Candidates pledge support for farmers

[Kire]

Candidates pledge support for farmers
On the Farm -- Ted Shelsby
By Ted Shelsby On the farm
July 27, 2008
Like everyone else, farmers have a stake in the presidential election.

With this in mind, officials of the American Farm Bureau Federation invited presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain to speak by teleconference to their recent Council of Presidents meeting in Washington.

Each of the candidates pledged continued support for American agriculture.

The following excerpts from their presentations were included in a news release from the bureau, a 6.2 million-member farm lobbying organization representing all 50 states and Puerto Rico.


McCain, a Republican U.S. senator from Arizona, said he would support trade agreements that will open markets to American agriculture.

"I believe the American agricultural worker is the most efficient and productive in the world and one of my jobs is to open every market in the world to your products," McCain said.

Obama, a Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois, emphasized his support of the recently passed farm bill.

"I would have liked to have seen some additional reform in the bill," he said, "but on balance, the bill did a lot more good than bad because it dramatically increased funding to fight hunger, it increased funding for conservation, and it provided farmers with stability in an increasingly volatile market."

More: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-ha.farm27jul27,0,1009686.story

[LaurenG]

1. I would so love to see Obama stand between the farmer and Monsanto

Someone needs to put that corporation front and center, under a microscope and invite the rest of the world to come forward.

I think Monsanto is probably one of the most harmful things that is happening to the world. It ranks a little above global warming.

Seeds that don't reproduce and lawsuits against farmers who use the seeds that do is scary. No one should own the seeds from a plant that was bought and paid for. It's as if those trying to feed the masses are only allowed to "lease" the seed used to grow food, (not to mention the frankenfood, that's another story).

[happyslug]

2. But the Farm Bureau is a pro-corporate farm pro Monsanto organization.

For example the following:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2005/07/05/tv_propaganda_sponsored_funded_by_american_farm_bureau_and_monsanto.htm

A call for a Congressional investigation of the Farm Bureau from 2000:
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/fb2.html

Here is a brief in the US Supreme Court that the Farm Bureau wrote in support of permitting someone to drain wetlands so its can be converted to housing:
http://www.eswr.com/1105/rapanos/rapafbf.pdf

They support for ethanol:
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=908

More on the History of the Farm Bureau:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farm_Bureau
http://www.fb.org/

More on its older and much more progressive but smaller "competitor" the Grange:
http://www.nationalgrange.org/

History of the Grange, it was one of the backbones of the reform movement of the late 1800s:
http://www.nationalgrange.org/about/history.html
http://www.geocities.com/cannongrange/cannon_nationalhistory.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grange_(organization)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003802221&slug=pacificpgrange29&date=20070729

Both organization have a history of supporting what rural people want, but the Grange has always been more progressive. In fact the Farm Bureau was founded as a way to undo the power of the Grange. Hopefully the Grange will hold on, but it needs help, unlike the Farm Bureau which is and has always been in the pocket of Corporations.

More sites on the Grange:
http://www.pagrange.org/links.htm

No I am NOT a member, I live in the city, but the Grange has long been noted to be progressive for a rural organization.

[LaurenG]

3. Wow, I had no idea, well I had a bit of an idea

but couldn't have told you what I knew.

I have a cousin who still farms independently in Iowa; about 2000 acres of corn and soy. I asked him about monsanto a few years ago and he wouldn't comment. It turns out a family member works for the pesticide industry up there and well, that was that.

Thanks for the insight and links.

[happyslug]

4. I wanted to say that the Farm Bureau still oppose the Voting Rights Act of 1965

But I could not find the reference to make sure My memory is accurate. I believe it was stated on the 2000 60 minutes piece on the Farm Bureau, but I could not find it during the search I made. Now I fund a lot of attacks on that 60 minute piece, but nothing on the details except what CBS itself put out on the net:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/04/06/60minutes/main181011.shtml

A piece defending the Farm Bureau on its stand on abolishing the Voting Rights act of 1965:
http://www.michiganfarmbureau.com/farmnews/transform.php?xml=20000430/fbpolicy.xml

Now the Grange is Conservative, in that it supports the rights of Framers (It oppose the wolves spreading out of Yellowstone and other Federal Areas and oppose Wolf hybrids and want a broader definition of what is an endanger species then is the law at present, i.e. do not want as many species declared endangered if you look at each population of a species as a separate endangered group). IT takes pride in the fact both FDR and Truman had been members of the Grange and that Susan B, Anthony made her last speech to the Grange doing their 1903 Convention and praised the Grange for permitting women to vote in the Grange since its founding in 1867.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grange_(organization)

[hippywife]

5. One thing to bear in mind in this country

is that when the government or any of it's representatives talks about the American farm or farmer, they are not talking about the small farmer. They want you to think that's what they are talking about, but they're not.

To understand what our government supports in the way of farming please read Diet for a Dead Planer by investigative journalist, Christopher D. Cook. Truly eye-opening with regard to what our government policies have meant to food and farming both here and abroad. Truly infuriating!