[Dialogue] FARM BILL IMPERATIVES

[David & Lin Zahrt]

Guess we need to start sounding off. I sent this email to my Senator,  
Tom Harkin. He's on the House Agricultural Committee.
I know there's more we need to make some 'noise' about, so this is  
just a start.


Dear Senator Harkin,

My Dad returned to the family farm in 1946-160 acres of Loess Hills  
and 100 acres of cropland out on the Little Sioux River bottom. It  
became a Century Farm in the 1960's. In 1946 he assessed his ability  
to make an adequate living as a farmer and got a job as a Rural Mail  
Carrier!

I grew up on the farm and left in 1955. I returned 38 years later.  
Farming has changed! It seems there has been a not-so-gradual-attempt  
to crowd out small farm/farmer. I did a cost assessment and  
discovered that the government subsidy on grain allows a farmer to  
break even. The subsidy also provides an opportunity for Archer  
Daniels Midland and Cargill to purchase corn for less than it costs  
to produce it!

In the 1990's I purchased our retiring tenant's half of the cow/calf  
herd. I discovered that through the 90's I was raising cattle for a  
hobby. Early in the 21st century IBP was sued by the Cattlemen's  
Association for price fixing. The Cattlemen's Association won the  
suit. I recognize that the markets have ups and downs but I also  
recognize the role that agribusiness is playing in dominating the  
market, influencing federal policy, and systematically squeezing the  
small to medium sized farmer out of being. So rural sociality, one of  
the cornerstones of our nation, is rapidly being exterminated by  
agribusiness consumerism.

Lately, in Western Iowa, we have an ethanol craze. It has come Monona  
County. The County is rezoning 400+ acres of cropland. It will be  
torn up and replaced by an industrial processing complex. There is  
promise to build a coal-fired plant to produce all of the extra  
energy that will be needed to turn corn into ethanol. Nowhere is  
there mention of the enormous and self-destructive (if not suicidal)  
costs and the rate of return.
I'm including an article written by Duane Sand, who works with the  
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. The article details some of those  
costs and suggests some policy to accompany ethanol production-20 lb  
of topsoil/gallon; and untold gallons of water; coal emissions for  
substandard air quality are easily identifiable and unnamed costs.

For what?? It's another scam driven by consumerism that will use our  
natural resources-soil, water, and air-to turn oil into ethanol. The  
by-products are scarcely worth mentioning. The end result-devastation  
of our natural resources in exchange for a quick economic fix for a  
few and the illusion that we are making 'progress' in producing more  
energy so we can disregard the need to find renewable resources and  
learn how to reduce our unending desire to consume more and more energy.

Those on the Titanic in First Class didn't want things that would  
affect their lifestyle-such as excessive life boats on their deck.  
They also chose not to allow those in 2nd and 3rd Classes into their  
religious services. However, they were not able to say as the ship  
went down, "Only your part of the ship is sinking."

Its time to-
* Cap Government subsidy of agribusiness and the oversized farming  
corporations and create incentives for beginning, small, and medium  
sized farmers.
* Design a farm bill that rewards conservation and sustainable  
agricultural practice and excludes practices that verifiably,  
demonstrably, and knowingly use up and deplete our natural resources.
* Promote and encourage the development of locally grown and marketed  
food products so that local economies are able to pay themselves and  
their nearby communities for their expenditure of time, money, and  
energy and significantly reduce the amount of time and resource spent  
on transportation.
* Put an end to agricultural practices that reward agribusiness by  
mortgaging the future for generations to come.

Sincerely,


David Zahrt

Enc: Duane Sand, Ethanol; INHF Fall 2006
  This article first appeared in INHF's Fall 2006 magazine. by Duane  
Sand

By some calculations, producing one gallon of ethanol is preceded by  
20 pounds of soil erosion-which depletes Iowa's land and pollutes our  
water. If ethanol is to be a truly renewable fuel, its production  
must be tied to improved soil conservation.
I have been a proud user of ethanol blend gasoline for many years. I  
believe renewable fuels are needed to reduce oil dependence, build  
Iowa's economy and reduce greenhouse gases that cause global warming.  
However, ethanol can't be considered a renewable fuel if its  
production essentially "mines" precious topsoil from highly erodible  
slopes.

Little is said about the soil erosion associated with the corn crop  
that feeds ethanol. According to the USDA National Resources  
Inventory, water erodes an average of 4.9 tons of topsoil per acre  
annually from Iowa's cultivated cropland. When I divide that soil  
loss by the average corn yield (173 bushels estimated for 2006) and  
then by 2.7 gallons of ethanol produced per bushel, I find a ratio of  
20 pounds of soil washed away per gallon of ethanol produced.

In other words, Iowa's imminent 2 billion gallon per year ethanol  
processing capacity is likely associated with over 20 million tons of  
soil erosion-our free ride paid by future generations. To make  
ethanol a truly renewable fuel, we must heavily invest in helping  
farmers improve soil conservation. Crop-based fuels are renewable  
only when every farmer's conservation plan shows enough practices are  
being used to sustain soil productivity.

To get there, we must educate ethanol's consumers, producers and  
policy-makers of the need to more than double the conservation  
investment in Iowa. This is a big request, but it is doable:

Congress will save billions of dollars in commodity subsidy payments  
if ethanol raises grain prices as projected. Those savings could  
easily restore the budget cuts that have prevented Conservation  
Security Program rewards for all active conservation farmers.

At the state level, our legislature generously offers more tax  
subsidies to gas stations for selling ethanol than it spends on soil  
conservation incentives for farmers.

The state general fund is growing, partly because of the biofuels  
industry, and much more of that money is needed to protect the  
natural resources supplying that industry.

It is also appropriate to redirect some of Iowa's motor vehicle use  
tax and the environmental protection charge on motor fuels so drivers  
help abate their environmental impacts.

Iowa farmers have made steady progress in conserving soil over the  
last 20 years, and government can now afford to help them do even  
better. It is time to make greater soil and water conservation  
investments to pursue a truly renewable energy policy.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| David and Lin Zahrt
| Country Homestead Bed and Breakfast
| 22133 Larpenteur Rd
| Turin, IA 51040     <mailto:chbnb at netins.net>
| (712) 353-6772 Phone
  http://www.country-homestead.com

-- Doorway to the Loess Hills --
Where a change-of-pace is as good as a vacation,
And a sense-of-place is soothing to the soul.