a lot less than normal of food items. This is because the farmers were unable to ship/trade their produce, animals, meat, nothing, overseas or even to Canada or Mexico.
The same time, we were not receiving anything from any of the countries we normally received any farm goods from. All imports were stopped. All exports were stopped. There was millions of tons of food literally dumped into the oceans around the world, and off our coast, that was on ships because they were not allowed to offload their loads. Same with the animals. As they starved and died, they too were dumped into the oceans. These ships only can carry enough feed for these animals to be fed so many days. After that, they starve.
Anyway, back to the Farm Bill. Right now, under the current House of Representatives, with it under Republican control and leadership, nothing has been discussed within the Agriculture Committee like it has supposed to have been. Things are way behind, as you well know. As a matter of fact, the Agriculture Committee has just voted to extend the 2018 Farm Bill until after Christmas break. Honestly, I don’t look for this Farm Bill to get completed until after the next election. Then, hopefully, we can put a Democratic controlled House of Representatives and Senate together that will get shit 💩 done!
The immigration issue is bad. The Republicans are trying to make people believe that millions are crossing the border monthly, and it’s not even close. Yes, we have immigrants crossing the borders, especially the Rio Grande River. But, it’s not the totals they are making it out to be. Is it leading to issues? Yes, because we have a faction of our government (Trumputin’s GQP Party) that doesn’t want ANY immigrants in this country. I’ve said this before in numerous writings, I’ll say this again.
“I wish we could get these politicians in the Florida, groves, ranches, and put the tools in their hands these immigrants use to do the labor on all of our agricultural lands that not one single white, or color, American will do, especially for the pay these immigrants are extremely happy to receive to do the work, and the hours per day they have to put in to earn that pay.”
Judith, this is an issue I have an extremely bad taste in my mouth about. What these Republicans (Trumputin GQPers) are trying to do is unconscionable!
As for the people buying local. This is what I’ve done for decades. I have been promoting it since I began doing this, and promoting for more and more people to get out and meet their local farmers. They might be really surprised what they’ll learn!
Even after my late wife and I moved here to Georgia to live with our youngest daughter and her family. We looked up a local outlets to get all our fruits, vegetables, meats, honey, nuts, everything that we could buy that is Georgia grown and produced, and sold directly by the farmers. I even went online to get pecans straight from the farmers, packing houses, and the like.
Yes, I was raised in a farming family that did a lot of bartering. As I told in my write up. My dad bartered with all the other farmers so we could take home almost everything we needed and not have to buy at the grocery store.
I’m really glad to hear that the bartering system is coming back. But, I truly don’t know how that will work for the elderly, disabled, or folks like me that live in a damned hospital bed and are totally broke.
I hope you have a very good Thanksgiving, Judith, as I wish all my friends here on Substack to have a great Thanksgiving with their families. I’m totally alone now, and I’ll be right here lying in this bed watching my college football on tv!
Trumps Farm bill was no different than the democratic parties. There were no subsidies cut. The entire industrial agrabusiness system is one gigantic subsidy. Most of it going to corporations and a few wealthy landowners. We need a nationally mandated #FarmToSchool breakfast and lunch, and following that same model a #FarmToFamily SNAP program.
SNAP Which is 80% of the department of agriculture budget and soil conservation programs are the only two things that should be kept. The ethanol industry should be left to its own devices to go bankrupt and all deficiency payments, and other price supports removed.
Hudson, I greatly appreciate all of your commenting. Especially when it deals with agriculture. I feel like I’m getting first hand information right from a source.
This being said, I’m going to respectfully disagree with you on the 2018 Farm Bill. It was different than the one written prior to that by the Obama Administration.
If you’ll think back, when Frumpy took office he immediately did away with everything that Obama had done. Everything. That included the Farm Bill. He also abolished all of the trade agreements we had with every country in the world. He pulled us out of NATO, and other peace treaty groups/organizations that we have been member of for decades.
