What farmers were thinking

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes:

        Back in 1996, when genetically altered soybeans were introduced to farmers, they found buyers immediately. In my county, the introduction came at the annual "Crop and Soils Conference" where we were used to hearing how much soil was being lost through erosion due to plowing every year to plant corn, wheat, milo, soybeans--Missouri's big four.
        The presentation, by a woman that sold Pioneer seeds, was sponsored by the University Extension, and farmers learned that through genetic engineering they could kill all the weeds in the field with herbicide, and plant seeds that resisted the herbicide. The seeds would put up plants that were vigorous and made a lot of beans. Since the weeds were killed by herbicide, plowing would be minimized and erosion would disappear.
        I was at the first meeting and I remember farmers asking, "What about weeds becoming resistant to the herbicide (which was Roundup)" and the extension agents sitting mutely when the Pioneer seed lady answered, "We're working on that."
        The seeds that first year were cheap and the only guy that really lost out was the guy that owned the big seed-cleaning business in the county. He told me, "Margot. That first year, my seed-cleaning business went to zero."
        So, in one year, farmers stopped saving seeds and began buying patented genetically altered seeds from industry. They expected to get dead weeds, less erosion, less work and better yields.
        Today, they've got weeds that resist Roundup and the potential of seeds engineered to resist more potent herbicides. The herbicides being touted today--2,4-D and dicamba--create cancer and Parkinson's in humans.
        What a bad trade.

Biotech and D.C. Lobbyists

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: After reading about the Biotech Riders proposed for the new farm bill, you might wonder why any of our public servants—namely the House and Senate Ag Committees—would vote to send it on to the full body for a vote. Especially with such horrible health implications, suggested at such a high public cost. If 2,4D corn and soybeans are approved, for example, we’ll have an epidemic of Parkinson’s Disease similar to the epidemic among soldiers that came home from Vietnam after handling the stuff. In that case, it was part of the war effort, sprayed to defoliate the jungles so Americans could see where the VietCong were hiding. But if farmers start using it on fields, it will be used to kill American weeds, get into American water, sicken American farmers. But I digress. The answer to the question, “why would anyone vote for the Biotech Riders?” is “Lobbying.” According to Sourcewatch, the biotech companies have paid big bundles to get these riders into the farm bill. And that lobbying started back in 2009, just after the last farm bill was passed. The lobbyist, says Sourcewatch, was Stanley H. Abramson. Monsanto then started its own lobbyist firm and ramped up efforts in 2011. Sourcewatch says, “On its in house lobbying reports for the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2011, Monsanto reports lobbying on "Biotech Regulations, Roundup Ready Alfalfa, Roundup Ready Sugarbeets, Plant Protection Act" to the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Trade Representative. The amounts spent on lobbying by Monsanto for those quarters were $1,710,000, $2,010,000, and $1,210,000, respectively. Monsanto also paid Russell and Baron, Inc./The Russell Group, Inc. $60,000 during each of the three quarters for lobbying on "Biotech Acceptance; Agriculture, Competition, and Related Issues; Advocacy for Plant Protection Act concerns" to the House, Senate, and USDA.” So, see, if you can spend that kind of dough, you can get most anything done. But, as 2011 waned, Monsanto got new help. Dow Chemical started to kick in, and there might have been a few bucks spent by the Farm Bureau, that urban insurance company, just trying to wave the flag. And, says Sourcewatch, the benign-sounding American Nursery and Landscape Association paid lobbyists “for lobbying on plant protection issues in the farm bill.” In 2012, the spending got more intense, of course, as public servants started to actually work on the bill, with millions going into somebody’s pockets. You might wonder why they ramped up the fight. Time’s Winged Chariot drawing near, as the poet says, and Farmers in Tractors catching on. Farmers are trying to get away from the corporate seed loop, see, and turning to other ways to farm. Some farmers are even trying to figure out how to win in court over corporate breach of promise. What was the promise? We’ll look at that tomorrow!

Biotech replaces nature

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Part of the “Biotech Rider” in the new farm bill would prevent environmental analysis on the new genetically altered crops being planned by corporations, except the environmental analysis laid out in the Plant Protection Act. That act was written by corporations for USDA to follow. If the Rider is approved, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be unable to comment on the introduction of genetically altered salmon to fish farms, even though EPA knows that it’s just a matter of time before GMO salmon escape into the wild and out-compete the normal salmon. To make it even more difficult for mother nature, the money spent by USDA for analysis of the new crop can only be used for analysis required by the Plant Protection Act. This section is only useful if there’s someone that wants to do further analysis, of course. Someone in the academic community, say. But, really, here’s what they’d have to go through, besides getting money from someplace to do analysis. They’d have to get ahold of the seeds, chemicals and land for the experiment, then plant the seeds, apply the chemicals, harvest and analyze the damage to the environment. Really, who could do this? Why bother to put this paragraph in at all? Then, to make it even faster to approve new biotech crops, the writers have penned Section 10014 in which Congress demands a report from USDA to demonstrate that they have reduced “regulatory burdens on research” to get new seeds in the pipeline, “with special emphasis on minor use crops, orphan crops, and sources of protein.” And, if a “category of product…” has already been approved, they should be able to fast track according to this section. Further, the USDA is responsible for “developing and implementing a cohesive national policy for the low-level presence of agronomic biotechnology material in crops, including grain and other commodity crops, for food, feed, and processing." Meaning, ya know, there won’t be any non-GMO crops left on the planet.

