Boy, for being all about economic development, Governor Kristi Noem sure doesn’t want to give South Dakota farmers first access to the newly legalized industrial hemp market:
Noem says she would like to wait until next session to consider the issue.
“When we look at concerns that we have there’s unknown costs with how we license these individuals to grow this commodity,” Noem says. “There’s public safety concerns and enforcement activities that need to be dealt with. We do not have a testing system for roadside transportation that could occur, that we could utilize with our public safety officers. We are concerned with what we would do as far as opening up opportunities to start different types of hemp and production across the state, as well.”
Noem says she wants legislators to wait until federal guidelines are available and take a look at them and a better idea of the cost to the state and if the crop is a profitable as is talked about.
“So, right now, passing a bill is really something we’re doing a little bit in the dark” [Lee Strubinger, “Gov. Noem Wants Lawmakers to Table Hemp Legislation,” SDPB Radio, 2019.02.09].
If the crop is profitable? One Kentucky farmer finds hemp a better cash crop than tobacco:
In London, Kentucky, 39-year-old Brent Cornett, a 7th-generation farmer whose family farm includes beef, corn, soy, and produce — and until recently, primarily tobacco — has over the past few years turned to cultivating hemp in greater amounts. The farmer said a few planting seasons back he became aware of a grower’s group led by Atalo Holdings in Winchester, Kentucky, that was helping farmers to add hemp to their rotations. He joined Atalo’s group in 2016 testing out 20 acres, with good results, and has increased his acreage every year since.
Cornett said the resources available from Atalo and the knowledge base of the growers’ group helped him increase production to 35 acres in 2017 and 85 acres in 2018. “There’s been plenty of challenges with a new crop, but as of today, a mediocre hemp crop is yielding a better return than an excellent tobacco crop,” he said [David Carpenter, “In Kentuckey, Farmers Find Hemp May Be More Profitable Than Tobacco,” Forbes contributor, 2018.08.28].
Hemp doesn’t just make money; it used to be money:
Hemp is made from the fibers of the plant and historically has been used to make a broad variety of products, from rope to cloth to paper. As you can imagine, it was an important product in the New World as the American colonies were being established. It was so important, in fact, that in 1619, Virginia passed a law requiring hemp to be grown on every farm in the colony. At the time, the crop was also considered a proper form of currency in Virginia, as well as Pennsylvania and Maryland [Allison McNearney, “The Complicated History of Cannabis in the US,” History.com, 2018.04.20].
Perhaps most importantly for South Dakota, hemp could boost sustainable economic development in Indian Country:
Unlike tribal gambling, the economic boon hemp offers indigenous communities includes health and environmental benefits. Wealth, after all, is more than money—it is wellbeing. At a Native gathering at the NoCo Hemp Expo, Lavonne Peck, a former tribal chairwoman of the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, spoke of the promising role CBD is playing in assisting those suffering from opioid addiction. “It’s the future,” she says. “Hemp is what the world needs. Hemp is the way.”
…Hemp Business Journal estimates the total retail value of all hemp products sold in the United States to be at least $688 million for 2016. The data demonstrates the hemp industry is growing quickly and according to Sean Murphy, the Journal’s founder and publisher, sales are projected to be nearly $2 billion by 2020. The surge is expected to be led by hemp food, body care and CBD-based products [Winona LaDuke, “The Renaissance of Tribal Hemp,” In These Times, 2018.04.21].
Noem is also wrong about timing. She claims that laws to regulate hemp couldn’t come into effect until July 1, after planting season. But House Bill 1212, which would appropriate a measly $10,000 to fund a state program to license hemp production, includes an emergency clause that would launch that program as soon as Governor Noem signs it, before a single plow cuts the thawed tundra this spring. House Bill 1191, the full hemp authorization bill, has enough sponsors that adding an emergency clause wouldn’t be hard. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
South Dakota has thrown its regulatory and corporate-welfare blessings behind dairies, a beef plant, motor trikes, and other economic ventures with no more promise of profitability than hemp. Governor Noem’s poo-pooing of the cultivation of a legal and profitable product sounds like communism and cowardice, not the courageous capitalism that South Dakota Governor with vision would espouse.
