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Recent Sustainer Blogs
By Brad Wilson at Mar 17, 2013
This blog examines 2, contrasting policy columns form the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center, as a substitute for an in-person Farm Bill debate between Ken Cook of the Environmental Working Group and former House Ag Chairman (Republican, Texas,) Larry Combest. It responds to Cook's call for such a debate.... (More) Comments (0)
By Brad Wilson at Mar 11, 2013
The claim that farmers should only grow food crops is a dangerous myth that mistakenly got added into discussions about farm and food justice. The origin and consequences of this myth are explained.... (More) Comments (0)
Breadcrumbs, Hunger Groups Fail
By Brad Wilson at Mar 05, 2013
During the 1980s Farm Crisis Churches listened to farmers and made major commitments to the Farm Justice (Family Farm) Movement. Twenty years later, those commitments were largely forgotten as churches and hunger groups, (often religious in nature,) took stands on the 2008 (2007) Farm Bill that sided with agribusiness against US and global farmers. They offered solutions that were not grounded in reality, based upon ideas that were popular in the mainstream media and Food Movement. The biggest issue was dumping, where the US, the single dominant exporter, chose to lose money on farm commodity exports, thus hurting farmers globally, such as those in Least Developed Countries, which are 70% rural. The false solutions added up to no more than 'breadcrumbs for the world.'... (More) Comments (0)
Commodity Crops Vs Veggies? Fix the Myth
By Brad Wilson at Jan 29, 2013
Are Commodity Crops privileged, while Vegetable Crops are penalized by the Farm Bill? Is Corn a Farm Bill “King,” while Tomatoes and Spinach are paupers? What does the data show? This blog is a brief introduction to 9 new data slides showing Price Summery data based upon the “Parity standard.” Parity is the traditional standard of fair prices, or what we might call today, a “Fair Trade” or “Living Wage” standard.... (More) Comments (0)
White Paper: Myth of 'Farm Clout'
By Brad Wilson at Jan 08, 2013
There's been talk recently of "farm" clout, as if farmers have had clout for their interests through their "farm state" Senate and House Agriculture Committee representatives. In fact, however, the farm bill has increasingly hurt authentic "farm" or "agricultural" interests. Even Iowa, (or rather, especially places like Iowa,) which has been very well represented on the committees, and which has been the 2nd leading recipient of farm commodity subsidies, has suffered massive Farm Bill reductions over the years, and is surely the biggest Farm Bill loser, as the full record of data clearly shows.... (More) Comments (0)
2013 Food Resolution: Stop AgBiz Support
By Brad Wilson at Jan 03, 2013
It's the time for New Years Resolutions and I propose one for the Food Movement, especially for its leaders: Stop supporting agribusiness in the biggest issue of the farm bill! The Food Movement has long taken a very strong stand against this, in principle, even as it has supported it in practice. That was true in the work on the 2008 Farm Bill and in the work so far on the 2012 Farm Bill. It's a huge contradiction, and you'd think it would be easy to change: to get those who believe strongly in something political to take a specific stand on it! Ok, let's resolve to get it done for 2013.... (More) Comments (0)
By Brad Wilson at Jan 03, 2013
The industrial model of agriculture that we get from pesticide companies is the cookbook method, where you choose individual poisons to kill individual pests or pest groups, without regard for the ecology of agriculture. By analogy, that is much like the approach to the Farm Bill that we get from the Food Movement, where quick fixes are sought through specific subsidy applications. The first solution, above, is to work with, not against nature, ecologically. The second solution is through appreciation of the "ecology" of Farm Bill economics, working with, not against the enormous impact of farm markets as a whole.... (More) Comments (0)
Dairy Cliff: Your Brain on Agbiz
By Brad Wilson at Dec 24, 2012
The latest spin from the giant dairy processors is that consumers face a "dairy cliff" where the farm bill will rip them off. In fact, however, agribusiness, (and through them consumers getting whatever's left over) have been massively subsidized by more than three quarters of a trillion dollars (1953- 2010, in 2010 dollars) below the traditonal fair trade standard of parity. Dairy farmers have had no positive returns for two decades, and still don't, but are bashed in 200,000+ mainstream media articles for the fair prices that have not even happened. Such Orwellian mystification is, basically, "Your Brain on Agribusiness."... (More) Comments (0)
Useful: Flawed Food Score Card
By Brad Wilson at Oct 29, 2012
Food Policy Action's "Food Policy Scorecard" is a helpful tool for informing voters of how to vote. I'm glad to see it come out prior to the election. On the other hand, it contains major flaws, the same ones that are widespread in the Food Movement. My bottom line: The Democrats are much better at supporting consumers instead of corporations on a range of issues, as the Scorecard shows, but the ratings given should be drastically lowered, as the Democrats now advocate much like the Republicans on the biggest issues, those most important to family farmers. Historically the Democrats were much better on these issues, and stood out from the Republicans much more.... (More) Comments (0)
Oxfam Misses Food Poverty Dilemmas, Policies
By Brad Wilson at Sep 06, 2012
This provides context for understanding hunger and farm prices, and gives policy solutions. Few online articles and reports, including those of Oxfam, which is the focuse of the critique here, adequately address the full context of savage dilemmas and needed policies.... (More) Comments (0)
Farm Bill: Turn Back? Take Back Clock
By Brad Wilson at Sep 03, 2012
I wrote the op-ed on how "Congress should Take Back the Farm Bill clock, a rebuttal to a mainstream media article: “Farm bill inaction could turn clock back to 1949.” Overall, there were too many flaws in the original article and arguments against it’s theses to fit into the 600 word limit of my op-ed, so I give some additional arguments here, and document it all with data and footnotes. Basically, here I link, highlight, expand, supplement, and footnote my published rebuttal.... (More) Comments (0)
By Brad Wilson at Aug 30, 2012
One of the symptoms of diabetes, which we hear so much about these days, as a consequence of the food crisis, is that people lose their limbs, which must then be cut off. First it may be just a toe, then a foot, then the lower leg, then the whole leg, then another leg, etc. We have similar symptoms on the hidden, family farm side of the food issue. The sacrifices we make in producing the food, and in fighting for farm justice, lead to the symptoms of what I call "family Farm diabetes." The lack of support for farm justice, in fact the unknowing opposition to it by well meaning but misinformed food justice advocates, can contribute to this disease, as we work for years to overcome stereotypes and myths.... (More) Comments (0)
By Brad Wilson at Aug 18, 2012
A Food Movement Timeline is a great idea, but it should include the farm side of food justice. This one misses most of that, which is related to the failure of the food movement to adequately advocate for US and global farm justice.... (More) Comments (0)
Food Subsidies, like Firetrucks, are not Cause
By Brad Wilson at Aug 15, 2012
Farmers have been excluded from food movement dialogues. This has led the food movement to failed advocacy, where food movement “principles” lead to advocacy that directly violates those principles. Here’s the story. This blog summarizes a longer blog using the same subheadings: “Failed Food Principles: Firetrucks (Subsidies) Don’t Cause the Fires of Injustice.”1 Refer to it for references and further study. ... (More) Comments (0)
Rebuttal: Bittman Bashes Butter
By Brad Wilson at Aug 13, 2012
Mark Bittman unfairly bashes milk, with little regard for the dairy crisis, the most acute farm injustice in the farm bill. In part he supports the Transfat-AgBiz-Complex, as does mainstream media. I provide alternative views to part of Bittman's argument, views that are rarely known. I will address Bittman's policy errors in a subsequent blog.... (More) Comments (0)