This move seriously affected not only the agricultural industry but every industry that shipped goods overseas. A tremendous number of farmers lost everything over that stunt, as well as a lot of small businesses. And, when he did away with the Gatm Bill for that short time, no farmers received a damn cent to cover their losses. Not even the ‘mega-farmers’ as I call them.
Thanks, Diane! My caregiver took me out for dinner today, and in the restaurant I overheard a group talking about the cost of the food, then their conversation went to the cost of groceries. One of the men at the table made the mention about “if those damn farmers weren’t pushing to make a million dollars on every vegetable they pull off the plant, we could afford groceries.”
All the while he’s stuffing his face with a t-bone, baked potato, green beans and drinking tea.
I couldn’t resist myself! I had to turn around and explain to this idiot exactly what the farmers made off of the $35.00 plate of food he was cussing them over. Then I explained to in him, and his friends, what it actually cost those same farmers to produce that food.
Holy crap! I honestly had no idea. Thanks for publishing this information and I hope it does something somewhere to steer this to the direction it really belongs - the farmers!
Victoria, I greatly appreciate your comment. But, reality is this. IF the farmers ever were to make what was needed to be made to earn a decent living, without federal subsidies to survive on, then the American people would be really upset because food then would cost about 100 times more than it does now in the stores.
If the farmers were to make what they should, then the processors, sales people, merchandisers, advertisers, all would up their prices to add even more to the cost of that food.
Right now, when a farmer sells a cow for butcher, he’s getting, as of last Friday, less than $0.45 per pound, on the hoof. That cow goes to the butcher, and every single part of the animal is utilized. Everything. Nothing is discarded now like it was years ago. So the butcher makes his money when he sells everything.
The meat, depending on the cut, is sold to the public in his shop. If you go to your local butcher shop and buy a Porter House steak, 2 pounds. You will pay that butcher about $40.00 for that meat. He bought it for less than $1.00!
Think about that when you go to the grocery store next time.
These grocery stores buy their meat at the market on the hoof. They then send it to their processor and have it processed. Then it’s sent to the respective stores. Here again, none of the animal is wasted. Everything is either packaged for resale in their stores, or sent to other processing plants for further processing, or sold to other vendors for their processing and use.
A real farmer produces food. Not a commodity. Today’s toxic from input to product industrial agrabusiness model is killing the soil and the people who consume its products.
I agree. The farmers are pushed now to having to iridude so much, so fast, they dint have the time to do proper crop rotation, cover crops to put nutrients back into the soil. Nothing. Everything is having to be fine using fertilizers, chemicals, the like. That’s why I try to buy organic, when I can afford it. It’s a lot more expensive to buy that than the other.
Yes!!! your local farmers market is the best bet for vegetables and fruit depending on where you live. As far as meat protein, I would find partners and purchase local. Freezer space is an issue.
My grandparents farmed.When I was a kid ,they milked cows(Holsteins), had chickens, and pigs as well as work horses. They also had black angus beef cattle. My cousin still lives on the farm. These days he rents out most of the land , only farming about 40 acres. I still remember the time my grandpa killed a chicken for dinner.
Yes, that’s the way it was on the farm back then as well as today. We ate what we grew. Many a week my dad killed and butchered a cow for meat for home, as well as bartering with other farmers for the milk, butter, and other food items we needed. He always kept back enough meat from that cow for us too. Same went for the vegetables. We harvested the crops, bartered some, kept some for our own food pantry, and the rest went to the market to sell.
I liked it better when more farmers had animals. You didn’t have the horrible smell that these large pig and turkey farms give off. There was more diversity in crops. I don’t even remember my grandpa raising soybeans, but he did have wheat,oats,corn,and alfalfa.
True. But, again speaking for the farmers. When these large poultry, ranch, and assorted farm operations were built, way out in the country, there wasn’t anything for miles and miles. Open country, farmland. But, over time, it’s turned to concrete.
One day we will be trying to eat concrete because there will be no food. Not American grown anyway.
