Thinking of farming before Big Ag took over

 

Bill Knight column for 12-28, 29 or 30, 2020

 Winter is when farmers and farm communities think, plan and remember, inside where it’s warm. In the cold of 2021, who’ll recall Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in 2019 inadvertently conceding at a World Dairy Expo, “In America, the big get bigger and the small will go out.”

He’s right.

And that’s wrong.

My first job beyond delivering newspapers, mowing lawns and shoveling snow was as a full-time farmhand for months one season for a family who owned and operated two farms on two sides of the small town where I grew up. One was 160 acres not far from the old county “poor house,” and the other was 160 acres across a state highway from a big empty Gothic place people called the House of Seven Gables.

One of the best jobs I’ve had, it was good labor. Farm families had decent work and decent lives. Temporarily sharing a small part of that, I spent spring and summer plowing rough ground, harrowing it to a fine, plant-able condition, helping plant, cultivating rows, mowing waterways, walking bean fields to pluck out weeds and corn, trimming brush from fence lines, and doing chores on rainy days.

It was a time that was still benefiting from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, when the first Farm Bill (the Agricultural Adjustment Act) set fair prices for commodities and controlled surplus production (which cut prices farmers could get.). Federal programs saw farm income jump 50% from 1932 to 1935, stabilizing rural communities and their schools, commerce, roads and so on for decades.

Farming and rural America are barely recognizable from the 1930s and before – but also dramatically different since 54 years ago. Starting in the 1980s, government policies started changing. California Gov. Ronald Reagan prevented farmworkers from unionizing (combining some politicians’ attacks on labor and farming). Consolidation accelerated, increasing costs to farmers, limiting competition, and raising prices for consumers. Now four corporations control between 54% and 88% of chicken processing, swine and beef packing, and corn and soybean seeds, the National Farmers Union (NFU) reports.

Positive or harmless changes include no-till and conservation practices and technologies such as using computers in tractor cabs, GPS and drones. But much was sacrificed in the name of expansion: Topsoil is vanishing; Genetically Modified Organism breakthroughs like Roundup-Ready seeds and Bt corn broke the bonds between grower and ground; financial desperation for greater yields not for food but for plastic, pop and petroleum blends has meant planting fencerow to fencerow, forgetting alfalfa and clover to restore fallow fields’ fertility.

Gone are countless silos, windmills, seed & feed stores, hatcheries, livestock sale barns, local suppliers, and grain elevators in small-town rail yards where trains had stopped running.

The destruction of independent, family-farm agriculture resulted in the gutting of small-town America, too. My hometown lost a third of its population, its butcher, hardware store, sporting goods/auto supply business, dime store, lumberyard, machine shop, shoe store, jeweler, most grocers, clothing stores, newsstand…

Nationally, that hollowing out contributed to job loss, income inequality, and divisions that led to hardship generally and particularly substance abuse, divorces and suicides.

Meanwhile, a corporate-cozy Republican Party continued to enable consolidation, and a disappointing Democratic Party failed to effectively advocate for something beyond “trickle-down” nonsense that enriched the wealthy and enfeebled the rest. Both political parties virtually ignore rural America – except for Big Ag.

To revive farming that’s economically and environmentally sustainable – to help heal the rifts among us – common ground must be as cultivated and nurtured as farm ground used to be. Rural residents and producers should see mutual interests with urban dwellers and workers. And such a united front should demand reform. A starting point comes from the NFU, which seeks to restore farm competition and revive family farms in two ways:

* Establish a moratorium on large mergers in agriculture, food and beverage manufacturing, and retail grocery, and

* strengthen antitrust laws to improve market competition and fairness for family farmers and consumers.

Then future generations might have memories of doing good work and living decent lives.

‘Green’ infrastructure fights climate change, promotes justice

Bill Knight column for 12-24, 25 or 26, 2020

 During a season celebrating with red and green decorations, it’s appropriate to consider an idea that suggests an environmentally friendly “green” approach to a common local problem that can put communities in the “red.”

Changing weather patterns in Illinois are leading to increased precipitation that means more flooded streets, water in basements, and stormwater-runoff woes for cities, reported Emily Steele with University of Illinois Extension. But one increasingly popular solution to this nuisance – green infrastructure – can work and also address other social challenges according to an Extension study.

“We are getting more rain in Illinois, which means communities are facing increasing stormwater management challenges,” says Lisa Merrifield, UofI Extension Community and Economic Development specialist and lead author on a white paper published by the North Central Regional Water Network.

“Many communities are turning to green infrastructure as part of their solution, which when done right can not only serve to stop local flooding, but it can also provide green space and jobs for marginalized communities,” said Merrifield, who worked with three other extension offices and three professionals from the private sector on the 51-page study, titled “Building an Equitable and Just Green Infrastructure Strategy in the North Central Region.”

