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Brad Wilson
Springville, IA
Radical Moderate: Basic decency, but when the formation is off course, leave, go back to decency.
Organic transition farmer: pasture poultry, lamb, beef, goat. Direct marketing to farmers markets & grocery.
Recent Activity
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Brad commented on the petition |This is great legislation. It makes the big corporations pay fair prices, without blaming farmers for any compensatory farm subsidies (it has no subsidies). It's needed because dairy prices don't self correct in free markets. Dairy farmers shouldn't be forced to subsidize corporations (and through them, consumers), as they have been doing. Dairy farmers themselves have been getting no share of our food dollar, none at all, but rather paying into other shares.
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Brad signed the petition |
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Brad commented on the article |Here in Iowa this year we won 6 out of 6 state legislature fights, as Republican Governor Terry Branstad came back into office to try to imitate what happened in Wisconsin. 2 were attempts to gut the DNR. Another was to block regulations to protect air and water quality from factory farm pollution. Another was money to fund factory farms, another was stripping our right to sue factory farm polluters, and the last of the 6 was the factory farm whistleblower legislation. Iowa CCI understands effective grassroots organizing.
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Brad commented on the article |This is very important. It's great that Food and Water Watch is bringing it out to the food blogs.
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Brad commented on the article |Note also that African American Farmers of the Federation of Southern Land Cooperatives have called for living wage farm prices for black cotton farmers and poor farmers around the world: "Ensure that farmers receive a fair living wage." Poor farmers should not subsidize our food purchases, and the same holds for the wages question. African American Farmers want price floors and supply management, but short of that (these policies are still almost always unknown in the food movement) they need subsidies, and todays subsidy rates are set too low. (With adequate price floors and supply management farmers need no compensatory subsidies.) For more depth: "U.S. Cotton Program & Black Cotton Farmers in the United States"
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Brad commented on the article |Ooops! I forgot to mention that that ag-boy network against profit has lots of members: NPPC, National (not American) Corn Growers, American Soybean Association, Farm Bureau, etc.
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Brad commented on the article |
Nice job!
None of the farm organizations that have worked for fair trade farm prices have signed onto this. The only farm related support comes from those who favor having the US lose money on farm exports. Guess who!
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Brad signed the petition | -
Brad commented on the article |The farm share of the food dollar fell to 7.7¢, and even lower, not 20¢, and the overall projection is for it to reach zero by 2020: Steward Smith, http://mcspolicycenter (dot) umaine.edu/files/pdf_mpr/SmithS_V2N1.pdf The key point here is to remove the Monsanto, John Deere, etc. (input complex) share from the farm share. The farm share has fallen dramatically, as the shares of the input and output complexes have risen dramatically. In particular, farm program crops like corn and wheat, get very low shares of the food dollar.
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Brad commented on the article |Chris Wilson's long comment is all opinion for personal defense, ("we know a lot," we're "truly interested in knowing the truth,") and promotion of AgriWomen. It's fine to be proud of your org., but this is a debate, and Chris makes farm women look bad. Pure PR spin, no facts.
Were's the beef? Not at the facebook link? Meagre sources are limited to Time and vague references to government, or "it has been proven" or "generally accepted. Ditto, it makes farm women look weak. It's just PR spin. Ok, some people want to believe it, and "Like" it at facebook.
I see no acknowledgement of what consumers increasingly demand, (WOW! BIG MISTAKE) but rather denial, and corporate spin. Of 29 Facebook items, 11 defend non farm entities (Packers3, bon.9,10,11,12,26, monsanto,14,15,16,17) and these are bad choices.(they Haven't seen "The Corporation?") 7 more defend factory and feedlot systems4,8,19,20,21,22,23,24,25. Another defends pesticides27. That's 21 of 29, over 2/3, showing the project NOT to be family farm oriented at all. Oh, and 3 criticize organics7/slow food1/Salatin18.
Note that I'm not making vague personal claims about how much I know because I'm a farmer with NGO experience in sustainable farming & food.
Farmers ARE unfairly bashed, including in the food movement and by Chris defending us! (#28: Concentration is good because farms are going broke?!)
There's a lot Chris's organization is keeping farmer members in the dark about. It's what I've called a "Farmie" group.
Hey, and I thought I was a leading critic of Food Inc. and Michael Pollan and "Foodies" in general! (Click on my name*.) The food movement does bash farmers, but also defends real farming much better than American Agri Women, at least here, as I more or less prove with my numbers. The values of the food movement are good for real farming, as are almost all of it's policy positions (but see my Pollan Petition,* etc.). Family farm organizations are in strong agreement with the food movement on all one key positions. Unknowingly, foodies usually side with agribusiness on the Commodity Title,* misunderstanding subsidies.
Family farm: family-sized, live on or near, does the work, generally owns it all, makes the management decisions, patronizes local businesses. Merely owned by a family but not sized & structured is not the accepted definiton. Real farming (vs producing) is not opening Monsanto boxes and reading directions, it's managing diverse systems of crops and livestock. It's great for our economy (#13) while corporate sized/structured farms reduce wealth and jobs creation, (59 studies, ALL agree, John Ikerd: "CAFOs vs Rural Communities")
This all needs more discussion. Chris, do you offer any place, (ie. like here where you're allowed in,) where we can go and discuss this with your members, or do you block that? (I saw no place for comments at the facebook page.)