Strange apples

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: As we’ve seen, the modern corporation doesn’t raise money and power from investors. Instead, the modern corporation has a staff dedicated to moving money and power from the government to themselves. That means moving money and power from we the people, dear citizen. As you remember, the 2012 Farm Bill was not passed in 2012. Instead, the 2008 Farm Bill was extended. It will cover agriculture and food until September, by which time a new farm bill must be passed. You’re probably seeing Op-Eds in the press saying “remove food from the farm bill,” by which they mean they want taxpayers to stop paying for food stamps and school lunches. Farming, to these corporate writers, is about ethanol and exports. One of the things they do want in the Farm Bill is a set of “Biotech Riders” in sections 10011, 10013, and 10014 in the House version. This so-called Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012 contains a bunch of provisions. In Section 10011, for example, the act puts pressure on U.S.D.A. to approve genetically engineered crops within a year of seeing them. If they need more time, they can ask for 180 more days. This evaluation includes such things as environmental impact of the new crop, pest risk assessment, effect of its self-contained pesticide and anything else that would make it dangerous to nature. Of course, those of us that live surrounded by these crops and their altered set of weeds know that it takes more than a year for a GMO crop to change the entire ecosystem. GMO soybeans engineered to resist Roundup, an herbicide, have now created 25 species of weeds that can’t be killed by Roundup. But it took a few years for farmers to see the result. By the way, if U.S.D.A. doesn’t meet the one-year rule, the crop is automatically ruled as “not a plant pest.” And, if this part of the bill passes, USDA has only 90 days “to complete its review of any biotech crop that has already applied for deregulation under the Plant Protection Act . . .” That means that a slew of new crops, including human food crops with new genes in them, will be approved despite consumer uproar. There’s a list of these strange new crops on the web at sourcewatch.org. The list includes new kinds of potatoes, soybeans, cotton, canola, corn and an apple with flesh that doesn’t turn brown with damage or age. And we’ll be looking at more of these “Biotech Riders” and their impact on us as eaters and farmers all week.

God and nuclear power

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Missouri’s largest utility, Ameren UE, was counting on a federal grant to work with Westinghouse to create little reactors to provide electricity for smaller markets. So, say, a town could buy one instead of having to rely on a huge nuke plant. The end result would be lots of little nuke plants—infrastructure contaminated with nuclear waste—something we have no idea how to get rid of. So, we should be glad that they didn’t get the grant. If these little plants are such a great idea, Ameren UE should get investors to back them. But, no, says my state senator, God wants him to change the law so that regular customers can pay for Westinghouse’s invention. My state senator, Mike Kehoe, a former car salesman, e-mails letters to us during the session. This week, it began with a paragraph regarding Roe V. Wade (he’s against it) and the following: “As I listened to last Sunday’s sermon on Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding in Cana, I was struck by the deacon’s insights on how relevant Mary’s words remain today. In John 2:5 she simply and briefly articulated to the servants a profound truth: ‘Do whatever He tells you’. . . we first have to do what He tells us to do. “ One of the things God told Mike to do this week was to file SB 207 to change a law that requires Ameren UE to pay for development with money they raise from investors or the government. God would then raise rates on customers that might not even see the benefit.

Mexican farmers, Missouri EEZ, Nature

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: This morning, my heart is with Via Campesina and the Mexican farmers on a hunger strike to stop Monsanto, DuPont and Dow from planting six million acres with GM (genetically modified) corn. Remember, dear reader, that Mexico is the birthplace of corn, created by indigenous peoples through crossing vigorous, productive strains. It is an outrage that the native strains will be polluted by American GMO technology. They have chosen to camp at the Monuement of Independence from Spanish colonialism, and some are on hunger strike. The police have surrounded them. One of the peasant leaders, Alberto Gómez Flores, coordinator of Via Campesina North America, said, "It's very symbolic because they are preventing people of this country from being in front of the Monument of Independence from Spanish colonialism, and thus they are really serving their current masters, the new colonialists of Monsanto, DuPont and Pioneer." He continued, "We will stay here in camp, as close as we can be to the Monument, and if they come to evict us we will sit peacefully in resistance. They will not take us away from here." When I got to school yesterday, my friend Dr. John, the political scientist, said, “Congratulations! You won!” and I pretended to know what he was talking about. Knowing that he’d rattle on until he revealed the secret, I just said thanks, and “We always win, John.” And, true to form, he kept on effusing until I figured it out. We’d won the EEZ fight! It was in the papers, but we don’t get the Fulton Sun until late on the farm. At least for now, the Fulton Area Development Corporation has dropped its effort to declare my neighborhood blighted. They promise to return in March with a new map, based on the new census, but for now we’re un-blighted and, as far as FADC is concerned, un-develop-able. See, the EEZ scheme allows them to drop taxes for new developers. I mean, um, job creators. Even though I let John think I had something to do with the win, because he’d read my letter to the editor a week back, the real heroes were the Tea Party Patriots and Fair Tax advocates that kept calling meetings. All we had to do, from our neighborhood, is show up and ask questions. To be honest, I’m not generally with the Tea Party and Fair Tax folks. But we were united on EEZ. When I said, “We always win,” I was pretty much right. Problem is, it usually takes more than 3 months for the win to be recorded. In the Mexican farmers’ fight for social, environmental and health justice, which centers around GMO seeds, mid-Missouri will lose for another 2 generations because our present-day farmers are committed to the seeds. But nature will win in the end. Nature bats last, that’s for sure, but Nature is super slow. She’s like the kid from out-of-town that’s never played baseball, but knows all the rules for cricket. Once she figures out baseball, she’s gonna win.

