Farmer bailout is yet another funnel to white men

[live love laugh]

I have a real problem with the farmers $16 billion bailout. While most of Americans—meaning most non-Trump supporters—are struggling under just the escalating prices due to tariffs Trump is funneling $$ once again to his base. Because after all, who are America’s farmers and agricorp owners if not primarily white men?

The government should represent everybody.

[3Hotdogs]

1. My favorite. Grassley got, I think, $40,000 in the bailout.

He said he accepted the money in order to be in solidarity with his fellow farmers.


NOW, THAT IS A PAIR OF BALLS !

[Lucky Luciano]

2. Yes, it took a pair to say that was the reason to accept indeed! nt

[ProudLib72]

7. WTF? Please find a source for that and post it!

[3Hotdogs]

8. It was on a public radio broadcast.

I am in the car a lot and spend much travel time with the radio. It was on a show last week.

[ProudLib72]

9. I found a few articles about it, but none mentioned the amount

Seems he's done it before:

For the second time, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley will apply for financial assistance from the federal government to lessen the impact of trade tariffs on his northeast Iowa farm.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/24/chuck-grassley-seek-federal-farm-bailout-cash-offset-donald-trump-tariffs-china-trade-war/1209374001/

[3Hotdogs]

10. Washingto Post reports he is elegible for up to $34k this year.

The amount depends on what he plants or grows. Final amount will not be known until he files.

[MontanaFarmer]

3. As a farmer and a white man,

I completely agree with the OP. Farm groups, including mine, have been crying for help, but I think it's the wrong approach. It's a bandaid meant to hold the political line. Plus, one can't help but notice the hypocrisy dripping from all this, what with these folks often screaming the loudest about socialism and government overreach.
I wonder what we expect from this magical new trade deal, should it happen? Folks expect this to solve all our issues, but if we really want a surviving rural America, and a diversified food system, farm policy needs an overhaul. Supply management/ inventory control on the big 3 commodities, more incentives for species diversification and for young and small producers, and force the big guys to take more risk if they want to expand, rather than continuing to subsidize farms getting as huge as they want.
But back to the OP, this is about trump shoring up votes, and my contemporaries have shown no sign that they're smart enough to see through this clown. What sucks, and what I'd ask folks in the DU community to consider and remember, is that while farmers are largely trump supporters, in reality there's a ton of us out here quietly resisting, using this opportunity to sow seeds of democratic ideas back into rural America, and a kind word for us amongst the farmer bashing never hurts.

[live love laugh]

4. Thank you for speaking out from the wilderness

You give me hope that at least some see through this literal bribery.

[Boomerproud]

5. As a granddaughter, niece and cousin of Ohio farmers

Please get that message out to your fellow farmers. Thank you for your lifes' work.

[happyaccident]

6. Why do you have to be quiet?

Until your community turns blue I see no hope for you. The gop is not interested in your ideas. Getting along will not help you now. You have to get LOUD and you have to lose friends. And if you watch fox or am radio, stop.
i hope it gets better for you, your ideas are excellent

[MontanaFarmer]

21. Quiet maybe isn't the right word,

but what good does it do me to rag on people and lose friends? As fruitless as it can be, why not try to make salient, topical points to these folks, and see what happens? I'm at the beginning of hopefully a 30 year career in farming, in an area as sparsely populated as they come, so you take your friends as they are, warts, misguided opinions and all.
The point is, yes, most can't be changed, but I do sense among the reasonable 1/3 an interest in changing how agriculture does its business, to make it more sustainable. Better, IMO, to talk to those folks than to just be sanctimonious about my own right-ness. Also, no hate radio or fox for me, make no mistake! Despite my location and profession, I'm right in line with the opinions of the mainstream on this site.

[lunatica]

31. And you can do all this without criticizing their political views.

I commend you for not attacking them, but instead promoting agriculturally sound business practices. That in itself is the right way to plant seeds in their minds.