Is it possible that this dope-Noem- thinks this dope- hemp- is real smokable, enjoy the high and the munchies type dope? She seems confused. Smoke a bowl, Goober, and get your thoughts straight.
Probably wants to figure out what it will take to turn her farm into a profitable hemp operation before she decides what the rules should be. SD sent her to DC for an education and she seems to have learned.
For the Governor or anyone to wring their hands and toss out the “industrial hemp isn’t an economically viable crop” argument is governmental concern trolling of the highest order. I thought we lived in a capitalist society, let individual farmers make the decision whether or not to plant this crop, just like they do with every other crop they plant.
If South Dakota authorities have concerns about roadside inspections of trucks hauling industrial hemp they better get their act in gear. The just passed 2018 Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp and that includes the transport of industrial hemp in interstate commerce. Shipments of industrial hemp will be traveling across South Dakots regardless of what the state does. The only difference will be that under the Noem regime that hemp will not be South Dakota grown. Maybe some truckstop will sell a few gallons of diesel fuel to an interstate hauler passing through, but other than that we are cutting South Dakota out of reaping any financial benefits from a potential new crop.
My good friend Bob posted this on his FB page:
Governor Noem:
Knowing that sending you a letter would be a waste of postage, I have decided to ask you to consider not being so stupid in a public post.
In the face of a trade war that you endorse and that has been disastrous for SoDak farmers, I have no hope that you will even slow down in your stupidity, juvenility and villainy.
For more than 20 years I have lobbied the SoDak legislature for sanity regarding hemp laws. I was rewarded for presenting accurate testimony by massive insultery from legislators. The best rejoinder the legislature could come up with was Rep. Art Fryslie’s, “Farmers might go broke farming hemp.”
When I asked him if he knew anyone who had gone broke farming corn, soybeans, alfalfa, or sunflowers, he scoffed and refused to answer. I suspect you are in his camp of idiocy.
You oppose cannabis as a source of relief for sick, dying and disabled people, thus exposing your general inhuman cruelty. You continue to cite the discredited and juvenile trope, “Marijuana is a gateway drug.” The depths of your stupidity are unmineable.
Having generally given you the benefit of the doubt in this letter, I now implore you to sign any legislation that hits your desk removing SoDak’s barbaric prohibition against the production of a fuel, food, fiber and medical product whose viability in South Dakota is already proven.
If you refuse, I may have to avoid voting for you. Again.
Sleep tight. Pray that god is merciful to those who continue to endorse the opioid epidemic.
Bob Newland
Melissa Mentele, the tireless lobbyist for hemp sanity from Emery SoDak, posted this at “New Approach South Dakota” on FB.
“Here is the reason SD is being shut down on hemp and cannabis. RGA PAC which is Kristi Noems largest donor is a umbrella PAC for alcohol, pharma, tobacco and big corporations.
We got sold out for campaign money. ”
https://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?cycle=2018&ein=113655877&fbclid=IwAR0QoeTH3U8LVuZkeygRSHUhOKDf6QlnpBv3d6TafBKHLzWRHTq0zD5EIp0
Gov. Noem’s affinity for advice and contributions from the Koch Brothers and Koch Political PAC’s is well known.
Industrial hemp is in direct competition with the Koch’s textile portfolio, shown below.
Paper Products: Angelsoft, Brawny, Dixie, Mardi Gras, Quilted Northern, Soft n Gentle, Sparkle, Vanity Fair. Wood: Georgia-Pacific (largest plywood manufacturer in US – also owns most of the paper companies above).
Read the Farm bill. The governor can’t stop S.D. tribes from growing hemp on tribal land or transporting hemp bales to processors.
Maybe she be waiting for the Fed to pony up enough pesos for her and her friends to grift in the name of hemp.
What right does the state have to regulate the production of legal hemp on reservation lands? This looks like a good case to put in front of the Supreme Court, that owes much to Mitch McConnell, as he is the driving force behind the Farm Bill’s blanket law for all the states.