Soy beans did not become a viable cash crop until the late 50s early 60s. If grown before that it was cut as hay. Think about the time that margarine replaced butter. It’s also used as a protein enhancement for animal feed. A poor one as it has a Trippps in inhibitor that chemically binds 30% of its 44% protein until it is heated to one hour and 65°. When it is crashed the oil goes to human use and the meal to animals. All around poor practice. Peas are the non-meat and dairy vegetable protein of choice.
soybeans, just didn’t remember the details anymore. I think when I read an article about using them to produce ethanol it mentioned using the byproduct solids as animal feed.
Ethanol is made from corn. GMO corn. Poisoning the planet and its residents to use more energy than it produces. It takes 5 quarts of gasoline to make 1 gallon of ethanol. It’s nothing more than a corn grower big ag subsidy.
Soy oil is used in a variety of food stuff. Human food. Some years I produce over 50% of my diesel fuel needs from my own soy. It all depends on rotation and the availability of human food grade soy bean contracts. Such as soy milk.
Actually, Bayjh, farmers still use the “bartering system” even to thus day amongst themselves.
But, I agree with you. I think that if people used the “bartering system” more then there wouldn’t be so much unemployment, and everyone would be in a more equal platform with everyone else.
Thanks Daniel. As you know I AM a farmer . We are now just a small farm -still raise most we need, organically, cook from scratch, and trade with other locals . I do shop some things at the grocery store, but few.
It’s a chosen lifestyle.
Kids are grown , gone to seek their fortunes...and ‘done well’. We give thanks .Great work ethics. And, though they love to come home and visit they’re ......not.going.to.farm!
The plight of the farmer has been like this for DECADES. And why the numbers of farms -what used to be - are near gone. Even the big agri systems struggle now.
Nice article , good footwork, thanks again Daniel.
Patricia, the farmer is a ‘rare breed’! You are living exactly how I lived fern I was young and living/working on the farm with my parents. Yes, it’s a ‘calling’ that are for a select few, and that few is decreasing every year. It seems the constant search for “big money” by those that don’t understand farming, or care about the farmers, overtakes the greed. Thus we have good farmland converted into concrete jungles.
Someday, people in this country will realize that you can’t eat concrete. And, without the USDA, and the extremely strict rules they have on growing produce, raising animals for human consumption, as well as the strictness of goods imported from other countries, food we eat is the best in the world. But, if the farms disappear, we will be depending more and more on imported food products. Then, you will see the cost of food skyrocket, all thanks to what Trump did when he was in office with the trade embargoes, cancelling the trade agreements with every country we had agreements with, and refusing to allow any imported goods, foods, into this country.
I must refute that last paragraph. Unless it’s certified organic, it’s toxic. We have RoundUp in our bladders as we keystroke this.
Do USDA does a terrible job at policing our food supply. They are nothing but a corporate rubberstamp. GMO corn and soy beans along with it’s necessary pesticides are killing us, and the other life on planet.
Here again, Hudson, I’m going to respectfully disagree. Tom Vilsack has done more to square away USDA than any other Agriculture Secretary we’ve had, I believe. He was there during the Obama administration and returned when Biden took office. During the serious budget cuts of the Obama administration he was snjecti cut the staff of the offices across the country, and was forced to close some offices that overlapped in territory coverage, which in essence doubled up the work of the agents in the nearby offices that were remaining operational. But, he made the cuts he had to and gut things squared away with the inspections, investigations, as well as the science departments.
Vilsack was als responsible fur upgrading the inspections to cover everything, including all incoming as well as outgoing shipments. Incoming were upgraded to include dogs going over the cargo as soon as it Dave off the ship. These dogs were trained to smell out everything from critters to drugs. Some could even smell unlawful vegetables, plants, a lot of different things.
Oh, after Vilsack made these changes, things were a lot different than they were before. Arrests were made. Inspections uncovered a lot of farmers that were violating laws with sprays, and a lot if different things. And yes, even the use of Round Up, which if memory serves me, is illegal to use within so many days of harvest.
Rules on harvesting changed, cleaning the produce after harvest. Even rules were developed to cover packaging for domestic sale.