Who’s going to attack you for business practices that gets them off of depending on government bailouts for a problem the government created in the first place? Who doesn’t want to be able to make a living off the work they do? Absolutely nobody is going to say they want to lose everything.

What we need to know is that Farmers are the backbone of the power in this country, and are even more vital to it’s existence than the military, Wall Street billionaires and the two party system of our government. And in the not too far future farmers will be providing the sustainable and renewable energy products. Farmers are becoming more vital with time, not less.

Thanks for your efforts with other farmers and for your efforts here. Some of us do pay attention!

[happyaccident]

33. I guess I'm not the person to judge. My solution to the enviroment

in which I was raised(80's L.A.) was to basically move to a state (Oregon) that I felt comfortable in. And I do know about living in the country and getting along with your neighbors. My favorite tactic in talking politics is keeping it positive but I notice I do kinda rant on DU.I'm new to posting and find having the ability to talk to farmers from Montana pretty cool. Thanks for what you do as a farmer and your positive attitude. Not an easy job. I'm working on not assuming so much.

[smirkymonkey]

13. Thank you for your thoughtful post.

And welcome to DU! We look forward to hearing more from your perspective.

[ooky]

25. That's the real question everyone should be asking.

" I wonder what we expect from this magical new trade deal, should it happen?"

That's the real question isn't it? What does a win from Trump's tarriffs look like? Does anyone even know? Imagine all the blank stares and myraid of different responses you would get by going on the street and randomly asking that question.

What about when he declares he has made the "greatest trade deal ever"? How will people know?
What evidence?

BTW, welcome to DU.

[MontanaFarmer]

26. Yes!

And you know damn well it's going to be the best yuugest greatest biggest trade deal ever anywhere ever, when it's announced. What's actually in it won't matter, at least not for awhile. Can't wait

[CrispyQ]

27. Do you think that 30+ years of unchallenged hate radio has had an impact in rural America?

I'm curious about your opinion since I think the dems/left ignoring hate radio, then & now, is a big part of our problem. What if the party teamed up with some billionaire & we financed a few radio stations with progressive shows, peppered with lots of humor. Al Franken, anyone? We're funnier than they are & I honestly believe that humor trumps fear. But we've been silent on that front for decades. Some things are worth doing even at a loss.

Here is an article you might be interested in.

Kentucky farmers hurt by Trump's trade wars won't speak up — they fear GOP backlash

[MontanaFarmer]

36. Radio to a degree

But the real culprit was the rise of Fox during the Iraq war, right when satellite tv became easy for everyone in rural America with the small dish. I know many, many people who turn that shit on in the morning, and it stays on until night, and whenever anybody walks in the room, that's what's on. Huge problem. Radio also, given that those stations often are the ones that carry the news, markets, weather etc.
A rural version of air America? I like the idea, content would need to be relevant to the daily lives of people to a degree, but it never hurts to at least try. Feasible? I don't know, someone with more knowledge can speak to that, but it seems Sinclair has the clamps on pretty tight out here.

[wasupaloopa]

28. The thing is a ton of other people are losing their jobs in the auto industry and get no

bailout.

The tariffs are hurting everyone.

I read here on DU they should have seen it coming and got a better job or retrained.

I don’t agree with you getting a bail out. Suffer and get retrained like everyone else.

And no we don’t rely on you. Someone with more money will buy you out.

Maybe a little pain will teach trump voters what voting for him does to people.

[lunasun]

11. Yes And there are other sectors of the economy that need help . Directed strictly at his voters

They will take it and vote for him again and all taxpayers are stuck with the bill
Fraud really a form of welfare with no income or asset limits to who gets $$ it seems

[MineralMan]

12. Do you eat food?

That's a serious question. If you do, all of it came from farms somewhere. The food you eat passes through many hands, in most cases, and each of those hands takes a profit from it. The farmer who grew the raw ingredients of the food you eat gets whatever is left.

