The Agri Biz that is killing the middle of the country is not addressed by either the Republicans or the Democrats other than to simply make it worse. Exploitation of the land and the livestock industry has made livestock prices plummet and packers toclose their doors. While this is going on, corn that used to feed livestock now is being turned into an industrialized replacement for fuel that takes more energy to create than what it returns! The production of gasohol uses precious fresh water we can not waste in this way. While this is happening, the industry makes a point of letting everyone know fermintation creates CO2, and "OH MY GOD!" this is a greenhouse gas! What they aren't saying is give us money so we can compress this gas into a liquid and pump it to the Dakota's to lock it up in the ground and reduce the harm from rising tempertures. They wait for the politicians to put the countries wealth at their disposal by writing grants to help pay to reduce the greenhouse gases, saving gasohol as a fuel and without saying it, meet teh fuel standards that California has established that won't allow a fuel into the state that continues raising temperatures due to its production and release into the atmosphere these greenhouse gases! And wait! There's more! No one spends a whole lot of time discussing why these people want the CO2 in the first place since no one in the Corporate World does anything simply because it needs doing! They are using it to force oil out of the ground to keep the oil boom going! In this lies the rub, if you turn the oil into fuel for cars, you are continuing to add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere! While all the concern over CO2 is getting all the attention, NitrousOxide, a really bad greenhouse gas, that lasts for centuries in teh atmosphere is completely ignored! Where does it come from you may ask, The answer would seem obvious as to why you hear little about it, Fertilizer! With a crop rotation of soybeans to corn and back to corn, the only way you maintain fertility to grow like this is fertilizer! The tax payer also gets the opportunity to subsidize crop insurace for the farmer, and the farmer gets subsides for any losses but has to maintain a "corn base" or in other words a minimum of production or you get no help. The consequence of that simply insures more and more fertilizer use, and in the old addage if a little does a little good, a lot will do a lot of good gets many to over do it! And of course, you alsohave to have a "Conservation Plan" ! One component is tiling to remove excess water from productive land. Because of the use of herbicides like Roundup and the constant crop cycle, one of the most inexpensive way to meet the "Conservation Plan" is to tile. These tile lines docarry of excess water, but theyalso carry tons of Nitrogen straight away from the field and straight away to a stream! There goes the water along with the nitrogen that poisons the Gulf of Mexico! Attempting to "fix" this will find you in the cross hairs of the farm buearu, the Corn Producers, the manufacturers of herbicide, and the list grows very long with serious consequences for politicians that need money to get elected or re-elected! So the fact that a better rotation of crops that include hay crops might introduce at least a bit more organic to the soil and make it more absorbant of water rather than allowing the water to pond up and need the tile to reduce that overage of moisture while taking the nitrogen down the river.
You’ve said it all Steve. Thank you. Some days my anger at what iowa has become leaves me drained and unable to move forward with hope. It’s hard, really hard.
I understand, being constantly ticked off gets to us all that understand all this is simply wrong! By the way, I voted for you and contributed to your campaign when you ran for Sect of Agriculture for Iowa, and have been to you and Larry's house many years ago, so we are both on the same page. I'm working to re-educate at least one person running for the legislature from here, who changed parties because the Republican party had gone so far off the tracks, Andy McKean. I'm also sticking money into his campaign because I think he can win against the incumbent. I started sticking 20 dollar bills in his pocket every time I saw him! When I switched to hundred dollar bills I locked up his attention! We will see where it goes! My source of funds are recycling cans and bottles from two dumpsters and in the spring along country roads that I know we'll to be great sources of beer cans! I make about $8-900 in the summer over 4 months from one dumpster at a canoe take out spot. The dumpster behind my house for an apartment yields about 50 bucks a month all year long. All that cash is what turns heads when you are retired and 74 years old, they frankly get blown away by it!So keep the faith! Eventually we will get through to these cut throat politicians, and straighten out this mess! Steve
Oh, I completely agree that Democrats are not getting it done either. I just think they're showing some potential in the past few years. I do know some Democrats who I trust to deliver a frontal assault on corporate agriculture. Not enough though.
Thanks Bryce for this brief summary of what’s in the platform. Steve Hanley says it all and I know you are right there with him.
Hanken not Hanley! Damn autocorrect.
