Someone asked me if J.D. Scholten - senate candidate against Joni Ernst and long-time IFU member - is taking money from the Farm Bureau. I see no record of that, but I do see he has accepted donations from the Iowa Corngrowers Association, the Bankers (who are closely aligned with industrial ag) and Iowa Agribusiness PAC. Zach Wahls accepted money from the Iowa Farm Bureau when he was minority leader and as a candidate has accepted money from the Agribusiness PAC and the Phillip Morris PAC. I only know of one senate candidate who has pledged to take no PAC money (a long row to hoe and it's too early to tell if he can maintain it in these days of Citizens United) and that's Nathan Sage. If that's what matters to you, check him out. You can find any donations to any candidate for office here: https://webapp.iecdb.iowa.gov/publicReports/searchable-database
Oh yeah, they refer to "burning down" the cover crop in the Spring but don't tell people they're "burning" with RoundUp. I watched it happen at some national conservation investors meeting in Des Moines and called them out on it. Before I could get half a sentence out the emcee was demanding me to stop talking because the "definition of regenerative" wasn't part of the discussion! (Even though the Harvard guy was using "regenerative" to sell this idea.) Language evolves or is co-opted and we must decide whether to get ahead of it or reclaim it. I haven't found a third choice but either of those is painstaking as it is against a multi-billion-dollar marketing industry.
Not sure it's to the detriment, Leland. My understanding is that no-till does drop the T value significantly. Ultimately it's BandAids on the system if we continue to just grow feed and fuel.
I have some photos of places in crop fields where there is active erosion with crop residue and planting perpendicular to the contour. The energy of the sheet wash is sufficient to move the residue and soil surface downslope. It happens. Erosion is a much bigger problem that encompasses cropped and uncropped working land, the hydrology of water from gullies to rivers, and the nutrient and other pollution. Modern ag remains a toxic mess, beholden to profits and not social responsibility.
Wow! Such passion in your words, Suzan. I wish there were thousands of others who would stand up and say "I hate this and I am not going to take it any more!" That's what has to happen.
I can never bring myself to call a confinement building a "barn." It's a term that's been co-opted by Big Ag just like "family farmer" and even "sustainable." Thanks for putting this out there, Suzan. It's easy to mindlessly fall into language that normalizes the outrageous.
I heard someone say the one term that Big Ag can't really co-opt is "small scale farming." Another one is "independent, small-scale farming." I try to use those as much as possible.
Yes, independent small-scale farming is how we describe farmers in the Iowa Farmers Union. We have to keep evolving as they co-opt our language. It's all we can do...
Excellent work, Suzan. Beautifully written yet terribly disturbing -- save for the informationabout your farm of course. I'm Canadian and a vegetarian so the "hog farming" and cooped up chickens is especially revolting to me. How does one put pressure on your government to stop Bayer/Monsanto from killing Americans?
Thank you Lisa. There are many grassroots efforts, but every time they are successful the industry moves the fight higher. Many counties (Iowa has 99 local governments at that level) started banning them in the 1990s so the industry lobbied for a "statewide standard." Now they only have to pay off a handful of state legislators to keep the system going. If enough states revolted, I'm sure they'd made it federal. The insidious part though is using farmers for their marketing - this isn't farming. It's agribusiness and these guys (and the immigrants they hire often under the table so they have no rights) are just caretakers for a while.
Someone asked me if J.D. Scholten - senate candidate against Joni Ernst and long-time IFU member - is taking money from the Farm Bureau. I see no record of that, but I do see he has accepted donations from the Iowa Corngrowers Association, the Bankers (who are closely aligned with industrial ag) and Iowa Agribusiness PAC. Zach Wahls accepted money from the Iowa Farm Bureau when he was minority leader and as a candidate has accepted money from the Agribusiness PAC and the Phillip Morris PAC. I only know of one senate candidate who has pledged to take no PAC money (a long row to hoe and it's too early to tell if he can maintain it in these days of Citizens United) and that's Nathan Sage. If that's what matters to you, check him out. You can find any donations to any candidate for office here: https://webapp.iecdb.iowa.gov/publicReports/searchable-database
i recall reading in the business press that monsanto presented bayer with an inaccurate picture of what they were selling.
however inspection of a handful of news coverage from 2016-2018 suggests instead that bayer made several business blunders.
btw, i heard recently that some are trying to label no-till-plus-pesticides as 'regenerative.' we always have to keep looking behind the curtain of PR
Oh yeah, they refer to "burning down" the cover crop in the Spring but don't tell people they're "burning" with RoundUp. I watched it happen at some national conservation investors meeting in Des Moines and called them out on it. Before I could get half a sentence out the emcee was demanding me to stop talking because the "definition of regenerative" wasn't part of the discussion! (Even though the Harvard guy was using "regenerative" to sell this idea.) Language evolves or is co-opted and we must decide whether to get ahead of it or reclaim it. I haven't found a third choice but either of those is painstaking as it is against a multi-billion-dollar marketing industry.
It’s my observation that no-till and crop residues have replaced contour farming, to the ongoing detriment of the topsoil.
Not sure it's to the detriment, Leland. My understanding is that no-till does drop the T value significantly. Ultimately it's BandAids on the system if we continue to just grow feed and fuel.
I have some photos of places in crop fields where there is active erosion with crop residue and planting perpendicular to the contour. The energy of the sheet wash is sufficient to move the residue and soil surface downslope. It happens. Erosion is a much bigger problem that encompasses cropped and uncropped working land, the hydrology of water from gullies to rivers, and the nutrient and other pollution. Modern ag remains a toxic mess, beholden to profits and not social responsibility.
Wow! Such passion in your words, Suzan. I wish there were thousands of others who would stand up and say "I hate this and I am not going to take it any more!" That's what has to happen.
I can never bring myself to call a confinement building a "barn." It's a term that's been co-opted by Big Ag just like "family farmer" and even "sustainable." Thanks for putting this out there, Suzan. It's easy to mindlessly fall into language that normalizes the outrageous.
I heard someone say the one term that Big Ag can't really co-opt is "small scale farming." Another one is "independent, small-scale farming." I try to use those as much as possible.
Regenerative Family Farming IS the New Manufacturing!
and a confinement building is actually a concentration camp
and sweeping the homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk is a home invasion
Yes, independent small-scale farming is how we describe farmers in the Iowa Farmers Union. We have to keep evolving as they co-opt our language. It's all we can do...
Excellent work, Suzan. Beautifully written yet terribly disturbing -- save for the informationabout your farm of course. I'm Canadian and a vegetarian so the "hog farming" and cooped up chickens is especially revolting to me. How does one put pressure on your government to stop Bayer/Monsanto from killing Americans?
Thank you Lisa. There are many grassroots efforts, but every time they are successful the industry moves the fight higher. Many counties (Iowa has 99 local governments at that level) started banning them in the 1990s so the industry lobbied for a "statewide standard." Now they only have to pay off a handful of state legislators to keep the system going. If enough states revolted, I'm sure they'd made it federal. The insidious part though is using farmers for their marketing - this isn't farming. It's agribusiness and these guys (and the immigrants they hire often under the table so they have no rights) are just caretakers for a while.
Great read, Suzan!