My parents own a citrus and avocado farm. It's just 15 acres in size. For the past five years, it has barely covered the expenses of farming, and has not produced a penny of profit for my parents. They're about to sell it, since they're both 94 years old. When they do, it will almost certainly stop being a place that grows food. The valley they live in is not very far from Los Angeles, and those small farms are being bought up by people with plenty of money.

Those people generally turn them into hobbies, keeping horses for riding, and preserving just a few of the trees that produce the citrus and avocados.

In the Midwest, where I live now, Trump's moronic tariffs and other stupid actions have caused a huge increase in bankruptcies for small farmers. Dairy farms are shutting down. Corn and soybean farmers lose money every year. There have been many suicides among farmers in the Midwest, due to financial ruin.

Federal crop insurance and some subsidies have helped some farmers survive, but Trump is trying to make those go away, too, so he can build his wall and block the only people willing to do the hard work of harvesting the food you eat.

So, if you eat food, you're damning the wrong people. Yes, most farmers are white men. Not all, but most. Here in Minnesota, Hmong immigrants are farmers, too. There are black farmers in the South, as well. All face the same problems, though.

If you hope to continue eating food, I hope you'll stop dissing the people who grow it. They need that money, since Trump has fucked them over in so many ways.

[cwydro]

14. Thank you.

And a black farmer is my closest neighbor.

[MineralMan]

16. Lots of people make ignorant statements here.

They don't know the facts, but they willingly make statements that are simply wrong.

Far too many people in this country appear to think that the food they buy in the supermarket or at the local farmer's market somehow just appears from nowhere.

Where I am, there are dozens of farmer's markets in the Twin Cities metro area. Almost none of the people selling at those farmer's markets are white people. And, the people selling there are the ones who grew the products, usually on leased farmland.

Corporate farms do exist, but the bulk of the food grown in this country is grown by small farmers, with the exception of some crops that can only be grown economically on corporate farms.

Fortunately, there are others on DU who will step in and provide the missing information, in hopes that ignorance can be corrected. Sometimes, it even works...

[cwydro]

17. I live in the south, and the same is true here about the farmers' markets.

Many of those selling their veggies, etc. are black farmers.

I’m really amazed at the farmer-hate I see here. I remember not too long ago an OP where the poster seemed to be be pleased that the rate of farmer suicide was rising.

Boggles the brain.

[MineralMan]

18. Well, some folks just assume that the food will continue to

be available, wherever it comes from, I guess.

Others are pissed off, and rightly so, at corporate agriculture.

Many have never even seen a farm. Seriously. Nor have they ever met a farmer.

Ignorance can be corrected. Stupidity cannot.

I've never been to a farmer's market in a southern state, so I'm glad to see your report. In California, where I used to live, they were dominated by Hispanic growers and Vietnamese growers. In Minnesota, it's Hmong growers. Of course, there are white folks selling at the farmer's markets, too, but they do not make up the majority of growers at them.

Ignorance.

[BronxBoy]

38. Thank you

People really to let go of their perceptions about food and maybe listen to people who work in these spaces. I founded the Georgia Farmers Market Association and there are issues we are seeing that speak to some of the comments I'm seeing here. Consumer preferences are changing faster than market models can adapt. Too often farmers markets are still the province of wealthier neighborhoods of all colors and still have a long way to go to fulfill the promises of eradicating food deserts. And while I'm tickled pink about the USDA creating an Urban Agriculture agency, I'm disappointed of the failure of urban agriculture to embrace and develop positive connections with rural communities. I'm seeing some of the same hubris and scorn from urban agriculture producers towards rural areas that used to be heaped upon urban ag producers. It's sad and unfortunate.

All I can do is work with folks of all stripes who get it.

[Kaleva]

34. A majority of the large corporate farms are family owned.

"1. Food equals family – 97 percent of the 2.1 million farms in the United States are family-owned operations.

2. Small business matters – 88 percent of all U.S. farms are small family farms.

3. Local connections come in small packages – 58 percent of all direct farm sales to consumers come from small family farms.