So, yes, Hudson, you are correct that the USDA was a terrible department. But you have to understand, under Trump, all he cared about was himself and no one else. That’s why so many quit the department after he did what he did. A lot of things that were supposed to be done weren’t. A hell of a lot if inspections were not completed, but the grocery stores pouched up the slack all they could. You, being an organic farmer, are under as much, if bit more, scrutiny than most. This is because if his you have to grow your produce, feed your animals, everything.
Do you know what the agrabusiness toxic commodity producer has to go through to get certified? Half a day class every two years. Basically it’s wash your hands before you take a piss. I have to keep records of every single product I use and all cultural methods in every field. we should be incentivizing organic, removing ethanol. Stop manipulating the market when it comes to dairy, commodities, re-distribute the 400 billion that currently goes to corporate entities from SNAP to a #FarmToFamily model. One of the most important things we could be doing that are not even broaching the subject is incentivizing the use of industrial hemp. It could replace cotton the most toxic soil depleting crop grown in North America. The tree farming business on public lands mostly. Endless uses. There’s a company making concrete block type units from it that has the ease of Legos with the R 71 insulation value and three times the strength of concrete blocks. No mason required. My girlfriend and I could build a house from the ground up. Also, hemp should be mandated if not organic at least GMO free forever. It does not need synthetic fertilizer or herbicides.
The ongoing experiment that is a major contributor to things like Crohn’s disease and other autoimmune disorders that is the GMO sector should be ended. The ag department like everything else in America besides the weights and measures I heard that’s world-class, is poorly and intentionally directed to benefit the donor class. Not part of the ideal that is America.
I will certainly agree that the Democratic Party is better than the GOP, but that’s an incredibly low bar. It’s a race to the bottom
I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say to that other than none of it is connected to reality. There are no laws concerning sprays other than concoctions that have been banned.
The only cut made to the budget were concerning crop insurance. A loser to the taxpayer as if they aren’t subsidized enough.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/08/us/politics/farm-bill.html#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20most%20contentious,only%20when%20they%20need%20it.
It was a $5 billion cut which is barely over 10% of the total budget and a ridiculous part of the program. Simply subsidizing make a farmers on the backs of the taxpayer. I think they receive enough.
I’m sorry it’s barely over one percent of the total budget. Which is almost half a 1 trillion.
I must say sir, claiming that the democratic party offers good government and quality policy is far from the truth. They are beholden to the donor class and just like the GOP. They screw us over with a smile and a bit of grace, the only difference.
I'm sorry thyat you feel this way, Hudson. But, I guess that's why you moved to Portugal. Maybe to not pay taxes, or anythning. It's Okay. Believe me, if this country goes to the likes of Trumpism with his authoritarian dictatorship ways, I'll be moving, or dying, one. I will not live under a dictatorship.
Something else. the Democratic Party is far from perfection, but, we now have a president in office that is trying his best to bring things back for the common people of this country. He, nor the Vice President, were born with silver, gold, or platinum spoons in their mouth. They had to work for what they have and where they are now. That's what I appreciate about them, and the Democratric Party now. If we could weed out some of the stale meat from Congress, it would be a big help.
The best thing that could happen to Americans concerning their dietary intake would be for the agrabusiness model that is toxic from input to product to suffer a complete collapse. It’s a soil killing, life on the planet killing, endeavor.
They produce toxic commodities, not food.
This should be published.
I attached the links at the bottom where I got these figures. They are current figures from USDA.
It’s eye opening. The hard work of maintaining and working on family farms is unknown by most (including me) and under appreciated.
Yes, and that’s exactly why most people in this country will not work the farms. The work is hard, back aching, work, and the pay sucks “dirty canal water”. Thus, the immigrants come into the picture.
I think if we took these politicians to the farms, gave them a hoe, and had them put 12 or so hours a day for a few months working in the fields, in the rain, hot summer sun, getting paid a shit salary, with little to no benefits, they might change their tune about the border situation, which has actually been going on since before the 50s!
I read somewhere long ago that immigrants came for the season & returned home after the harvest. It was only when the government shut the border that they needed to stay year round (& of course bring their family)
A lot of them stay year round now because they travel with the harvest across the country/states. Most of these have their families here now and have became citizens. Thanks to laws changing like H2A, they became citizens so they could continue working.