Vegetable soup recipe, politics and baby lambs

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: We've had a wicked cold snap, down in the single digits, and Lord knows why but that's when the lambs want to be born. Every morning a new mom that needs a little extra love. I take her to the stall with the best bedding...I call it "the spa." And this is also when the General Assembly files all it's bills, when the new D.C. administration seeks solutions and when classes start at my college. So that's what the last couple of days have been about. For the eaters on the place, we've survived on greens from the greenhouse, bread from the freezer, and vegetable soup. My personal recipe depends on tomatoes canned last summer, but you can use tomatoes from the store if you promise to do some canning next year. THE BEST VEGETABLE SOUP YOU'VE EVER HAD: 1 quart home-canned tomatoes 1 quart broth--from roasting a chicken, turkey, beef, ham, lamb. If you don't have any broth available, you can mix up some bullion or use 1/2 cup soy sauce and 3 and a half cups water. 1 and 1/2 quart of vegetables. You'll need 16 kinds of vegetables in any proportion, cut up into soup-size pieces 1/8 cup fresh herbs of any kind, snipped into small pieces No salt or pepper--let the eaters add that if they want it, but they probably won't. This cooks pretty fast, like in about a half hour on simmer. BUT when I say 16 vegetables, that's the law. You can use potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, beans of any kind, onions, corn, okra, cooked grains, spinach or other greens (beet tops, turnip greens and so forth), any leftovers, dehydrated veggies or bits from the freezer. Every summer, I freeze any odds and ends that come my way, including a few weeds--purslane, henbit, chickweed, dandelion greens, and I sneak them into the soup. If it looks a little sparse when you're ready to eat, toss in 1/4 cup of noodles or macaroni for the last 15 minutes of cooking. This recipe makes 8 to 10 servings, depending on who shows up at the table.

MLK Day

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: What a wonderful day. I happened to catch Democracy Now this morning on KOPN 89.5 fm, Columbia MO, and heard the clip that Amy Goodman played of Martin Luther King. Then, since KOPN airs DN again at noon, and I was in the car on the way to town, I tuned in to hear it again. Such courage-inspiring words that I came home and looked for them on the web. Here it is: REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin—we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay a hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaking April 4th, 1967, a year to the day before he was assassinated in Memphis.

Medicaid, Obama, and 2,4 D

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Nothing but good news today. First, the state general assembly is starting to connect the dots between money coming in and money going out. Even with a Republican G.A. “bullet proof” to a Democratic governor’s veto, elected with a lot of anti-federal rhetoric, there’s some serious buzz that they’ll accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid. You wouldn’t think this would be a hard sell—taking our share of money that the feds have already budgeted—but there’s been a lot of posing involved, a lot of “we’re passing the costs on to our grandchildren…” Well, let’s pass good health on to them also! Second, Dow Chemical has announced they’re holding off on sales of 2,4 D-resistant seed until at least next year. This is seed genetically modified to resist a chemical that should have been taken off the market decades ago. It’s been known to cause cancers, Parkinson’s and heaven knows what else. It was used in Vietnam, making up half of Agent Orange. The bad news is that one of Dow’s reasons is that they want to raise more seed. So, in other words, it will be in the environment even though it’s not approved. The worst case scenario would be that they raise more seed and obtain a clause in the next farm bill exempting themselves from prosecution if the operation turns out lethal to neighbors or the environment. Finally, and this is on the federal level, the old Prez Barak Obama became the new Prez Barak Obama today. I and a million other people hope that a second term, without pressures to become re-elected, means that he’ll be able to come through on the promises. Reviewing the last term, I’d have to give him a B, maybe a B+, but he’s capable of A+ work.

"Lawmakers seek to block federal gun laws"

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: There’s some interesting stuff going around the states about federal gun laws. The Fulton Sun ran a banner headline that sums it up: “Lawmakers seek to block federal gun laws.” Long story short, a bunch of state senators have filed a bill that “nullifies” any executive orders or laws that put controls on guns or gun paraphernalia. There have been similar introductions in Wyoming and Texas. So, apparently, this is one of those bills written by some central office for locals to tweak. The senators mentioned in the article—Kurt Schaefer and Bryan Munzlinger—are smart guys, both of whom may have been headed for office in D.C. if they don’t take the dead-end, no-nothing trail blazed by Todd Akin. Rather than defending the constitution, these laws would simply create safe havens for the bad guys. If, say, high-capacity clips holding a bunch of ammunition are banned by federal law, but some crazy wanted to try them out in a Wal-Mart, well, hey, just commit the crime next to the state line and leave the revenuers shaking their fists, like grandpa talked about from the prohibition days. Here in Missouri, the Civil War is still fresh in our minds…we sometimes call it the war for states’ rights. At the time it was fought, Missouri’s old southern culture was being intruded upon by northerners. More northerners were moving here than southerners, and the little Dixie families were feeling the threat. Slavery was only a small part of the story here. The rest was about who’s got the power…states or feds? Today, it looks like the true power comes from some central office. Time to start thinking for yourselves, fellas.