4. Big business matters too – 64 percent of all vegetable sales and 66 percent of all dairy sales come from the 3 percent of farms that are large or very large family farms."

https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2015/03/17/family-farms-are-focus-new-agriculture-census-data

[MontanaFarmer]

22. +1000

We need to talk to farmers about why progressivism is necessary and fruitful for rural America, and who knows, maybe we'll reach a few, here and there.

[MineralMan]

23. Well, some have already figured that out for themselves.

Trump's idiocy is affecting farmers in the Midwest, at least, with huge losses.

It doesn't help when urban progressives constantly show disrespect or even contempt for farmers, either. Trump has clearly demonstrated that he doesn't care about agriculture at all. It's just part of his "deals."

I talked to a man yesterday on a flight I was on. He works for a dairy equipment supply company. He said that the number of smaller, family-owned dairy farms is dropping very fast. The Canadian thing Trump screwed up cost them too much, and many of those small dairy farms are being sold and the owners leaving.

Most of those family dairy farms were selling their milk in bulk for processing into other food products. It went from their storage tanks into tanker trucks that took it somewhere else.

When I was a teenager, back in 1962-3, I worked for a small dairy in my home town. Mostly, I delivered milk to homes in the area, early in the morning. But on weekends and during the summer, I also worked in the dairy itself. It was a small operation, with about 100 cows in production. At the dairy, the entire output went to retail sales via two delivery routes. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I delivered milk for three hours within the town. It was just me and a driver. I ran up to the houses with a wire carrier full of glass milk bottles and picked up the empties. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, we delivered to rural homes in the area the same way. We had a couple of commercial and school accounts, where we delivered milk cans for their dispensers or whatever.

In the Summer, I drove the truck and delivered the milk, which added an hour to each route. In the dairy, I mostly did cleaning of the processing equipment and washed all those bottles in a big bottle washing machine.

It was hard work, but I got paid a working man's wage and worked about 18 hours a week during the school year and about 30 hours during the summer. I was able to save quite a bit of money for college.

[live love laugh]

40. Small individually owned farm ownership has been declining for decades. nt

[Achilleaze]

15. It's a freaking republican funnel to GMO-glyposate-chemco Big Ag, Inc.

make no mistake. the repubes are ripping off the taxpayers again to aid and abet their corporate cronies.

[MineralMan]

19. Where do you buy your food?

[Achilleaze]

20. Not from the GMO-ChemCo Borg, Inc. (R)

You can bet your bippy.

[MineralMan]

24. Uh-huh...

That wasn't an answer, actually.

[Achilleaze]

29. Don't be silly

You can google the word "organic" on your own.

And then you can google what the BigAg Borg, Inc. is doing to distort & downgrade even that.

[cwydro]

30. So the question was...where do you buy your food?

Waiting.

[MineralMan]

32. My question was: Where do you buy your food?

Organic is not a place. It is a designation of how the food was grown.

[Achilleaze]

35. You can buy organic, or "organic, Inc." just about anywhere these days. You should check it out.

None of it (so far) produced with GMO-glyposate- chem crap.

But if you are asking for the address of my local coop and farmer's market, then no. None of your business. How do I know you won't turn that info over to AG Barr or even Pooty Poot?

[BronxBoy]

37. I haven't posted on DU in quite awhile.......

Been here some time but had to give up posting due to work schedules. But I had to jump on and add my support to the farmers who are posting here. My small farm is in Georgia where we have been running a diversified operation since 2005, mainly produce, fruit and herbs. While we are somewhat insulated from some of the recent troubles in agriculture because of our niche and our proximity to urban markets, we are seeing major problems.

