The theme for Kristi Noem’s first Governor’s Agricultural Summit (in Sioux Falls) may as well be “Get Big or Get Out.” The sponsors and speakers are pretty much all corporate. As Bob Mercer notes, attendees will get a feedlot-bribe pitch from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, an update on big-farm welfare from former soybean CEO turned industry-capture Deputy USDA Secretary Steve Censky, and an industry propaganda workshop from Roxi Beck of the Big-Ag front group Center for Food Integrity.
If the Governor really wanted to highlight diversity in South Dakota agriculture, she’d have a session with Homegrown Sioux Falls to talk about local self-sufficiency. She’d have speakers from the SD Local Foods Co-Op to talk about how to put more South Dakota-grown food on our plates. She’d invite the Sioux Falls Chicken Tenders to talk about helping city folks raise their own food.
Instead, faux-farm girl Noem continues our state government’s tradition of ignoring small independent farmers and coaxing all to bow before the ag-industrial complex.
The Governor’s Big-Ag Summit starts Wednesday at 1:45 p.m. at the Dennyplex in Sioux Falls. It runs through Thursday afternoon, concluding with a town hall on emerald ash borer. SDPB will live-stream the summit.
I’ve long felt that the state should begin an initiative to market ag tourism in the Sioux Falls, I-29 corridor. Cater to the foodie crowd and highlight artisan cheese makers, speciality meat markets, orchards, vinyards, farmer’s markets and bed and breakfasts. Post suggested weekend itineraries, show how flights into Sioux Falls are easy with non-stop flights available from Minneapolis, Chicago and Atlanta. Agriculture and tourism can and should work hand in hand.
Noem goes with what she knows, the bigger you get, the bigger the subsidies get. Farm Burro has blood on their hands. They have advocated for big ag for like forever.
Hear, hear Nick Nemec. His suggestion could be the main focus of Gov. Noem’s pheasant hunt party. Instead of trying to sell camouflaged dog coveralls to hunters, focus on promoting artisan cheeses, charcuterie, hard amber durum pasta (a pheasant shaped pasta would go great with creamy, roasted butternut squash), fruit, and wine. There’ll be lots of out of state business folks in the mood to browse.
Hope someone brings this up at the big ag vomit… https://the-immoral-minority.com/trump-administration-suspends-data-collecting-for-investigation-into-honey-bee-deaths/
This will really help out farmers in a wingnuttery sorta way.
Trump administration and Trump supporters are so far to the fringe they’ve decided true science is their political enemy. Luckily for America, Democrats are solidly in the center of scientific research.
Nick, would establishing an I-29 ag-tourism corridor (complete with lots of homemade burgers and fresh garden toppings!) get in the way of the state’s commitment to making I-29 a CAFO corridor?
Jim Hightower has written an excellent opinion piece detailing for the ignorant just how bad the farm crisis is.
A stunning fact I was unaware of is about Wisconsin. It wasn’t long ago that the state bragged of being the nation’s number one dairy producer. Wisconsin’s ID was Holstein cattle, yellow wheels and wedges of cheese and frothing glasses of milk.
Being overtaken by California was one loss, but in 2019 the cratered milk prices mean that Wisconsin is losing dairy farms at the rate of Two Per Day! Hightower says the catastrophe is caused by corporate monopolies, financial manipulation and rigged ag policies.
The entire down and dirty is here:
bit.ly/30kh87d
Plenty of fodder to make this ag summit less worthless.
Cory, we can only hope. Giant CAFOs and monster dairies don’t need, or shouldn’t need government support.
Ms Debbo, if you enjoy Jim Hightower, you can read monthly columns at otherwords.org.
Thank you, Mr. Iowa.
Farm Aid will be in Alpine Valley, Wisconsin, this year. Tickets go on sale Friday!
I 29 a CAFO corridor and Nick’s Ag tourism might be a bit of a conflict. Enjoying anything food while inhaling the smell of confinement hogs don’t really go well together.
Wall Street banks bailing on farm CRISIS…. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-lending-insight/wall-street-banks-bailing-on-troubled-us-farm-sector-idUSKCN1U618F
Drumpf adviser, Kudlow, says he doubts China trade deal gets done this year. I guess it wouldn’t be cricket to rub it in?
“Ten states, all in the Midwest, received three-quarters of the $8.6 billion payout in what was officially called the Market Facilitation Program. Minnesota farmers received the third-most aid, behind only those in Illinois and Iowa.
“The data show that big farms in Minnesota, many of them experienced in securing federal subsidies, were able to find legal ways around limits that capped payments to each farmer at $125,000.”
is.gd/g99hTs Strib paywall
The gist of the article is not news to us. The $ went mostly to big farms that found ways to get around the limit for several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Chuck Grassley, Mike’s favorite senator 😉, is outraged, outraged I tell you!
“The largest payment in Minnesota was $789,772 to Hader Farms Partnership near Zumbrota. The partnership has proved to be deft at securing government subsidies even in normal times. According to the Environmental Working Group’s database of farm subsidies, Hader Farms received $7.6 million in subsidy payments from 1995 to 2017.”
“Minnesota farmers had a brutal year in 2018, with median income falling by 8% to $26,055. Dairy farmers are in a long-term crisis and corn and soybean prices had been slumping for years, but the trade war with China took a specific toll on soybean prices. Minnesotans, who mostly grow their crop for export to China, were hit harder than soybean farmers in other parts of the country.”
Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, “We have to be honest, if there hadn’t been an election coming up in the fall of 2018, we more than likely would not have seen that type of payment.”