Capitalistic tribal governments could invest a helluva lot less in the production of CBD oils and provide a substantial amount of local employment by setting up their own production facilities for their own crops, than with gambling. $400,000.00 to $800,000.00 is a pretty good investment on a business that has the potential of returns much greater and healthier than sitting in front of a machine. Think of it, you could drive business to the reservations for the purchase of the extracts. Shipping centers to send all around the country with the caption “Genuine Lakota produced extract of organically produced legal Hemp”. The opportunities for tribes are endless with this legal opportunity.
https://precisionextraction.com/2017/03/starting-an-extraction-business-cost-and-roi/
There are a few who already know the value of the production of hemp on the Pine Ridge Reservation as they have had their crops uprooted and carted away by the Federals. Looks like those same Federals would have to protect the crops from NOem and her misnomer rulings. NOem still say NO to the things that would benefit South Dakota’s citizens. As shown above (great link), follow the money and you can see her mug at the hog trough.
Puzzled Bear. Why did Ms Noem vote Yea on the 2018 Farm Bill which included the legalization of industrrial hemp production ??
I want to know if she is rejecting this because it would benefit Alex WhitePlume and others like him. The tribes would benefit greatly from this. They have been trying for decades. They have been trying harder than anyone else. They have the most to benefit and it would help them. They need help. Is this a form of suppression to our Native American community members?
Is she willing to answer why she would deny them this opportunity?
Good point Buckobear, she must have gotten a twofer payoff then. This NOem was schooled by the best corrupted trumpian bunch evahh.
Here’s a suggestion. Copy the letter from Newland to SoDak Governor Noem (posted above). Then go to http://dakotawarcollege.com/noem-encourages-legislators-to-table-industrial-hemp-discussions/#comments and paste it in the comments for the Phat Phough’s stupid post.
Article 11 South Dakota Constitution.
Provided, that for the purpose of establishing, installing, maintaining and operating a hard fiber twine and cordage plant at the state penitentiary at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the Legislature shall provide for a tax for the year 1907 of not to exceed one and one-half mills on each dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property in the state, as ascertained by the last assessment made for state and county purposes.
History: Amendment proposed by SL 1905, ch 71, approved Nov., 1906.
I wonder what they used to make twine in 1905?
Right on. This “woman” consistently showed us she is in the side of corporate and elitist issues. Kinda shove it back into under it’s rock. No good for SD.
In 1970 my friend and I attended a Chicago concert in the Twin Cities. The smell of pot was all over that concert. On the drive back to Sioux Falls, we had this bright idea to harvest some ditch weed to sell. We figured we could get rich with no real overhead. None of us had smoked pot, but we saw nothing wrong with getting rich off someone else’s habit. My interest in ecology was just beginning, and I read up on the habitats that pot grew best in. We scouted out sandy areas near the Sioux River, and we found several areas where weed was doing well. I watched those plants over the summer and when they budded out, we cut them and dried them. My friend, though he’d never smoked pot, decided he wanted to sample the product to see if it was up to snuff, not that he would know. It didn’t go well, he started flipping out and my brother ended up carting him to the hospital. We all decided we would never smoke pot after that experience. We burned our harvest, and all our profits went up in smoke that we made sure we didn’t inhale.
I’m wondering if that plot of pot is still there.
Mr. Pay … I had a couple friends that had your same plan, except they were regular users in the late 60’s. They found out the harsh truth about ditch weed. It won’t get you high but it will get you a year in the pen.
Donald Pay, I know you only intend the best, but I am doubtful that your comments here have helped the progress of hemp farming in South Dakota. Please count to 1,568,932 before you make any more comments about things of which you know nothing.
The US Senate passed their legislation in June 2018 on legalization of industrial hemp. The new Farm Bill allows for crop insurance on industrial hemp. This has been coming for several years, it seems someone should have planned on addressing the developing issues related to legalization. If a farmer has a grow to deliver contract with a processor outside South Dakota I would imagine that would fall under federal law. Once again poor planning from the GOED.
Donald Pay,
Much of the hemp in the Sioux Falls area is residual plants from when the SD Penitentiary made rope and twine before, during and after WWI.
