Food and Ag Roundup

Green Farmers, Pig PR and How Slashing Farm Subsidies Is Uniting Washington

By Courtney Lowery Cowgill, 3-10-11

The New York Times had two must-read pieces on agriculture since we last rounded up food and ag stories:

First is this piece on how after all that talk about the graying American farmer over the last decade, the trend seems to be reversing.

As a beginning farmer I found this paragraph particularly accurate:

“She said that they farmed because they felt like part of a broader movement, but that the farmer’s life was not always romantic. Last year, their garlic crop rotted in the ground. Mr. Broadie, 36, is unable to repay his student loans. They do not have health insurance, or know when they will be able to afford to buy land”

And land isn’t about to get cheaper either, according to this piece in the Times from earlier in the week.

In Middle America, the price of farmland is booming. William Neuman writes for the Times: “as prices for agricultural land surge across America’s grain belt, regulators are warning that a new real estate bubble may be forming — echoing the frothy boom in home prices that saw values in Miami and Las Vegas skyrocket and then plummet.”

Subsidy Reform

Meanwhile, on the farm spending front, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this week threatened to cut farm subsidies to reduce federal budget deficits.

Reuters quoted Reid as saying, “Commodity prices—farm products have never been higher ... there’s money there." 

Reid is in unlikely company. House Speaker John Boehner also said last week in a YouTube interview that he wouldn’t be opposed to cutting farm subsidies.

Libertarian Ron Paul has the same attitude. This piece on The Hill about ethanol, mentions what Paul said on CNBC last week: “I don’t think we should subsidize anybody or encourage certain things. We shouldn’t interfere and say, ‘Grow corn and put it in ethanol.’

So, Obama, Reid, Boehner and Paul all agree that subsidies need to be cut.

Also, Daniel Looker reports on Agriculture.com that even the National Corn Growers Association is open to eliminating the most well-known and controversial farm subsidy: direct payments.

As Looker reports, the NCGA delegates changed their policy to say, “NCGA should investigate transitioning direct payments into programs that allow producers the ability to manage risk while assuring food security.”

The Backyard Garden Revolution

We fired up the greenhouse this weekend, so that means many of you might also be dreaming of a little plot or two of growing, living, green things. (Ah. doesn’t that just sound good?) To that end, check out this review on the CivilEats site of a new book out called  Grow the Good Life: Why a Vegetable Garden Will Make You Happy, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise, by Michele Owens. Kerry Trueman writes, “Finally, a Bittman for the backyard! Owens also manages to distill the essence of vegetable gardening into a breezy precept that carries just a whiff of Eau de Pollan: ‘…give your crops lots of sun, fertile soil, and sufficient water.’”

“Eau de Pollan” refers to author Michael Pollan, whose “Eat Food, Just a Little, Mostly Plants” has been a mantra of the foodie movement. (Note: Incidentally, global food expert Louise O. Fresco has recently written a scathing criticism of Pollan and in particular, that mantra. Read it here on Zester Daily.) (Hat Tip to Culinate.com)

“Bittman” is of course Mark Bittman, the Minimalist and now New York Times Op-ed contributor, who by the way, wrote this great primer on soups in this week’s Magazine. Seriously, print it out and put it on your fridge, as he suggests.

Agriculture and PR

Akin to the last roundup, in which we wrote a bit about the PR challenges facing big, production agriculture (see also this story from Frank Morris of NPR’s All Things Considered) and how some are addressing it, Tom Laskawy writes on Grist this week about a bill in the Florida legislature that would make it illegal to take photos of farm and ranch operations.

Meanwhile, the National Pork Producers has dropped “the other white meat” slogan, hoping to  “inspire” eaters and cooks instead. As the Des Moines Register reports, the new catchphrase is  simply: ”Pork, Be Inspired.”

From the story: “Des Moines chef George Formaro, owner of Centro, Django and Gateway Market in Des Moines, said the “Other White Meat” campaign had done its work.”

The news inspired this post from the Dallas Observer: Get Piggy Wit It: 20 Slogans Better and Pork’s New One.

Among the suggestions: “Be Thinner Than Your Dinner. Eat Pork.”

Have any suggestions of your own? Leave them in comments.

Seed Supply

The Organic Seed Alliance recently released a report on the State of Organic Seed in the nation. The whole thing is a good read, but the Daily Yonder excerpts a particularly important chapter this week on consolidation in the seed industry and what that means for the nation’s seed supply. Read it here.

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Courtney Lowery Cowgill is a writer and editor (formerly of these pages) who also runs Prairie Heritage Farm, a small farm in Central Montana. She and her husband grow vegetables, turkeys and ancient and heritage grains. As a farmer and writer, she works on and follows food and agriculture issues closely and each week, rounds up the top stories on the web in this arena for New West. Have an ag story you think should be included in next week’s roundup? You can reach Courtney at courtney@newwest.net.

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