Jim Goodman
Jim Goodman is a third-generation dairy farmer from Wonewoc, Wisconsin.
Articles by this author
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Views Sunday, December 23, 2018 Dairy Farming is Dying. After 40 Years, I’m Done. After 40 years of dairy farming, I sold my herd of cows this summer. The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over our farm — who would? Dairy farming is little more than hard work and possible economic suicide. A grass-based... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, October 03, 2018 Bad Farm Policy Contributes to Natural Disasters Good farm policy works for rural people by stabilizing prices, encouraging the growth of rural communities, and helping farm families deal with natural disasters. This last point is particularly relevant now, as fires rage in the Western US, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods destroy communities... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, November 29, 2017 Stop Pretending the Estate Tax Has Anything to Do With Family Farmers The mystique of the family farmer in this country goes all the way back to Thomas Jefferson’s model for democracy. Jefferson centered his vision on the yeoman farmer, who, with family labor, worked a small farm and embodied the virtues of honest and hard work. It was an important idea to a new... Read more |
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Views Friday, October 27, 2017 In Organic Farming, Rules Are Not Made to be Broken Consumers see organic food labels showing cows grazing next to a little red barn and that’s what they want to buy, products from happy cows owned by profitable farmers that respect the rules, their customers, the environment and their animals. And, most organic milk is still produced that way — the... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, April 25, 2017 NAFTA Needs To Be Replaced, Not Renegotiated The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) must be replaced with a transparent trade agreement that ensures farmers in all three nations—Canada, Mexico, and the United States—receive fair prices for their production, that consumers are guaranteed the right to know the content and origin of... Read more |
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Views Friday, August 21, 2015 Truth In Labeling—It's Our Right to Know What's in Our Food Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015. A gross misnomer, of course, since the bill's real purpose is to preempt the rights of state and local governments to pass laws requiring the mandatory labeling of genetically modified... Read more |
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Views Saturday, April 11, 2015 Has Glyphosate Met Its Waterloo? Can organic farmers can use Roundup® ? I get that question a lot. Society has been told and, it seems, really believes, that as crop chemicals go, nothing could be safer. But that's just it, using nothing is safer. And no, organic farmers can't use it, but if I could why would I want to? It is... Read more |
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Views Friday, February 06, 2015 The Re-Colonization of Africa Most of the world's food is grown by small scale farmers. While it is called "traditional" agriculture, it is never static and farmers constantly adapt. This traditional agriculture relies on a varied and changing mix of crops, a polyculture , which provides a balanced diet, is affordable for local... Read more |
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Views Monday, September 29, 2014 The Fallacy of Feeding the World Yesterday I heard someone talking about how the US has a responsibility to “feed the world”. I have a real problem with this, who gave us this mandate? The thought of the US “feeding the world” is ridiculous in so many ways, but more so, it is condescending to say the least, to the rest of the... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, July 02, 2014 "Free Trade" Champions Betray Us All Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind has apparently never met a free trade agreement he didn't like. Note it is always a “free trade” agreement, never a “fair trade” agreement. Free trade defines an agreement that has as a first (and sometimes only) priority, the best interests of corporations namely,... Read more |