In addition to my farm, I also work for an organization that funds research and education projects around sustainable agriculture. My work takes me to thirteen southeastern states, USVI and Puerto Rico and the view my friends is not pretty. One of the more depressing things I'm doing right now is helping to convene discussions around the alarming rise in farmers suicides. It's bad and I think we really haven't seen the worst. I made an outreach trip to the USVI last year and met a majority of the farmers on the island. Since that trip three farmers have killed themselves due to mental stressors brought on by the hurricane. That may sound like a lot (although one farmer suicide is one too many) there are only 180 farmers on the entire island. I'm sure some math geeks could extrapolate that out based on the US farmer population and the number would be eye-popping. To make matters worse, agriculture has been pitched as a viable career for returning vets. So we have a group of folks who are already at risk for some significant stressors and asking to consider working in a field that can potentially seriously aggravate those stressors. Combine that with the tariffs and just the general collapse in many commodity pricing and some of us are getting very worried about farmers.

First of all, to echo some of the other posters, dumping on many of these farmers just because they're White and Conservative is not a good look. A a Black man, I've had my share of difficult conversations not only with White farmers but also with Conservative Black ones as well. And while the majority of these funds may indeed go to White, predominantly rich farmers, we have to keep the focus on why other farmers White, Black or Brown are not getting the support they need. I'll give you an example. Hurricane Michael did a number on south Georgia which is a major food production area. Here are the last estimates I saw

Timber- $763 million in lost trees.
Pecans- $100 Million in crop loss. $260 million in lost trees. $200 million in lost income over the next decade
Cotton-$550 million in lost crops
Vegetable Production-$480 million in lost crops
Poultry-$25 million in losses. 129 commercial houses destroyed. One integrator lost 50% of his farmers due to storm damage
Soybeans-$10 million dollars in lost crops
Greenhouse Industry-$10 million dollars in lost infrastructure
Peanuts-$10 million in lost crop. Even worse, all of the buying points such as packing houses, processors and other important infrastructure has been destroyed

While these numbers are simply staggering, the long range ramifications are stunning. When you grow pine trees or pecans you're looking at 10-18 years before you can bring a marketable crop to market. A friend of mine is hearing that producers who are in their late 40s or early 50s are making the decision not to replant. What the long term impact that these decisions will have on these rural communities remains to be seen, things don't look good in the short term.

To make matters worse, the little media attention the area did receive was dismissive and insulting. The New York Times published an article about the area and storm and basically framed it as the chickens coming home to roost for conservative Trump voters who don't believe in climate change. Aside from the fact that too many people see these areas as only White and conservative (this is certainly not the case), the article could have told the story of the tremendous economic loss to these rural communities. There is a large base of African American farmers in this area as well and they have suffered the same losses. Shirley Sherrods large farm and training facility is in this area.

So while it may be tempting to rag on farmers, I see this as an opportunity for the more level-headed among us to begin talking about potential common interests such as crop diversification, moving some production away from commodity crops to supply food to rapidly growing local food systems and how to come together to help farmers, Black or White, deal with the tremendous mental and financial stressors that are getting more serious by the day.

Sorry for the long post

[live love laugh]

39. This thread was meant to

Last edited Tue May 28, 2019, 01:40 PM - Edit history (1)

point out how Republicans’ policies are selectively targeted to funnel money to Trump’s base while increasing the hardships of the rest of Americans.

Trump enriched the rich through tax cuts (again mostly white men); he shut down the government negatively affecting workers and contractors nationwide who it was said he assumed are mostly black and he is funneling billions for the fence/gate to a North Dakota firm

This is not to say that farmers or white men are not also impacted by tariffs. We all are impacted.

However the only relief is being funneled selectively.

The current bailout won’t fix the root of the costs that you identify. Instead it amounts to little more than a campaign contribution.

And all the while devastation resulting from Republican policies continues affecting all Americans at the dinner table and elsewhere.

[BronxBoy]

41. So you're basically just howling at the moon

I work in this field and see the systemic inequalities everyday. Anyone with half a brain knows what’s going. What do you propose we do about it?

[live love laugh]

42. First I propose that you explore the reasons why you

come across so defensively on this topic which you seem to be more interested in debating and attacking.

[Luz]

43. My question is what happens next year..and the year after?

Or is this 16b bailout a one time thing?