Green infrastructure practices use plants, permeable surfaces and landscaping to store, filter, and reduce stormwater flow to sewer systems or to surface waters.

“We found that some communities are coupling the two, but most are only thinking of green infrastructure as a stormwater management tool,” Merrifield says. “Communities are interested, but need help figuring out how. Illinois Extension staff can serve as a trusted source for information on using green infrastructure to promote environmental and social justice.”

The report offers ideas that can be useful to community development professionals, educators, water experts and everyday citizens to push for the integration of green infrastructure projects into communities and for civic engagement in social issues such as pollution and lack of access to green space.

“Climate change will bring more intense storms, droughts, heatwaves and other severe weather events.\,” the authors say. “Histories of subjugation and institutional racism in the United States mean that the communities most exposed to these events are those that are already facing inequities,” the authors say. “Low-income communities in both urban and rural areas are on the front line of climate change. To rise to these challenges, we cannot continue to plan for it using the tools of the past.”

Based on findings from 18 listening sessions in 12 states to identify and prioritize barriers and opportunities for communities seeking to implement socially just green infrastructure practices, the study made five recommendations:

* Keep it simple. Keep a project simple to lower the cost of installation and maintenance.

* Emphasize co-benefits. Emphasize other societal benefits in addition to stormwater management to earn funding and support.

* Design careers, not jobs. In a growing field such as green infrastructure, creating careers rather than entry-level jobs can increase success.

* Provide education at every level. Providing education sets communities up for long-term success.

* Build relationships and establish partnerships. Like many interdisciplinary projects, collaborating with partners is crucial to successful project implementation.

 

To learn more about the possibilities of applying such ideas locally, or for more information on the Network’s green infrastructure team, visit the website at https://northcentralwater.org/ or for the study itself, go to https://northcentralwater.org/files/2020/09/EquitableGreenInfrastructure-9-24-2020.pdf

Of kings and shepherds

 

Bill Knight column for 12-21, 22 or 23, 2020

 Christmas and Christianity too often conjure thoughts of commercialization and conservatism that might shock the Messiah. Still, compassion generally and especially an identification with regular working people survives, as shown in the following piece. The original was published 82 years ago this week in the New York World-Telegram, written by columnist Heywood Broun, founder of The Newspaper Guild labor union.

 … From near at hand and from distant lands there came visitors to Bethlehem, kings and shepherds. They followed the same star. Somewhere in the streets of the little town these columns met, and there was talk between the wise men and the shepherds as to their mission. They exchanged such information as they had about the birth of the King of kings and where He was to be found.

One of the royal party leaned down from his camel to listen to a shepherd who said, “We were in the field watching our flock and suddenly an angel appeared. We were frightened, and the angel said to us, ‘Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord… Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And then suddenly the sky was filled with a great light and voices sang, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.’

“And the light faded, and we decided to leave just one man with the flock and we went up to Bethlehem…”

The eldest of the wise men explained, “For us it was a star, a new star, and it seemed to us that the star beckoned, and we gathered together treasures of gold and frankincense and myrrh.” And he pointed behind him: camels heavily laden with bales and bundles of precious stuffs. And the shepherds seemed ashamed and said, “We have brought nothing. We came straight from the field when the angel spoke to us…”

The shepherds were abashed in the presence of the three kings and their servants and their camels bearing the burden of rich gifts. They could see and detect the place of their destination at the end of the street. The star shone directly on the stable. And because it was only a small place and the party of the kings was large, the shepherds made as if to step aside so that these great men from a distant land might go first with their precious gifts… But the eldest of the wise men waved to the shepherds to join his servants and not to humble themselves.

“Whether it be from far or near,” he said, “we are on the same mission. We should enter into the house together.”

But the shepherds were reluctant, and one of them answered, “First must come your servants with your precious gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh… There is nothing we possess fit to bring as a gift to the King of kings. We will linger and tarry here until you have given over your treasure.”

The city was dark and still, but in this street there was a babble of voices and the sound of camel drivers calling to the great beasts to kneel so that they might dismount and unfasten the thongs which held in place the treasure chests and the sacks of incense. And the cavalcade drew up before the door with clatter, noise and tumult. The shepherds were silent, for they had seen many wonders in a single evening, and not the least of these were the kings of the East and their camel train.

In the street the servants opened cedar chests and revealed great bars of gold heavier than the stones which lay in the meadow where the flocks had been left to graze.

Through the narrow door and up to the manger itself strode the kings and great bearded men bearing treasure. The timid shepherds followed and ranged themselves in the back of the room against the stalls of the stable, for they were affrighted to be in the presence of princes and of the King of kings.

The eldest of the wise men said, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him…”

And Mary, the mother, looked up at the great throng and paid no heed to the gifts of gold and incense but placed her finger upon her lips and said to the shepherds and to the kings, “The baby sleepeth.”