Here’s a radical idea, instead of this legislature and governor dinking around, why don’t they get some of their mostly do nothing committees to start working on hemp rules and regulations. There have got to templates from other states that would apply to South Dakota.
This shouldn’t require a lot of work and there is really no need to further delay hemp legislation.
Is it too much to ask this legislature to do something productive?
Mr. Pay’s friend shows why the demon weed is bad, it is bad.
Jeremiah (grudznick) Murphy works for Republic National Distributing Company-SD (one of the nation’s leading wholesale liquor, wine and alcohol distributors, specializing in wine and spirits). Marijuana is evil only because he gets paid to say so. Jeremiah, you’re as phony as a rubber cigar.
Well, at any rate, ditch weed has extremely low in THC levels. The reason my friend flipped out was because he kept inhaling the smoke deeply and repeatedly for quite a while, trying to get some buzz, but only lowered his blood oxygen levels.
I’ve never been a drug user, and have been anti-legalization all my life. I voted against a recent ballot measure we had in our county regarding legalization of pot. The reason is I know there are kids as dumb as we were who would try something like this. If pot is legalized I want it tightly regulated. But I’m willing to legalize it now because where pot has been legalized, it tends to suppress use of worse drugs, like meth.
Sigh, clearly you did not finish your count sir.
I have a ranch West River .There are years I take money from My 401K to paid the taxes and other bills .We have 130 arces of hay ground .If growing Hemp for paper an other product make the Ranch more money than Hay doesn’t it make Good Business sense to grow hemp . If it legal an a good cash crop I see nothing wrong with giving it a try .
Don, you really should have counted. You’re a bright guy, and I appreciate your coherent analysis and comments. However, your attitude about how “dumb” kids are and using that as justification to maintain anything near the status quo reduces your credibility in my eyes. You appear to be as rabid as the folks who created the DEA, the most brutal and corrupt law enforcement agency which has ever existed in the USA.
CBD is sold in Minnesota in various locations, including some grocery stores. Minnesota is a medical marijuana state, oils only. However, since the farm bill passed, there is nothing barring CBD oils. I wonder if the same is true in SD?
It seems like the SDGOP is trying to kill off family and small farmers. Maybe only the giant CAFO types contribute enough to the SDGOP slush funds.
No doubt, Ron! Why is it up to Governor Noem to tell farmers whether a crop is profitable or not? Let the market decide!
It’s viable CGC (Canopy Growth Corporation) probably the largest cannabis company in Canada (with all sorts of products) is coming south the border to grow hemp. They chose New York because of its favorable political position and the rust belt locations (facilities and labor) will be cheaper for them to grow and process the product. Those advantages may exist here if the state would get on board. Canopy may also be thinking if the U.S. fully legalizes they will have those locations for recreational growing they completely follow Federal laws. We being so grossly conservative like cannabis is heroin is probably part of their position.
As a side note I wonder if Donald’s crop was sprayed with something unintentional or if his friend smoked way too much. This stuff today is VERY strong I’ll tell you that when I was in California … only one puff or you’ll be floating around the atmosphere.
Wisconsin has one year of experience in farmers growing Cannabis for CBD oil. Farmers had to get permits from the state to do this. The crop has to be tested to make sure the THC level is low. The first year was mainly an experiment in what my daughter might term a reverse crop substitution. Some farmers planted a little bit just to experiment with a new crop.
One issue was wet weather, which depressed yield. My understanding is there was some disconnect between the market farmers were promised and the reality at harvest. Some folks had a crop but no place to sell. Some reported the Cannabis was a rather finicky crop, requiring more tending than they had thought.
At any rate there will be more pot grown this season, as farmers try to figure out the agronomy and the market. No one seems to be going all in. Some are getting out of dairy and looking for a new product.
All this talk about CBD oil has me curious (but I’m a highly curious person, always). Does it do anything for “old guy” pain, like knees and wrists and joints? I was bedridden for two years with level eight pain and I can attest that pot does nothing for pain of that intensity.