Nuclear vs. net metering

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Yesterday we went to a meeting about license renewal for a nuclear power plant originally projected to last forty years. Now Ameren UE says we may need the 1980s-style plant for at least 60 years, maybe 80. But are they right? In the last four years we've seen the most amazing leaps forward in all kinds of power generation and use. Every farmer in the land, planning new irrigation, uses or at least considers solar and/or wind to run their pumps. Cars and trucks are getting 10% to 50% better gas mileage. On my farm, two buildings are off-grid, electricity-wise, on photovoltaic cells that charge batteries, and serving us just fine. Our irrigation is on photovoltaics but doesn't charge a battery, because we only need to pump when the sun is out. LED lights, wave power, gravity power, backpacks that charge laptops, clothes that charge phones, all unimaginable just four years ago. Appropriate technology for the unique problems of modern life, with answers that avoid the one-size-fits-all plan of centralized power stations and grids that stretch thousands of miles. How can government help? Well, we could use some better policies on net metering. Net metering would mean that if an electricity customer had a system to provide power to their place, and made extra power, it could be sold to the grid. Who would be beneficiaries? Churches that use their buildings once or twice a week could install panels and sell the power all week, just using it from their batteries on Sundays. Schools that are closed or on partial schedules in the summer could sell the power to run their neighbors' air conditioners. I know. I know. Nuke owners are gonna roll out studies that say that only a few folks will invest in alternatives and other studies saying they can only produce some tiny amount of electricity that way. They're gonna say we need a new generation of nukes, hundreds of them spewing out waste in neighborhoods across the land, but, hey, did they project battery-charging clothes or backpacks?

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Comes to Town

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a hearing in Fulton. The subject was renewal of license for the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant, owned by Ameren UE. After 20 years in service—half the life of the original license—they’re due for a review, and have requested that the license be extended. My class wanted to go, so we power walked the mile from campus to City Hall. The inspector said he had looked at concrete walls, pipes in air and pipes in water, spigots, valves, screws, tanks, barrels, tubes and gears and declared them “pristine.” He said the concrete structure could survive high winds. Really high winds. He explained there were two full-time inspectors at the plant all the time and also explained that there would be a separate environmental inspection and hearing to discuss such things as what if there’s a really big drought, and the river gets too low to pump out water to cool the system? And, where exactly is the fault line that caused the nation’s biggest earthquake in the early 1800s? And where does the waste go? And, as one student asked, how do you get rid of all that contaminated equipment when it’s decommissioned? The inspector said that the plant is supposed to be taken down to bare dirt. One big surprise for us was how few citizens were at the hearing. My class of 28 college students swelled the crowd to 3 times the size when we came in. You’d think this hearing would draw a crowd. Every winter, the whole county gets a calendar from UE that’s packed with emergency instructions. Long story short: We’re supposed to get in the car and drive on I-70 East, then north on US 54. Oh, please! This idea comes from a map maker that’s never been in the area. If they’d visit here on a football weekend they’d see the highways turn into parking lots.

Farm and Fiddle

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Dang! I broke my New Year's Resolution last night by forgetting to write. It was our annual "Farmers Appreciation Night" for Farm and Fiddle, the radio program that celebrates and explores rural life on KOPN 89.5 fm in Columbia MO. Broadway Brewery hosted us for the third year, and gave farmers a discount on their bill. We interviewed 10 farmers and one University Extension horticulturalist in an hour. It was great! A little stress at the beginning... the setup requires hosts and an engineer at the Brewery, then another engineer at the radio station managing the board. And as the afternoon began to roll we were missing a few required warm bodies. KOPN is an all-volunteer station, meaning everyone who works there also has a "real" job, even though keeping a free media is our first love. So, General Manager David Owens pitched in by setting everything up and running things at the Brewery and a wonderful KOPN volunteer, Steve Gallagher, who usually plays vintage jazz records, ran the board at the station. Hosts Dan Bugnitz and Hannah Hemmelgarn did the talking and I (who know all the farmers) ran around and gathered them up. My dear husband had put together a fiddle band--Howard Marshall, David Cavins and Amber Gaddy--and the music just wafted around, in and out of the conversations. I put on the headphones for a little bit and it was just lovely. I'll try to get it on the web so you can hear it. The main subject was the drought and heat of last year, but there was a bit of chatter about how much the government influences us, all of us sustainable farmers working to feed the community. Liz, a vegetable farmer in Howard County, had gotten government money to dig a well, which was a surprise to me. In my county, Callaway, all the government money had gone to the big guys. There was a lot of talk about how important the next farm bill will be. Walker Claridge is part of a crew going to Minnesota next week to work with a team that will eventually present some ideas to the federal ag committees and get our voices in. As usual, I forgot my camera, or I'd stick a picture in. Well, there ya go! You can't ever get it ALL done!

Generation Next

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Wonder what the next generation is thinking about? Every semester I start my college class by asking students what they want to learn. Here's the list for this semester, in the order they gave them: Gun Control and the N.R.A., Performance-enhancing drugs in sports, Obamacare and how it will affect us, Mental health, What the mayor's doing, Why doesn't the U.S. take its military bases out of faraway places like the island of Chagos near South Africa? Are there U.F.O.s? What's the story on global climate change? How can we be better at networking? By inviting speakers, looking at Ted talks and so forth, we'll attack as many of these as we can! It'll be fun!

