Farmers Union 'confident' in corporate farming vote

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Bismark Tribune

By Jessica Holdman

BISMARCK — With a month left to gather signatures, North Dakota Farmers Union is confident voters will get to weigh in on the state's corporate farming law.

NDFU is petitioning to refer recently passed corporate farming law exemptions to a vote in 2016.

Mark Watne, president of the NDFU, would not reveal the exact number of signatures gathered but said he is confident the organization will gather more than enough. The group needs 13,000 signatures to refer the law.

"I think that will be achievable fairly easily," he said. "The rough numbers coming in are good ... I really do believe we will get these signatures."

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://www.inforum.com/news/3746837-farmers-union-confident-corporate-farming-vote

---

Petition taking it to the ballot box.

[fasttense]

1. As a small farmer mayself, I don't understand what anti-corporate farm legislation is.

or what it looks like. I went to the link and I still don't understand.

But the link is claiming that with this anti-corporate farming law no one can make a living farming. That you have to use corporate practices to make a living off of farming? So, they made exemptions for pork and dairy. I don't know. I do not understand this.

[pipoman]

2. The one I'm most familiar with required that the majority

Of stock holders in any agriculture production Corp be residents of the state. I don't know what SD is, and don't know the ins and outs of the issue either.

[jwirr]

3. I would like to know more about what they are pushing. I grew up on a small farm and saw our

neighbors pushed out by corporate farming. Any SD farmers here on DU? Thanks for the post.

[prairierose]

4. The anti-corporate law passed in SD...

was an anti-CAFO law. That stands for confined animal feeding operation. It was aimed at Murphy farms which at that time in the 80s, was spreading through the country looking for family farmers in trouble who would agree to become sharecroppers for them much like the chicken farmers who feed for Tyson. Essentially, they become employees for the corporation living on their own land and praying that they end up getting paid enough to feed their families.

There are a couple of problems with farming today. Since 1981, the farm bills and USDA regulations have been skewed to support industrial agriculture and the hell with family farms. It is much more difficult for family farms to qualify for any subsidies or conservation funds available. Yet, with climate and weather changing drastically and being more volatile, farming is even more risky than it was. In fact, since 1981, we have lost about half the farms that existed then. If it were possible for more of the family farms that are left to become organic or move to becoming CSAs, that would help but those are both difficult propositions.

The other problem with industrial ag and CAFOs is the incredible amount of manure produced and allowed to accumulate and/or run into streams and rivers. One of the problems with CAFOs is that because of the conditions, they feed huge amounts of antibiotics. This , in turn, helps super-bugs and bacteria develop and the manure helps them spread. Now, the manure could be composted and the methane used to generate electricity and the compost spread back on the land but that would require an investment in infrastructure that cheap food policies will not support. So, that isn't going to happen.

I do hope that ND manages to pass their anti-corporate farming law but I hope they are also aware that ALEC will be chasing them with pre-written laws to make CAFOs legal and support them. This last legislative session in SD, there were several bills introduced in each house to undermine our anti- CAFO laws. The few family farmers left were there in every committee meeting testifying against them and we managed to kill them all in committee, I think, but more city folks need to pay attention to what is happening in ag so they have an idea of what is happening to the food they feed their families.

The bottom line is that industrial ag is bad for your family and the planet and family farms are better but until people actually go out and find a farmer to buy at least some of their food from, family farms with continue to dwindle. Support your local Farmer's Market.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

5. Thanks for the explanation...

... from a grandson of a pair of South Dakota brown dirt cowboys(farmers- one big grain the other dairy w/180 acres). While I do not farm, my days on grandpa's dairy farm by Emery, helping milk 45 head twice a day, are among my fondest. BTW, he never used commercial fertilizer. His Patz gutter system provided all the fertilizer he needed for his corn and oat fields. He was organic before organic was cool.

[prairierose]

6. Yes, my father was organic before it was cool too...

we still went broke farming.