Porter, I suggest you go to a nearby dispensary and talk to a budtender. Most likely she will have had experience with others who have given her their testimony. Go to two or three dispensaries, then buy a little of something that has been recommended. It won’t cost much and it may be a lifechanging experience.
It is supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties. Try it! Everyone’s body is different, but it also begs the question of diet. Are you overweight? Do you eat a lot of sugar and carbohydrates? It all starts in the gut and an aging frame should not have extra weight.
Good advice, amigo. I don’t drive and the dispensaries near the train are down in downtown Denver. I’ll phone up a budtender and get some feedback. You can buy CBD online here and have it mailed, which would be pretty easy. My daughter’s a nurse and she’s often advising to limit my ibuprofen consumption. Bad for the kidneys. You’re right though. All cannabis products in CO are cheap as hell.
Casper Star reports this:
“A new global trend in agriculture, and an untapped market in much of the United States, may soon be a lucrative opportunity for Wyoming’s farmers.
Hemp, a variety of the Cannabis plant, is a multipurpose crop that has been growing in popularity. The global market for hemp in 2017 was estimated at nearly $4 billion and expected to continue growing over the next several decades.
And in the U.S., recent federal legislation has given hemp the legal go-ahead. Previously, hemp was considered a controlled substance because of its associations with marijuana. However, new laws have removed that classification, and some believe that hemp is the future of American agriculture.
Hemp can’t get you high – but it can be used to make thousands of products. Right now, Kentucky is producing the bulk of the nation’s hemp. But Wyoming’s climate is more suitable for hemp growth than Kentucky’s.”
What part of South Dakota is more like Wyoming?…hint hint…West River.
What part of South Dakota has more reservation land?..you’re way ahead of me.. West River.
White wing scare tactics still rule the roost. The last thing white wingers want is for economic success in anything. If you keep people down with a boot on their neck, you can keep the status quo for the masters. Low pay and low expectations are the perfect mix for a red state.
BTW, a hay meadow would be perfect for growing hemp as it is relatively flat and has water proximity. Go for it west river hay man. I know I want to green light that for the feller who leases our place.
Thanks for your concern, HC. My doctor tells me the reason I’m in such good health can be partially contributed to the fact that I never eat sugar. Never have, which is rare for a chef. Of course, carbs turn to sugar but it’s the refined white and high fructose corn syrup that’ll kill ‘ya. Also I exercise three hours a week. Y’all in SD probably don’t know much about Kaiser Healthcare. It’s a PPO and they insist on compliance with their regimen. You will not smoke, you will not drink to excess and you will take preventative health screenings to monitor your health. That’s how they keep costs down. If you can’t abide by their rules you’re asked to leave the plan.
I wouldn’t say buying recreational cannabis in Colorado is cheap. The dispensaries there are to make a profit.
Porter, get a medical Rx from your doctor there in Colorado and try CBD oil. The dispensaries in Colorado have two entries – one for medical patients and one for recreational. They told me the medical patients with Prescriptions for cannabis have higher levels of THC. People have to have a doctor’s prescription in order to buy medical cannabis in the dispensaries in Colorado otherwise they won’t let you in one.
Yes, Jenny, they are. But their products are pretty reasonable compared with what I pay on the street in SoDak. Of course, when one adds the cost of going to Greeley from Hot Springs, and whatever incidental costs one might encounter on the return trip, my SoDak purchases (including the profits the retailer adds here) are pretty reasonable, too.
When it takes me more than 15 minutes to find a bag in SoDak, I will consider other options.
As an aside … there’s a concerted movement in CO to require health insurance companies to cover medical marijuana in their complement of pharmaceutical medicines. The thinking is that if it’s prescribed medicine from a licensed MD it shouldn’t be exempted from your coverage.
Jenny … My pot smoking acquaintances tell me that before legalization an ounce of the best was $400. Now, (from the online catalog) it’s $140 – $260. The extra $$$ went to the black market, I suppose.
https://thefarmco.com/online-marijuana-store/
WICOMEOTRT. A new handle inspired by the wit of Mr/Ms Inflatable. Hot Springs to Greeley incidental costs? Intriguing
♬”Driven the back roads
So I wouldn’t get weighed”♬ – by my friend, Forrest George’s Dad 1971
A harvest video from France, I believe; Europe for sure. Not sure how a machine like this will make industrial hemp profitable. It does separate seed from the fiber nicely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb6MvPBPnL4
Fascinating Francis. Thanks.