Farms and Developers

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: The county commissioners have the power to declare a special zone--called an "EEZ" or "Enhanced Enterprise Zone"--so that they can lure industry to the county by giving them tax breaks. This scheme is being promoted by the Fulton Area Development Corporation. An EEZ lasts for 25 years once it's declared. We decided to meet with FADC but I was a little late. My friends had already gotten the full speech, so I had to catch up. So here's the deal: There are industrial parks the FADC wants to promote in town, but they can't get industry into them unless they can offer incentives, like freedom from some property taxes. If those incentives don't work, there are others, but they like the freedom from property taxes. To get the tax exemptions the county had to declare the entire census tract around the industrial parks “blighted.” Part of the “blighted” definition requires a 60% poverty rate. So sometimes they have to declare adjacent tracts blighted so that the average comes to 60% poverty rate. There’s another part of the definition that has to do with being platted. If you’re platted, you’re more un-blighted than if you’re not platted. So that means that the blighted zones are mostly farmland. Never mind that farmland is more valuable than ever and farmers are competing to buy more of it. Never mind that farmland takes very little taxes to run--corn plants don't go to school and they usually don't need the sheriff or fire departments to help them out. Never mind that most farmers pay their taxes regularly. Here's what FADC says: if you’re in the zone it’s the fault of the state law and FADC regrets that that’s how the law is written. I suggested that FADC work to get the law changed but they’re too busy. Looking at the map, there's 170 square acres, 1/4 of our county, in the blight zone. Conclusion: The conclusion is that it’s a matter of trust. If we trust FADC to only develop the land they’ve already got in their industrial parks, without penalizing the rest of us because they’ve exempted taxes in the EEZ, and if we think that all the future owners of our land can trust them also, well, you can make up your own mind about that.

Well, yeah, we need to go to the capitol!

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: At the Women’s Network Meeting, I learned as much during the breaks as during the presentations. Isn’t that always the case? You get into a side conversation and learn what’s really bugging people. Like I found out, much to my surprise, that people, even engaged women like these with issues they care about, think it’s a waste of time and a nuisance to talk to lawmakers, and so they don’t do it! “Do I have to go to Jefferson City?” they said. “Do I really have to go to my senator’s office when she’s in town?” Well, hell yeah you have to! When I go to a farm issue lobby day, and I find myself side by side with farmers who had to get up at 4 in the morning, do chores, and drive 3 or 4 hours from the corners of the state to walk in the halls with me, I’m ashamed that, with less than an hour’s drive, I’m not there every week. The thing is that lawmakers need to hear our voices and see our faces. Believe me, they know all the lobbyists by name and see them every day. It’s up to us to help lawmakers resist the lobbyists and do the right thing. And, even if we don’t think our lawmakers agree with us, we can give cover to the ones that see things the way we do. So let’s say you’ve talked to your Senator, Mr. X, against Bill Number 50. But Senator X is going to vote for it. That’s when you go to Senator Y, who sponsored Bill Number 50, and you say, hey, I’m in Senator X’s district but I agree with you and I have a lot of neighbors who do also. And in the next coffee break, maybe Senator Y will tell Senator X that you stopped by. And if that happens enough, well, who knows? Maybe your disagreeable senator will have a family emergency when the vote comes up, and not vote at all. Stranger things have happened. If you have no luck at all finding anyone in their offices, don’t feel shy about chatting up the legislative aides or the secretaries. And sit down and write a note to the lawmaker, then follow it up with a phone call. And, oh yeah, find something to look forward to at the capitol. Like, for me, I haven’t seen the Rush Limbaugh bust yet. They say it’s good luck to pat his forehead, with the bonus that you’ll be on the security camera when you stop there! Can’t wait!

Missouri Women's Network

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Today was the annual meeting of the Missouri Women's Network (MWN), a group made up of members of other groups--American Association of University Women (AAUW), National Organization for Women (NOW), League of Women Voters (LWV) and so forth. I always look forward to this event, although having a farm and critters to take care of, I never get there for the entire two day, overnight opportunity to network and catch up on what's going on. They do a great job of alerting us on what bills the legislature will be looking at and setting up lobby days. MWN and AAUW have set up an Equal Pay Day Rally on April 17, which is about a week after the day when women workers have earned the same amount as men. It seems impossible, but women only make 77 cents to a man's dollar, an injustice going back to the days when men were the breadwinners, supporting a family, and women were just dabbling in the marketplace--at least that's how the men saw it. Realistically, many of the women were (and are) struggling to feed kids after the death of a husband or divorce. Ah, well...history! There are, as usual, some anti-woman bills introduced, mostly affirming the "alternatives to abortion" coalition with some bills introduced that actually affirm women. Senate Bill 87 asks that breast-feeding women be allowed to feed their babies in public without being harassed for indecent exposure. It looks like a few frankly progressive bills are on the docket. One asks the State Auditor to estimate the cost to the state of the death penalty compared to life without parole. Another prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Another asks for anti-bullying policies in the schools. It's hard to imagine the Rs arguing with those bills. Since the legislative has only met for two days so far, there'll be a lot more bills to come, but the consensus among progressives is that, with the "bullet-proof" majority, the bad bills will be rammed through quickly in the first month or so with little discussion. "We're the next Wisconsin," they say. And when we talk about citizen lobbying, everyone groans. "I hate to do that!" To me, it's fun. Gotta get in the right detached mindset, but when you do, you can even enjoy the bust of Rush Limbaugh in the hall of great Missourians. Just pretend like you're going to a play, everything that comes out of the lawmakers is just memorized dialogue and they're all playing their parts. We have our lines also, and if we say them truthfully, with our hearts, our reason, and our convictions, we citizens can prevail.

