[Dialogue] FARM BILL IMPERATIVES
opossum2 at att.net
opossum2 at att.net
Fri Feb 16 23:30:25 EST 2007
David and Lin,
Thank you for this submission. I can't tell you how much I am in agreement!
Steve Rhea
Houston, Tx.
Still trying to be one who cares in the petroleum industry.
-------------- Original message from David & Lin Zahrt <chbnb at netins.net>: --------------
> 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
> | (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.
>
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