So it looks like the top header trims the buds of the hemp and the bottom head cuts the stalks, placing them in a windrow. There’s really no combining, as in separating seeds from chaff, like with seed grains.
It’s so green. I expected it to be dry like other crops, so that was a surprise.
Having both processes in one machine saves a trip through the field and mashing some of the crop, but I’ll bet that combine costs farmers their right arm and left leg.
Mr. Schaffer, here is a prototype in Colorado that looks like it would be more in line with CBD harvesting and then processed into actual hemp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv468ctrEY4
Here ya go farmers, here is what NOem doesn’t want you to have that the rest of the country and Canada are already making plans for. Soybeans and tobacco, out like a bad habit. Hemp is where it’s at…everywhere but, not here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUs–6DAlaA
Combine looks to cost around $200,000.00 for the 6 way harvester.
When I first heard the Senate passed the bill on industrial hemp, I looked to YouTube for videos from the US. Most US videos are from Kentucky, I wonder where Mitch McConnell’s investments are in the hemp industry, production or processing.
Everyone in the world either knows that cannabis (hemp) provides useful products, or has no reason to care. The governor of South Dakota knows that cannabis provides useful products, that it has a history of production in SoDak, and that the laws prohibiting cannabis’ production or possession have produced negative public safety numbers. We have been given a governor who is 1)stupid, 2)uninformed, 3)malicious, 4)crazy, or 5)all four. There are no other options.
Good one CIRD. Also, follow the money. Kristi’s a paid shill for the Koch Brothers. Koch’s own GP and Invista. Hemp is in direct competition with the Koch’s textile, paper and fabric industries.
Georgia-Pacific
This is a paper company that produces paper, tissue, toilet paper, and building products and includes the well-known brands Quilted Northern tissue, Brawny paper towels and Dixie cups. Aside from these products, wallboard napkins, boxes, paper dispensers, and pulp round out the company’s offerings.
The company employs more than 35,000 people in over 200 locations. Georgia-Pacific claims to be environmentally responsible. It is based in Atlanta, Georgia, but markets worldwide.
Invista
Invista makes spandex, resins, chemicals, and polymers. It is a spin-off of DuPont, now owned by the Koch brothers. The company concentrates on textiles and owns numerous brands such as Lycra, Tactel and Thermolite, as well as brands for outdoor gear, carpet (Stainmaster) and luggage.
In total, Invista owns 23 brands and is involved in fabrics, fibers, plastics, polymers, chemicals, and the licensing of technology. The company operates in 20 countries and has 10,000 employees.
https://www.investopedia.com/insights/companies-owned-koch-brothers/
CIRD, I pick 1, 2 & 3.
Bingo, Porter. Noem has no problem throwing SD farmers, or even the entire state, under the bus to keep Chuckie and Davie happy with her.
The tribes will be able to do pretty good with this hemp, just like they did with gambling. No tax collections either, I can feel the win.
Mr. CIRD, is it possible, and I’m just asking so I’m sure you knowwhatimtalkingabouthere, that Ms. Noem is leary of certain rude, profane, drug dealing interests piggy backing on this fine hemp rope product and then foisting other things like the demon weed, which is bad, very bad, or the other drugs the demon weed leads to upon the poorest of the poor and ignorantest if the ignorant South Dakotans, like those who live in, for instance, Hermosa?
I was talking to my good friend Bill, and even he was, as you know, just sayin…
Governor Noem states the obvious and gets hailed as a brilliant polly tish un.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/431175-south-dakota-governor-state-devastated-by-trump-trade-wars
Hemp is cool, solar is hot hot hot. Release the beasts of bankrolling farmers and let them farm what is right for the soul.
“ORION, Ill.— Randy DeBaillie pointed to the power meter on his snow-covered farm: Even on a foggy, monochromatic day, with the sun barely piercing the clouds, the flat black panels planted nearby in two long rows were generating electricity.