Medicaid for Missouri

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Interesting headline on the Fulton Sun, our local newspaper: “Medicaid-expansion shaping up as major legislative issue.” The writer, Bob Watson, focuses on the split between our democratic governor, Jay Nixon, who wants to bring more health-care dollars into the state and our majority republican General Assembly, who want to keep federal money—“Obamacare”—out of the state. On the table is some $250 million a year for 3 years, and health coverage for 220,000 Missourians. Don’t know if most of those would be school kids, but it wouldn’t be surprising. For rural folks, the health care dollars would be a godsend. Rural folks make less money than urban ones and have less access to health insurance. So many of us are minimally employed, working for a big farmer perhaps or doing odd jobs for our neighbors. A lot of seasonal work and minimum wage work, for employers that don’t provide health insurance. Right now, a family of three has to make less than $300 per month to qualify for Medicaid. If lawmakers agree on the new plan, the eligibility goes up to around $2,000 per month, which means a lot more folks will get checkups and preventive care. This will pay off in the long run. And, of course, there will be jobs attached to it…doctors, nurses, clerical workers and all the peripheral folks it takes to run or expand clinics. these are good jobs. Really, it’s silly that the General Assembly has to argue with the governor about this win/win situation. Even the Missouri Chamber of Commerce has come out in favor of the plan, and it will mean so much to our rural communities. I sure hope the lawmakers don’t use this issue to throw their weight—their “bullet-proof majority”--around and act like bullies. I hope they'll think about who they'd be hurting.

The Fifth Governor

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: You’d think that, after the drought of last summer, today’s weather in the 60s and rain would be good news. But it’s January 10, and it’s should be 0 to 20 degrees outside, or less, and snowing instead of raining. Snow makes a nice blanket of insulation on the fields, cozy in the frozen weeks that will surely come, while rain soaks in and alerts the plants that it’s time to grow. Warm rainy weather tells the fruit trees to make buds and prepare to bloom and it tells the wheat to put on leaves and more roots. Then, when the world freezes again, the buds will be frozen and fall off and we’ll lose a whole year’s worth of fruit. And the ground freezes in an action called heaving. Frozen dirt expands, then melts and contracts, shifting the dirt around and breaking the new roots on the wheat. Too much heaving and the wheat can’t recover. No good. No good. Global climate change kills farms. So we might tell our friend from the Patriots’ meeting, who noted that we operate under four governments—county, state, federal and world—that there’s another government operating, the government of mother nature. And we’ve abused her. And she ain’t happy.

Legislative session--first day

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Today was the first day of the rest of our lives, the saying goes, and on opening day in Jefferson City that means the rest of our legislative lives for 2013. The Rs have what they call a "bullet-proof" majority in the General Assembly, both house and senate, bought and paid for by the Farm Bureau, the chemical companies (Dow, Monsanto), big meat packers (Cargill, Tyson) and the big food sellers (ConAgra, Wal-Mart). So we're already seeing bills introduced to dismantle the very weak regulations and make sure there aren't any more. My favorite is the bill, just filed, to make it illegal to fly a drone over a Confined Animal Feeding Operation to take pictures of the pollution as it leaks out into the creeks. This morning, the a.m. radio bunch were crowing over the potential of the session. One guy, calling himself a card-carrying libertarian, wants to see the end of any kind of licensing, from hairdressers to embalmers to doctors AND the end of unions through a right-to-work law AND the end of state income tax. They have enough votes to override any veto, making the governor "irrelevant," how they see it. So, we gotta be active and make the citizens "relevant." It'll be fun!!

The Callaway Patriots Speak

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Overheard at the meeting of the Tea Party Patriots, my fellow countians speak: First voice: So our land, that we paid for and pay taxes on, isn't really our own? If it's for "the greater good" it can be taken away? Second voice: Apparently. First voice: Isn't that what Hitler did? Or, how about: So we're under at least four kinds of government. Federal. State. County. World. Is that right? Or, here's another one: Speaker: Now, I don't live in the blighted area... Crowd: Boo... My favorite: What you guys really need to do, if you want people to come to town, is make it easy. When I haul my stock trailer, I can hardly make that left turn at the corner of Wood Street and Highway Z. And then, when I get to the roundabout, well, it's just about impossible . . .

Locavore chili

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: The big meeting is tonight—the meeting about the Enhanced Enterprise Zone I mentioned yesterday. Finally, I’ll get to meet some real live Tea Party Patriots! I hope they have a good list of questions for any county commissioners that happen to show up. If I get a chance to ask, I’ll start by asking which commissioner lives in the zone. And then I’ll ask him what he expects to gain by having his homes declared blighted. As one of the neighbors and I shared last night, maybe there’s something we’re missing. Maybe it would be good to live in an enhanced enterprise zone. Maybe our property values will go up. Maybe the realtors will be flocking to our gravel road with big offers for us. We had an awesome pot of chili last night. Sad to say, I had to use the last of the locally-raised dried beans & I don’t think there’s any at the farmers’ market this winter. But here’s the recipe for locavore chili: 1 pound locally-raised ground beef 1 small local onion, any color 2 cloves local garlic, harvested last summer and dried in the basement 1 quart jar dried beans from the next county over 1 quart tomatoes canned last summer 1 pint salsa, made by a neighbor To plump up the beans, soak overnight. In the morning, drain the beans and fill the pot with fresh water, bring to a boil for 5 minutes and set aside for a few hours. Drain again when you’re ready to make the chili. Brown the ground beef and add the onion and garlic as it browns. Try to chop the beef so it’s in little spoon-sized hunks. When it’s brown, drain off the fat and add to the beans. Add the tomatoes and salsa. After it’s cooked about ½ hour, taste and add salt and pepper or other seasonings to taste. Cook another ½ hour—or all afternoon—and serve with crackers, corn bread, tortillas or corn chips. Locally made, if you can get them! Jobs for your community!