Yes, that was my point. They stay year round because if they go back, there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to come the next year. So they stayed.
I think you’re right.
In all the funding bills awaiting House action while representatives are feasting on their Thanksgiving meals, is not one related to or rather encompassing Farming subsidies? I certainly hope so, if not yet passed. And I hope consideration is given as well to the immigrants who do the major portion of this manual work considered unseemly by many of our own citizens as unworthy of their efforts. While buying local is well known, it is seasonal so imports must be utilized, if canned, frozen, otherwise preserved. Daniel, you grew up under a barter system, correct? For the most part. I have a former student that is operating very successfully a barter network of many businesses, all kinds actually, very successfully. I think her success as an entrepreneur in this field indicates it is the wave of the future. We have many changes in current lifestyle coming like it or not based on climate change, soil degradation, overpopulation, etc.
Very informative; thank you. Now those photos have made me enormously hungry for my dinner! Happy Holiday to you! You mentioned a caregiver? Yes, I have one of those too but am grateful to be productive here on Substack I hope. ❤️🦃
Judith, one of my very special ladies, thank you for this reply. I will try my best to answer all your questions you have raised.
First, the important question deals with the subsidies for the farmers. Yes, this is called the Farm Bill. It renews every five (5) years. The last renewal was in 2018, which was almost a carryover from 2013. It contained the same subsidies as the 2013 (Obama Farm Bill), but, those subsidies were drastically cut by the Trump Republican Congress. The 2018 Farm Bill is one of the worst ever written for our farmers.
The Farm Bill is comprised of many, many, parts. Each subsidiary part has to be discussed, and voted on, and passed, by the House Agricultural Committee. After each is discussed, written, passed, it goes to the House floor for the vote. Then it goes to the Senate and everything starts over with their Agriculture Committee and floor votes.
In 2018, with Trump in the White House, and a total Republican controlled Congress, Trump had his way about everything, as we all know. Well, the Farm Bill was no different. He had all subsidies cut drastically. Trade eliminated, and a lot of other cuts. He put just about 40% of this nations farmers into bankruptcy, losing their farms, livelihood, and a lot lost their families at the same time.
If you think back, there was a time when you went to the grocery stores and a lot of items you normally could buy were not on the shelves. The shelves had a lot less than normal of food items. This is because the farmers were unable to ship/trade their produce, animals, meat, nothing, overseas or even to Canada or Mexico.
The same time, we were not receiving anything from any of the countries we normally received any farm goods from. All imports were stopped. All exports were stopped. There was millions of tons of food literally dumped into the oceans around the world, and off our coast, that was on ships because they were not allowed to offload their loads. Same with the animals. As they starved and died, they too were dumped into the oceans. These ships only can carry enough feed for these animals to be fed so many days. After that, they starve.
Anyway, back to the Farm Bill. Right now, under the current House of Representatives, with it under Republican control and leadership, nothing has been discussed within the Agriculture Committee like it has supposed to have been. Things are way behind, as you well know. As a matter of fact, the Agriculture Committee has just voted to extend the 2018 Farm Bill until after Christmas break. Honestly, I don’t look for this Farm Bill to get completed until after the next election. Then, hopefully, we can put a Democratic controlled House of Representatives and Senate together that will get shit 💩 done!
The immigration issue is bad. The Republicans are trying to make people believe that millions are crossing the border monthly, and it’s not even close. Yes, we have immigrants crossing the borders, especially the Rio Grande River. But, it’s not the totals they are making it out to be. Is it leading to issues? Yes, because we have a faction of our government (Trumputin’s GQP Party) that doesn’t want ANY immigrants in this country. I’ve said this before in numerous writings, I’ll say this again.
“I wish we could get these politicians in the Florida, groves, ranches, and put the tools in their hands these immigrants use to do the labor on all of our agricultural lands that not one single white, or color, American will do, especially for the pay these immigrants are extremely happy to receive to do the work, and the hours per day they have to put in to earn that pay.”