“There’s enough energy produced to run the whole complex,” said DeBaillie, 50, who farms 6,500 acres with his brother and cousin. They typically grow corn and soybeans each spring, but this year they want to put more solar panels on 15 acres — and sell the energy.
The earnings, he said, would be about three times what an average harvest would yield there.” Washington Post 2/22/2019
Let us once again become the “Sunshine State” with power to the people from the sun and from our soil.
Is the chemistry of the hemp sister of the demon weed really proven to better the chemical balance of the dirt? I mean, why aren’t the dirt people out screaming for the sister of the demon weed to be planted in the east river dirts?
As to wind power, clearly the facts have said “pppphhhhhhhtttttttt.”
Indeed hemp itself has stood the test of time and usefulness. The early drafts of our Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper with the only thing the “dirt people” were screaming was “Independence”. That is all these farmers want now. Farmers want the independence to farm hemp and to grow power from wind and solar on lands they farm. They long for a market that will sustain them. Farmers clearly cannot depend on the government to provide a market, so they must create the market. Hemp will help to provide that in a profitable crop rotation. Solar and wind power will also do the same for their farm income.
But Jerry, big GOP government keeps getting in their way.
Indeed, you would have thought that with Putin involved with our takeover, the Department of Agriculture would have followed more of the new Russian farming practices.
“Agriculture in Russia survived a severe transition decline in the early 1990s as it struggled to transform from a command economy to a market-oriented system. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, large collective and state farms – the backbone of Soviet agriculture – had to contend with the sudden loss of state-guaranteed marketing and supply channels and a changing legal environment that created pressure for reorganization and restructuring. In less than ten years, livestock inventories declined by half, pulling down demand for feed grains, and the area planted to grains dropped by 25%.
The use of mineral fertilizer and other purchased inputs plummeted, driving yields down. Most farms could no longer afford to purchase new machinery and other capital investments. Following a nearly ten-year period of decline, Russian agriculture has experienced gradual ongoing improvement. The transition to a more market-oriented system has introduced an element of fiscal responsibility, which has resulted in increased efficiency as farmers try to maintain productivity while adjusting the resource constraints. The relatively smaller corporate farms and family farms that have emerged and grown stronger in the new market environment are now producing in aggregate value more than the total output of large corporate farms that first succeeded the traditional collectives.”
Even in Russia the farmer has figured out that markets drive profitability to keep the barn door from falling off. If there are no markets for your goods, you must create those markets that will sustain the goods you bring forth. To simply think that one market is your only venue, then all you need do is look around to see how that has worked. Hemp is a good place to start and so is renewable energy. Both are needed badly in this country and South Dakota could be a powerful source for all.
Might want to start limiting milk production to save the floundering dairy industry instead of building moar bigly cafos and letting G Marky make money off them.
https://civileats.com/2019/03/11/can-this-radical-approach-to-dairies-save-us-farms/
Actually makes too much sense for stoopid wingnuts to get a clew about it.
Mike, I wish you were going to Colorado with us.
Canada is following the EU on controlling milk production as we should.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/agribusiness-and-food/eu-re-introduces-milk-supply-controls-a-year-after-quotas-lifted-1.2726088
The other great proven idea would be to pasteurize the milk so it would not need to be refrigerated prior to opening. That would save a tremendous amount of energy needed to keep milk cold at the super markets. Go to a market in Europe and you buy your milk on the grocery shelves…along with the eggs. No need for CAFO’s, just smart planners.
Jerry, you can get shelf stable milk here too, but most Americans don’t like it because they’re not used to it.
I find no difference in the taste, but I do find a difference in my conscience of not wasting energy. The idea of walking down the cooler aisles, in the summer, and shivering from the cold that comes from those coolers, disappoints me. Milk producers have a terrible road as they have invested so heavily into their operations of producing the best product available, only to find it a worthless commodity that enslaves them further into debt and despair. The government should buy them out of debt, then cull their herds to regulate production just like they do with oil. Then do something with all that cheese that no one wants either.