Blighted? Really?

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: In my Missouri neighborhood, the Enhanced Enterprise Zone is bringing together lefties and Tea Party Patriots in one big tent. Abbreviated “EEZ,” which implies that this is the easy way for job creators to land HERE. The county commission has drawn a line around 170 square miles and declared that it is blighted. The “zone” includes everyone in my neighborhood, from the wrecked trailers to the half-million dollar McMansion where a retired Air Force guy lives. Developers can benefit from a bunch of tax abatements if they come HERE and build something. Big box store chains are the usual beneficiaries, truck stops, or multinational hotel chains. You see these shiny new, plastic-faced, conglomerates along interstate highways. Hogging all the land, they suck the life from downtowns. In fact, the little downtown guy who’s paid taxes for years is the victim. Operating in a non-EEZ, his taxes go up, to cover the land that’s been “tax abated.” Tax abatement first appeared in my county when the economic development boys decided we needed a golf course. They declared a cow pasture blighted because it only had two buildings, cow barns, and those were in rough shape. Us local yokels couldn’t figure it out—all our cow shelters are in rough shape, the way the cows like them. When a cow wants more ventilation, she just pushes out a wall, easy shmeazy. Done! The farmer did OK on the sale. As a prosperous son of an entrepreneurial father, the family holdings were and are still vast. But who was the real winner? The developers, of course. And the losers? Taxpayers. First of all, if the point is to build a new tax base, it’s stupid to begin by exempting developers from the increased taxes they could create. Secondly, it puts a double burden on the taxpayers that pay for the extra services to the new developments. Ask any sheriff – he pays more visits to homes, even luxurious ones, than he pays to cow pastures. And, of course, human children use more schools than bovine children, have more emergencies, need more services. Thirdly, and most important, this kind of enterprise takes rights from property owners who have cared for the land in the past. While the zones may be created by the most careful county fathers, the zones are in existence for a long time, usually 25 years. The definition of “blighted,” which is pretty shaky as it stands today, can change. EEZs have been, up to recently, an urban problem as developers march into a neighborhood. In St. Louis, one tidy neighborhood of family bungalows was bulldozed to make way for a sporting-goods store. Insulted when their small homes were condemned as blighted, the elderly homeowners argued that their homes were full of memories, but progress doesn’t listen to that kind of argument.

Seven Questions on Genetically Modified (GM) Crops

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: In the UK, The Campaign for Real Farming has been asking questions about genetic manipulation of agricultural crops. Their answers, written by Colin Tudge, are long and elegant, and I’ll put the link to their answers on this blog. My answers are shorter, but, then, I’m closer to the problem and, looking at the GM fields that surround my farm, I don’t have as much time. The seven questions: 1. Their Question: After 30 years of intense effort and huge investment, can the genetically modified crop (GM) advocates offer any examples of GM food crops that have brought unequivocal benefit to humanity or to the world at large? My Answer: No. Food is not cheaper and farmers are not better off. Pests like weeds and worms have evolved to resist the most benign chemicals, so industry has to invent solutions that are worse for the environment. 2. Their Question: Assuming that the advocates of GM food can demonstrate unequivocal benefits, can they also show that those benefits could not have been achieved just as easily, at the same cost, in the same time, and without collateral damage by traditional means? My Answer: No. For centuries, farmers have solved problems one at a time, improving crops year by year by selecting good varieties and fighting pests as they came up. As fields have gotten bigger, stewardship and experimentation have declined. Farmers were persuaded that GM crops offered solutions, but it turns out that the solutions are temporary and just create more problems. 3. Their Question: Putting points 1 and 2 together, can the GM advocates demonstrate that the research on GM has been cost-effective? If the same amount of research effort and resource had been put into other approaches, could we not have achieved far more? My Answer: the problem is in the words “cost-effective.” It’s definitely cost-effective for the research corporations who have taken over the ecosystem and bent the patent laws to make their patented ownership of all plant life bullet-proof! 4. Their Question: Can we really be sure that GM crops are safe for our fellow creatures in the environment at large; or for consumers whether livestock or people? My Answer: No. In fact, they are not safe for the environment and we don’t know anything about safety for livestock or people. 5. Their Question: Taken all in all, do the advantages of GM really outweigh the perceived disadvantages and the conceivable risks? My Answer: For the corporations, yes. They have manipulated the patent laws so that they can sue farmers that save seeds. Even scientists that want to test the safety of seeds can be sued. 6. Their Question: Can we trust the GM advocates? Can we trust scientists who depend on commercial sponsorship? My Answer: Who’s we? If “we” are the industrial system, making money or gaining power, of course we trust them! If “we” are losing the fight for money or power, of course we can’t trust them. 7. Their Question: What is the real motive behind GM? My Answer: These agricultural experiments benefit major corporations. They exist to increase the power of corporations over the food system and, thus, farmers and the environment.