Judith, this is an issue I have an extremely bad taste in my mouth about. What these Republicans (Trumputin GQPers) are trying to do is unconscionable!
As for the people buying local. This is what I’ve done for decades. I have been promoting it since I began doing this, and promoting for more and more people to get out and meet their local farmers. They might be really surprised what they’ll learn!
Even after my late wife and I moved here to Georgia to live with our youngest daughter and her family. We looked up a local outlets to get all our fruits, vegetables, meats, honey, nuts, everything that we could buy that is Georgia grown and produced, and sold directly by the farmers. I even went online to get pecans straight from the farmers, packing houses, and the like.
Yes, I was raised in a farming family that did a lot of bartering. As I told in my write up. My dad bartered with all the other farmers so we could take home almost everything we needed and not have to buy at the grocery store.
I’m really glad to hear that the bartering system is coming back. But, I truly don’t know how that will work for the elderly, disabled, or folks like me that live in a damned hospital bed and are totally broke.
I hope you have a very good Thanksgiving, Judith, as I wish all my friends here on Substack to have a great Thanksgiving with their families. I’m totally alone now, and I’ll be right here lying in this bed watching my college football on tv!
Trumps Farm bill was no different than the democratic parties. There were no subsidies cut. The entire industrial agrabusiness system is one gigantic subsidy. Most of it going to corporations and a few wealthy landowners. We need a nationally mandated #FarmToSchool breakfast and lunch, and following that same model a #FarmToFamily SNAP program.
SNAP Which is 80% of the department of agriculture budget and soil conservation programs are the only two things that should be kept. The ethanol industry should be left to its own devices to go bankrupt and all deficiency payments, and other price supports removed.
Hudson, I greatly appreciate all of your commenting. Especially when it deals with agriculture. I feel like I’m getting first hand information right from a source.
This being said, I’m going to respectfully disagree with you on the 2018 Farm Bill. It was different than the one written prior to that by the Obama Administration.
If you’ll think back, when Frumpy took office he immediately did away with everything that Obama had done. Everything. That included the Farm Bill. He also abolished all of the trade agreements we had with every country in the world. He pulled us out of NATO, and other peace treaty groups/organizations that we have been member of for decades.
This move seriously affected not only the agricultural industry but every industry that shipped goods overseas. A tremendous number of farmers lost everything over that stunt, as well as a lot of small businesses. And, when he did away with the Gatm Bill for that short time, no farmers received a damn cent to cover their losses. Not even the ‘mega-farmers’ as I call them.
Excellent and eye-opening!
Thanks, Diane! My caregiver took me out for dinner today, and in the restaurant I overheard a group talking about the cost of the food, then their conversation went to the cost of groceries. One of the men at the table made the mention about “if those damn farmers weren’t pushing to make a million dollars on every vegetable they pull off the plant, we could afford groceries.”
All the while he’s stuffing his face with a t-bone, baked potato, green beans and drinking tea.
I couldn’t resist myself! I had to turn around and explain to this idiot exactly what the farmers made off of the $35.00 plate of food he was cussing them over. Then I explained to in him, and his friends, what it actually cost those same farmers to produce that food.
He shut his face after that!
Bravo
Holy crap! I honestly had no idea. Thanks for publishing this information and I hope it does something somewhere to steer this to the direction it really belongs - the farmers!
Victoria, I greatly appreciate your comment. But, reality is this. IF the farmers ever were to make what was needed to be made to earn a decent living, without federal subsidies to survive on, then the American people would be really upset because food then would cost about 100 times more than it does now in the stores.
If the farmers were to make what they should, then the processors, sales people, merchandisers, advertisers, all would up their prices to add even more to the cost of that food.
Right now, when a farmer sells a cow for butcher, he’s getting, as of last Friday, less than $0.45 per pound, on the hoof. That cow goes to the butcher, and every single part of the animal is utilized. Everything. Nothing is discarded now like it was years ago. So the butcher makes his money when he sells everything.
