It's truly amazing that American farm subsidy payments are limited to cotton, rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar and dairy-- and to the land on which those things might be grown. It's even more (perversely) amazing that the food stamp program is held hostage every few years (like right now) to the political "farm bill" process in which the past subsidy profiteers demand continuation of the same payments for the same crops in order for the national welfare program of food stamps to be likewise continued.

There is no reason under Heaven why food stamps and crop subsidies should not be two separate programs legislated by two separate bills in Congress. Any president with vision and "leadership" should have long ago announced he or she will absolutely veto any "farm bill" until the two are separated and each passed on their own merits. No more "package" deals.

Daniel David - I agree that food stamps should be in a seperate program than the farm bill. This will help eliminate confusion about how much farmers really get, since most goes to food stamps. I also agree that the government should give me money for growing tomatoes and selling them at the loacl farmer's markets. I don't need it since we make lots of money, but what the heck, why should I turn down free money? I raise high-intensity vegetables and we outsell all the organic growers put together 10-times over. I do kinda feel bad for them, since their produce looks so pathetic and yields so poorly. They also are forced to destroy more wildlife habitat due to low yields, so they don't get to enjoy that either. Better send them a check too.

Compared with the subsidies supporting growers of corn, soybeans and a handful of other commodities, governmental support for crops such as fruits and vegetables, for organic production methods and for pasture-based livestock systems, is scant.

**you cant have pasture based livestock systems. :)
It leads to destruction of top soil, rivers, and the slaughter of wildlife(see wolves, or yellowstone bison).

Have to eliminate meat and dairy from the diet.

Ottawa to pay farmers $50-million to slaughter hogs

PAUL WALDIE AND JOE FRIESEN

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

April 15, 2008 at 12:27 AM EDT

TORONTO AND WINNIPEG — In an unprecedented move, the federal government plans to pay hog farmers up to $50-million in total to slaughter as many as 150,000 breeding swine.

Farmers will receive $225 for every hog they kill, so long as they agree to wipe out their entire breeding herd and stay out of the hog business for three years. The government hopes the program will reduce a glut on the market that has helped drive down prices.

"It's a pretty drastic step," said Clare Schlegel, a hog farmer near Kitchener, Ont., who is also president of the Canadian Pork Council. The $225 price is roughly four times what a farmer would get for a culled hog on the market today, he added.

Dramatically reducing meat/dairy in our diets is something each of us can do to help.

Daniel & Obvious___ That makes three of us that think the food stamp program should be separate from the farm program. Many people think the entire farm program goes to greedy and lazy farmers living on farm welfare, which is not the case.

If farm prices can stay anywhere near the present levels, there will be no subsidy paid to compensate for low prices, and the direct payments are not decided yet, or even if there will be any in the new bill.

Kernel - Don't forget the ethanol subsidies which are supporting the grain prices. Clever way to get around WTO rules, but subsidies all the same.

'100 mile diet'?

How about being restricted to the 'What's -growing-in-my-backyard' diet?

Kill all subsidies related to ethanol and the world will return to its' normal chaos.

guliper - Still need to deal with the oil monopoly.

Mr. O- Oil going for $114/bbl and MUCH higher should take care of that...

The future lies with local economies. One of the first priorities is to secure our food and energy supply. When (not if) we can no longer afford to import our food from halfway across the world or engage in practices that destroy our planet, we need our local farmers to feed us. This is actually the anthithesis to elitism, if you ask me.

Please look at the model of CSAs -- community supported agriculture -- as one model for the future of HOME GROWN wealth that is accessible to all. I am a home gardener and have my own chickens, plus I am a shareholder in my neighborhood CSA farm. I invest my monetary share in December and reap my profits weekly in the form of an overflowing basket of super fresh, absolutely delicious, and completely organically-grown produce and fruit. Whatever we do not eat fresh right away, I can or freeze for later use. One basket of goodies requires about $20.00 in investment, and the price does not go up.

CSA is a partnership of mutual commitment between a farm and a community of supporters which provides a direct link between the production and consumption of food. Supporters cover a farm's yearly operating budget by purchasing a share of the season's harvest. CSA members make a commitment to support the farm throughout the season, and assume the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer or grower. Members help pay for seeds, fertilizer, water, equipment maintenance, labor, etc. In return, the farm provides, to the best of its ability, a healthy supply of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season. Becoming a member creates a responsible relationship between people and the food they eat, the land on which it is grown and those who grow it.

