Items Tagged With Politics

Agricultural policy is not an easy subject to undertake but Michael Pollan was able to eloquently tackle it in his new article Farmer in Chief making a compelling case for us all to reevaluate how we grow, consume and purchase our food.  There are three major points that he brings up that are possibly the biggest issues we face as a nation: health care, energy independence and climate change.   He argues "we need to wean the American food system off its heavy 20th-century diet of fossil fuel and put it back on a diet of contemporary sunshine." I say right on! Grass-fed farming is about turning sunlight into food, and in the process it can heal the earth, our bodies and our rural economies.

What then is preventing us from grass-fed change? It really comes down to our agricultural policy, specifically our subsidies that make grains, and corn particularly artificially inexpensive.

Growing food in America accounts for 19 percent of our oil consumption and most of our CO2 pollution.  Farm subsidies have perverted how we produce food; it has made corn artificially inexpensive, even though their tolls on our bodies and soil have been astronomically expensive.  Farm subsidies, and corn by default, has infiltrated every aspect of our agricultural process, because we pay agribusiness to grow it cheaply, we can feed it to our cows, pigs and change its chemical composition and put into fruit juice and baked goods. It is time to revaluate our corn subsidies, because there are great implications to being so dependent on fossil fuels that are not only environmental, they are also strategic and patriotic. Why should we be giving foreigners our hard earned money when there is a better way to grow our food?

It really comes down to our agricultural policy, we have for years stressed a system that benefits "efficiency" over inefficiency, by paying large farms to grow grains at massive quantities. So few Americans really understand agricultural policy, or care to see its implications on our daily lives it is our subsidies that are making fossil fuel hungry farming efficient not the system itself.  A good friend of mine grew up on a wheat farm in northern North Dakota, this girl drove a combine as a kid (so cool!), their farm was a small family-run operation of about 1100 acres and they received little to no subsidies from the federal government however the larger agribusiness like ADM did.  Throughout her teens she saw family-run wheat farms buckle under economic pressures while larger agriculture corporations flourish, expand and consolidate. This is story of the past 50 years, consolidation and yet it is in our agricultural sector that this consolidation has been the most obscene, where we have massive feedlots feeding cows corn, and pig farms so industrial they pollute whole communities, that you and I, the citizens of America, can have the most impact.  It is impossible to buy our TV's from local producers but it is possible to buy our meat and vegetables from farmer's who are opting out of our agricultural industrial process.  Change is a foot and there is so much to be gained; it is time to get our politicians to listen.

The debates will end tonight, so we are holding a Grass-fed Meet-up tomorrow night a the BAR(N) in Brooklyn to discuss the most important topics not addressed at the debates: Food and Farming. If you are in the New York Area, we hope to see you there.  If you are not in the New York area, Start a Local Chapter, ask your friends to join, and hold your own grass-fed meet up.  We want to hear what you have to say.  

The Grass-fed Party is now counting down the days until the election and I hope that all of my Grass-fed Party members and supporters will be at their local polling places next Tuesday casting their votes for the next president of the Unites States.

Yes, I am a third Party candidate, so in some states, you may have to write my name on the ballot, so why bother with Angus La Cense?  My presence in this campaign has served the important role of  3^rd Party Candidate: the role of bringing neglected, but important Issues into the conversation of election.  Although the Grass-fed Party may not see a big win on Tuesday, I am proud that we have given agricultural issues a voice in 2008. 

On that note, I would like to remind my supporters of a two farmer-led alliances formed in the late 19^th century that gave birth to one famous 3^rd party, the Populist Party.

In the mid 1870’s the National Grange was founded as a fraternity for farmers, taking up politics as farmers fought against the corporate control of the railroads and the grain elevators.  Like the Grass-fed Party, the Grangers advocated for co-operatives, and fewer middlemen and monopolies.  They promoted tax policies that supported home ownership of the family- sized farm, and the birth of the Cooperative Extension Service, which is still alive today, was largely due to the lobbying of the Grangers.  Even decades after the National Grange was formed, the policies they lobbied for found influence in both the 1916 Federal Farm Loan Act and 1937 Bankhead-Jones Act.  These acts helped farmers acquire loans to buy farmland and to turn tenant farmers into farm owners.  

The Farmer’s Alliance was also formed in the late 1870’s in response to unfair prices controlled by middlemen.  The Farmer’s Alliance formed co-operative retail stores and mills, and promoted higher commodity prices to keep independent farmers in bussiness.  The Populist Party was born out of the Grange Movement and Farmer’s Alliance movement as they looked to the Federal government for policy change.  The Populist Party (or the People’s Party) carried 10% of the vote in the election of 1892.  Although the Party faded after the election in 1896, their policies had been given a national platform, establishing the voice of rural producers in Washington.

On the eve of another election, I stand here, once again, representing the voice of the people and the animals who want to break free of the middlemen, who want to take part in a food system that supports the health of the people, our small communities, our independent producers, and the land.   No matter what happens on Election Day, I believe the Grass-fed Party will continue to influence policy decisions to yet to come. I will still be here, Angus La Cense, talking about real Grass-fed Change.

You are invited to our 2nd NYC Cowcus, which will be held at 7pm on Monday, September 22, at Dylan Prime in Tribeca. As the campaign moves forward, and as our candidates battle taking aim with talk about animals wearing lipstick, we decided it was time to bring people together to talk about real issues, including the harmful effects of putting lipstick on pigs. What? Okay, we’ll get past that one pretty quick, but we’re hoping the evening turns out to be a great opportunity for people like you who are involved in agriculture and food to come out and discuss your vision, your “beefs”, the election, and meet other like minded folks.

If you can’t make it to New York, you can still contribute your voice to the conversation of the Cowcus through this Grass-fed Party community site. Feel free to share your ideas on your personal Grass-fed Party member blogs. I’ll be doing a recap of the discussion on a future blog post and want to include ideas from people all over the country!

We’ll keep you posted on details about our next Cowcus in Montana.