Relationship Farming

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: We're really lucky in Missouri to have more farmers than any other state in the union--Texas. Texas is big, and has the most farms, but we're second. So that means I can buy almost anything I need from someone I know. ALMOST everything--coffee, chocolate, seafood and citrus fruits are out of reach for mid-Missourians--but if you live in a tropical place you can eat local for those things. And, for my neighborhood, the FFA brings a truck load of citrus every winter. But, hey, yesterday I was thinking about dairy, and here's a lucky thing. Even though all our commercial dairies are in gone, or in deep financial trouble, because they can't get a good price from industry to cover their costs, I have a few local dairy choices. These are folks who pasteurize and bottle their own milk, mostly from grass-fed cows, but I could also find raw milk, goat milk and maybe even sheep milk if I felt like we needed it. Now, about price. you've probably heard that if farmers get parity the price will go to $8 a gallon. I doubt it. I don't pay that much for my milk, but my milk comes straight from the farmers so I'm not paying all the corporate profit, CEO salaries, gasoline taxes and such. And did I mention that it comes in glass bottles, which I take back for re-use? Or that I'm supporting a local family? NO? Silly me! OK. More later!

Got parity?

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: Part of the Fiscal Cliff solution--or was it the Fiscal Bluff?--is to renew the old farm bill for 9 months rather than write a new one. OK, that's not really a solution, but it's what happened. And part of the old farm bill that needs change NOW is the piece to keep dairy farms in business. As it is, dairy farmers sell to big corporations like Dean Foods or International Dairy Foods Association. That means that big corporate trucks come to the farm or to a dropoff point and load up with the milk from several farms. All the milk is processed in one place, see? That keeps consumer prices stable, but puts farmers in a position of taking the price they're offered. Trouble is, dairy farmers are getting paid less than they're putting out in feed, water, equipment and so forth. If they got paid enough to cover their bills plus a little profit, a formula called "parity," they'd be happy. But the big guys don't really care if the farmers make money. They'd be just as happy using instant milk from China, or even whipping up some milk-like product from a vat of chemicals, like this product called "Muscle Milk" that's in the case now. So let's hope consumers get a clue before all the dairies are gone. We need to give dairy farms a fair price and keep milk production in the U.S.

Missouri Joint Resolution #7

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes: An e-mail from a friend this morning, regarding a new piece of legislation just filed in Missouri: Joint resolution #7. It has some language about protecting hunters and fishermen from future regulations, and then there’s a sentence that would make it unconstitutional to pass laws that would affect farmers’ and ranchers’ rights to "agricultural technology and modern livestock production and ranching techniques," ... For those of us who have been working on farm issues for, um, decades, “modern livestock production and ranching techniques” is a code meaning confined animal feeding operations, CAFOs. Those are the giant industrial operations that keep animals in huge metal buildings for their entire filthy lives. So this resolution says CAFOs couldn’t be made to adhere to new regulations, like feeding less antibiotics. And the chemical companies changing the gene structures of plants so they can spray more chemicals? That’s “agricultural technology.” To make it even stranger, chemical-free farmers make more money, so wouldn't you think the state would choose chemical-free?! And animals choose to be outside in all kinds of weather. Last night, when I went to check the sheep after dark, they were all bedded down in the woods instead of the barn.

So here we go again. Missouri’s General Assembly starts meeting January 9. What are we going to do to fight the power of these giant corporations?

Second Chance

From the Heartland, Margot McMillen writes:

This morning, at 5:06 a.m., a text from Lisa, one of my agri-activist buddies. "Happy New Year!" it said. Funny thing about 5:06 a.m. I was awake also, but reading, not texting. Last night, Howard and I were supposed to play music at a New Year's square dance but the weather turned snowy, cold, icey, the predictions were for freezing rain, then ice and we imagined coming home at 1 a.m. on our gravel roads, on ice, and started calling friends to find folks in town that could play music. We need the moisture after the drought last summer, but we don't want to drive on it! Luckily, we have a good network of old timey musicians and Howard found a good few to stand in. Knowing we were missing the fun, I was bummed. Fixed a great steak dinner--last year's steer, better than anything we could get in town, baked potatoes, green beans, oranges delivered by a neighbor and purchased from the FFA. We turned on the TV...who were those people?? What kind of singing is that?? So, to bed at 9:00 p.m., which means awake at 5:00 a.m. But what a gorgeous morning to be alive! When the sun came up and I went out to feed, there was the moon still glowing in the southwest. Wouldn't have missed it for all the music in the world. And the critters are all fine, happy, got extra rations because of the cold. The picture is the resident donkeys enjoying a meal. Funny thing happened last week. An urban friend, born and raised in Baltimore or some damn place, came up and gave me a lengthy apology for not understanding what I've been trying to say for years. He said, "I thought when you talked about living in the country and raising food, you just meant it's important because some people want to do it. I didn't see what it meant for the future." And I said, "Well, that's been the challenge of my life. Trying to find words to explain why we all need farms, farmers, food raised in our community. The ordinary ways to say it...security, satisfaction, peace, love...don't mean anything next to the big word, "Profit." And he said, "Yeah. Profit. That's the big one." but, hey, we get second chances, don't we? And my blog for 2013 is my new opportunity to make you, dear reader, understand!