See: http://www.localharvest.org/...

The great thing is that no financiers or marketing firms are needed, the risk is relatively small and is spread evenly, and the relationship is one between real people, not soulless corporations. My own CSA is doing so well that they have a list of people on the waiting list for the summer harvest, having sold out their available shares in record time by early January.

Unfortunately, federal law does not allow recipients to pay in advance with Food Stamps for produce they will receive later. The good people from Uprising Organics found a way around this obstacle:

"...one little farm in the northwest corner of Washington State is not only accepting Food Stamps for its CSA, it only accepts Food Stamps, and it dreams that farms all over the country can learn from its experience and do it themselves.

Uprising Organics operated an eight-share, Food Stamp-only CSA in its inaugural year in 2007, thanks to its novel approach to traditional CSA operation. One of the basic precepts of CSAs is that subscribers pay for their shares upfront, giving the farmer the operating capital to grow the crops that will feed the subscriber throughout that coming season. But Goldberg and Campbell came up with a community-based solution.

"We raised seed money to start our CSA," said Campbell. The seed money covered early season expenses that would normally be covered by upfront subscription fees. The CSA's Food Stamp subscribers then pay each week for their share box, and as they do, those funds replenish the seed money for the next year. "Our recruiting flier explained what a CSA is and asked for a commitment through the entire season. And everyone did," said Campbell.

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/node/481

It seems to me that relatively small CSA farm subsidies can be applied as seed money for Food Stamp and WIC programs at the local level, thus making healthful, sustainable, local eating affordable to all.

The most local farmer of all, is in your backyard or frontyard (well, why not?...oh!... liberation...I forgot), or community garden. Growing your own food is primal, spiritual, and way too much fun.

galen - a lot of us do not have any yards. We live in apartments and high rises.

Getting fresh locally grown produce and dairy to poor urban areas should be as much a part of national health as medical doctors and drugs. Fruits, vegetables, yogurts build health and help prevent diseases, including obesity and diabetes.

Poor areas are often served by small stores specializing in highly processed, highly preserved, high fat, high sugar, high high fructose corn syrup packaged goods. We should promote legislation that would give local farmers just that little bit of help and support they need to get their goods to more farmers' markets. Another piece of the puzzle is having a safe and reliable location to sell the goods.

Support for farmers' markets would be a public health dollar well spent. My Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez has done some work on this issue.
http://www.house.gov/velazquez/newsroom/nv-in-news/02-11-08-nyt-market.html

To fully understand where our food is headed, educate yourself about what Monsanto is doing.

The World According to Monsanto video documentary (it's not a pretty or healthy picture)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19738.htm

Most of the snow is gone now where I live. I am down to the last package of frozen tomatoes from my little garden. There are still a few good squash in the crawl space. I uncovered the winter onions this afternoon. If this is all I had to eat, I would get very slim indeed. I would love to grow all my own food, and I think that we should all be encouraged to grow our Victory Gardens. For those who don't have any land, maybe community gardens or container gardens could help provide at least some fresh home grown food. It may be unrealistic to grow all your own food, but what if you could grow 10%, 20%, or 80%?

"It's about transforming and democratizing the food system. It's about increasing access to high-quality, nutrient-rich food and making it available and affordable to all people."

Precisely! And that is why I support local farmers, even if does cost a few dimes more.

Mr Obvious----just wondering what organic vegtables you're referring to....I have good friends here in Wisconsin who have a CSA and raise awesome organic produce, which supplies 180 families in nearby Twin Cities with vegetables of all sorts from June through October. My weekly bag is always overflowing with awesome produce.

You appear small-minded when you bolster arguments against subsidies with such ridiculous assertions. What in the world was your point for heaven's sake???? Just a rant against community supported, low intensity agriculture? Do such enterprises threaten you? Methinks you protest too much. Maybe you should visit Patty and Mike's gorgeous farm. It would take your breath away, and guess what? They don't get a dime in subsidies.

It's obvious where Mr. Obvious is coming from. I ignore him - he's earned it.

For apartment dwellers, you would not believe what you can grow on your balconies. If you don't have balconies, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, peas in hanging baskets and definitely herbs, grow very well inside an apartment by a window. Of course, there goes the Sears room du jour, but what the heck?

Otherwise, you could consider petitioning the landlord to open up the roof space for a roof top garden. You should see how many roof top gardens Montreal has! That's extra to all the community gardens all over the city too.