The meat, depending on the cut, is sold to the public in his shop. If you go to your local butcher shop and buy a Porter House steak, 2 pounds. You will pay that butcher about $40.00 for that meat. He bought it for less than $1.00!
Think about that when you go to the grocery store next time.
These grocery stores buy their meat at the market on the hoof. They then send it to their processor and have it processed. Then it’s sent to the respective stores. Here again, none of the animal is wasted. Everything is either packaged for resale in their stores, or sent to other processing plants for further processing, or sold to other vendors for their processing and use.
Food for thought!
A real farmer produces food. Not a commodity. Today’s toxic from input to product industrial agrabusiness model is killing the soil and the people who consume its products.
I agree. The farmers are pushed now to having to iridude so much, so fast, they dint have the time to do proper crop rotation, cover crops to put nutrients back into the soil. Nothing. Everything is having to be fine using fertilizers, chemicals, the like. That’s why I try to buy organic, when I can afford it. It’s a lot more expensive to buy that than the other.
Yes!!! your local farmers market is the best bet for vegetables and fruit depending on where you live. As far as meat protein, I would find partners and purchase local. Freezer space is an issue.
Go to https://www.localharvest.org and find a family farmer near you.
Thanks, Hudson. I visit some of these already. I’m glad you sent me this link!
My grandparents farmed.When I was a kid ,they milked cows(Holsteins), had chickens, and pigs as well as work horses. They also had black angus beef cattle. My cousin still lives on the farm. These days he rents out most of the land , only farming about 40 acres. I still remember the time my grandpa killed a chicken for dinner.
Yes, that’s the way it was on the farm back then as well as today. We ate what we grew. Many a week my dad killed and butchered a cow for meat for home, as well as bartering with other farmers for the milk, butter, and other food items we needed. He always kept back enough meat from that cow for us too. Same went for the vegetables. We harvested the crops, bartered some, kept some for our own food pantry, and the rest went to the market to sell.
Survival was the “bartering system”.
I liked it better when more farmers had animals. You didn’t have the horrible smell that these large pig and turkey farms give off. There was more diversity in crops. I don’t even remember my grandpa raising soybeans, but he did have wheat,oats,corn,and alfalfa.
True. But, again speaking for the farmers. When these large poultry, ranch, and assorted farm operations were built, way out in the country, there wasn’t anything for miles and miles. Open country, farmland. But, over time, it’s turned to concrete.
One day we will be trying to eat concrete because there will be no food. Not American grown anyway.
Corporate industrial agrabusiness is bad business. Everything about it. From waste management to product. Again, purchase local.
Soy beans did not become a viable cash crop until the late 50s early 60s. If grown before that it was cut as hay. Think about the time that margarine replaced butter. It’s also used as a protein enhancement for animal feed. A poor one as it has a Trippps in inhibitor that chemically binds 30% of its 44% protein until it is heated to one hour and 65°. When it is crashed the oil goes to human use and the meal to animals. All around poor practice. Peas are the non-meat and dairy vegetable protein of choice.
I had read something in the past about
soybeans, just didn’t remember the details anymore. I think when I read an article about using them to produce ethanol it mentioned using the byproduct solids as animal feed.
Ethanol is made from corn. GMO corn. Poisoning the planet and its residents to use more energy than it produces. It takes 5 quarts of gasoline to make 1 gallon of ethanol. It’s nothing more than a corn grower big ag subsidy.
Soy oil is used in a variety of food stuff. Human food. Some years I produce over 50% of my diesel fuel needs from my own soy. It all depends on rotation and the availability of human food grade soy bean contracts. Such as soy milk.
Doesn’t making ethanol use a lot of water too?
Sorry, my mistake . I knew that, don’t know why my brain glitched.
Bring Back Barter!
Actually, Bayjh, farmers still use the “bartering system” even to thus day amongst themselves.
But, I agree with you. I think that if people used the “bartering system” more then there wouldn’t be so much unemployment, and everyone would be in a more equal platform with everyone else.
Food For Thought!
Thank You Daniel!
Thanks, Mark.