The Agri Biz that is killing the middle of the country is not addressed by either the Republicans or the Democrats other than to simply make it worse. Exploitation of the land and the livestock industry has made livestock prices plummet and packers toclose their doors. While this is going on, corn that used to feed livestock now is being turned into an industrialized replacement for fuel that takes more energy to create than what it returns! The production of gasohol uses precious fresh water we can not waste in this way. While this is happening, the industry makes a point of letting everyone know fermintation creates CO2, and "OH MY GOD!" this is a greenhouse gas! What they aren't saying is give us money so we can compress this gas into a liquid and pump it to the Dakota's to lock it up in the ground and reduce the harm from rising tempertures. They wait for the politicians to put the countries wealth at their disposal by writing grants to help pay to reduce the greenhouse gases, saving gasohol as a fuel and without saying it, meet teh fuel standards that California has established that won't allow a fuel into the state that continues raising temperatures due to its production and release into the atmosphere these greenhouse gases! And wait! There's more! No one spends a whole lot of time discussing why these people want the CO2 in the first place since no one in the Corporate World does anything simply because it needs doing! They are using it to force oil out of the ground to keep the oil boom going! In this lies the rub, if you turn the oil into fuel for cars, you are continuing to add more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere! While all the concern over CO2 is getting all the attention, NitrousOxide, a really bad greenhouse gas, that lasts for centuries in teh atmosphere is completely ignored! Where does it come from you may ask, The answer would seem obvious as to why you hear little about it, Fertilizer! With a crop rotation of soybeans to corn and back to corn, the only way you maintain fertility to grow like this is fertilizer! The tax payer also gets the opportunity to subsidize crop insurace for the farmer, and the farmer gets subsides for any losses but has to maintain a "corn base" or in other words a minimum of production or you get no help. The consequence of that simply insures more and more fertilizer use, and in the old addage if a little does a little good, a lot will do a lot of good gets many to over do it! And of course, you alsohave to have a "Conservation Plan" ! One component is tiling to remove excess water from productive land. Because of the use of herbicides like Roundup and the constant crop cycle, one of the most inexpensive way to meet the "Conservation Plan" is to tile. These tile lines docarry of excess water, but theyalso carry tons of Nitrogen straight away from the field and straight away to a stream! There goes the water along with the nitrogen that poisons the Gulf of Mexico! Attempting to "fix" this will find you in the cross hairs of the farm buearu, the Corn Producers, the manufacturers of herbicide, and the list grows very long with serious consequences for politicians that need money to get elected or re-elected! So the fact that a better rotation of crops that include hay crops might introduce at least a bit more organic to the soil and make it more absorbant of water rather than allowing the water to pond up and need the tile to reduce that overage of moisture while taking the nitrogen down the river.
You’ve said it all Steve. Thank you. Some days my anger at what iowa has become leaves me drained and unable to move forward with hope. It’s hard, really hard.
I understand, being constantly ticked off gets to us all that understand all this is simply wrong! By the way, I voted for you and contributed to your campaign when you ran for Sect of Agriculture for Iowa, and have been to you and Larry's house many years ago, so we are both on the same page. I'm working to re-educate at least one person running for the legislature from here, who changed parties because the Republican party had gone so far off the tracks, Andy McKean. I'm also sticking money into his campaign because I think he can win against the incumbent. I started sticking 20 dollar bills in his pocket every time I saw him! When I switched to hundred dollar bills I locked up his attention! We will see where it goes! My source of funds are recycling cans and bottles from two dumpsters and in the spring along country roads that I know we'll to be great sources of beer cans! I make about $8-900 in the summer over 4 months from one dumpster at a canoe take out spot. The dumpster behind my house for an apartment yields about 50 bucks a month all year long. All that cash is what turns heads when you are retired and 74 years old, they frankly get blown away by it!So keep the faith! Eventually we will get through to these cut throat politicians, and straighten out this mess! Steve
We keep on keepin on. Thank you for the work you do for rural America.
Thank you Steve for the great lift! I just read this to larry and I must say we both admire you for your strategy.
Oh, I completely agree that Democrats are not getting it done either. I just think they're showing some potential in the past few years. I do know some Democrats who I trust to deliver a frontal assault on corporate agriculture. Not enough though.