STAROFTHESEA -- The JAKE JOUST has been continuing over on the 14th's
America's Whipping Boy For 9/11

I feel elated and know that it is in some ways a phyrric victory, as I'm exhausted, and the "three Jakes" or how ever many there are, are like army ants on the scent (no matter how whipped up they are).

The Good News is hopefully KEM and I have come to an much better understanding.

Namaste

Grow inside an appartment you can grow 12 months of the year. I did when I lived in an appartment. Flowers look nice but you can't eat them.
Roof top is the way to go since in summer it cuts the cooling cost of a building and even the earth in winter helps some as well with heating.

What was the old rule, if you have 5 acres of land you can be self reliant. Myself I have much more. If you people feel it is going to be so bad why not try to move out of the city and on a small hunk of land. What is the difference if you are making payments to the bank for a house or a farm?
We have farmer markets set up every Saturday. Most small towns and even bigger cities have an area.

Around age 35, I started having allergic reactions and digestive problems with just about everything I ate. I think my body was just saying NO MORE to the American diet. I now thank my digestive system for being smarter than my brain.

I cut out all dairy, wheat, gluten, corn, refined foods, white rice, alcohol, fermented foods (most condiments).

My one treasured drug is one or two cups of black coffee in the morning.

Sounds horrible and drastic, right?

I eat organic meat, fish (the kinds that supposedly have lower mercury counts, when it's affordable), eggs, any and all fruits and vegetables, brown rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, nuts, and legumes, and make dressings out of vegetable and nut oils and lemon. I learned to cook dried beans, which are healthier because they do not absorb the biphenol from cans, and cheaper. I have bought cookbooks and learned to cook so I don't get bored and give in to the crap that is easily available. I replaced my plastic tupperware with glass containers. I think of it as having changed by food substraucture, my own personal economy. Sometimes I call it a revolution in my kitchen. Though I am eating more organic food, I am saving money because I plan my meals and have lots of leftovers. I feel more clear-headed and energetic than I ever have in my whole life.

I believe this food revolution has to happen on a wide scale so it is not so expensive to eat well, like a human being rather than like a beast of burden chained to a trough, forced to eat what is shoved in front of it.

Thanks CD for posting this one. This is exactly the kind of thing that people all over the industrialized world need to be reading, talking about, and doing. (The non-industrialized folks have known how to do this all along...) I'm glad to hear about so many people enthusiastically pursuing local food growing and eating, and I'll join the chorus.

Front yards and back yards indeed! Set up a neighborhood CSA with what you and some friends can grow in your yards. It's not hard, and you'll be amazed at what and how much food you can grow, and at how much more like a community your neighborhood can feel. (yes, this is directed at places where people have yards)

Balconies, windowsills, and rooftops are the way to go in the city. Abandoned lots and old paved areas can be gardened with raised beds (to keep the asphalt and chemicals out of your food).

One last note: bunches of kale at my local co-op jumped from $1.50 to $4 in the last couple of months, restaurants are raising their prices, and food is getting more and more expensive. Time to grow our own!

I don't feel most of us have enough room to grow enough to last from season to season. Tomatoes, beans only last a few weeks then it is back to the stores again. I know you can blanch and preserve some. For most if you have the extra freezer it is get as much as you can when it is on sale or local and freeze it as the price will be higher in 3 months. I think Good Luck said it, if you can get out in the country on a plot of land do it. Who knows where we will be in 10 or 15 years

One good thing about the real estate bust: Not every 20 foot by 20 foot urban lot is a candidate for a monstrous tall building.

But for now - really there are very few, very small places to garden in the city. Everything is owned. Landlords don't let anyone on the roof for anything. Do you think they will allow several feet of wet soil to collapse their roofs? Gardening will not be much of a solution for dense cities.

It is cruel to suggest that the mass of city renters with no savings should buy a plot of land in the country. We will have to support small farms within 100 miles - and those are closing down.

In Guatamala and Honduras sustainable agricultural farming methods were introduced, and many citydwellers left the city and went back to making a livelyhood farming.

"I raise high-intensity vegetables and we outsell all the organic growers put together 10-times over. I do kinda feel bad for them, since their produce looks so pathetic and yields so poorly."

I guess you are not as obnoxious with your customers as you are with strangers on the internet. At any rate, organic tomatoes, when grown correctly, yield better than conventionally grown tomatoes. And you don't destroy soil carbon by putting synthetic fertilizers on the ground.