For decades, antitrust rules have been weakened, leading to an enormous decline in diversified agriculture. In recent years, USDA and DOJ joined to hold hearings around the country. A large number of farmers lined up to speak at the first hearing in Ankeny Iowa, but the hearing was cut off leaving hundreds of them cut off from the process. Over all a huge number of comments were generated in favor of reforms. While a few reforms were made, many of the main ones were not implemented in any adequate way, as discussed here: "Eleven proposed GIPSA rules did not make the final cut," http://agpolicy.org/weekcol/595.html.
SEE THE VIDEO HERE: "Occupation 101 (4 of 7)". I REST MY CASE! See also my blog, "Hope for Arabiya:" http://www.zcommunications.org/hope-for-arabiya-by-brad-wilson
Goal is balance & depth, without hypocrisy. Grab bull by both horns. Tack left to miss the whirlpool. Decent Values, but when the formation is off course, go back to decency.
Michael Pollan has a huge Bully Pulpit for a great cause. Unfortunately, in videos across the internet he teaches falsely about the farm bill. He's wrong about the policy cause (it's not farm subsidies) or the policy solution (it's not changing/eliminating subsidies). The solution has been seen in traditional farm bill, Harkin-Gephardt, and the Food from Family Farms Act of the National Family Farm Coalition, nffc.net. Michael Pollan is the Bob Dylan of the Food Movement. He doesn't fit as an activist/political leader.
As in my "Review:" these are wonderful films & videos on agribusiness exploitation. The only problems are that 1. the policy diagnosis is false, and 2. the implied policy solution helps the very agribusiness exploiters they've aptly exposed.
Farming isn't just a way of life, it's a pattern of history. So too is mega agribusiness, which is rooted in the culturally mechanistic power complexes of ancient Babylon, Egypt and Rome. Humane, sustainable family farming regenerates our culture beyond the megamodern age.
Farming isn't just a way of life, it's a pattern of history. So too is mega agribusiness, which is rooted in the culturally mechanistic power complexes of ancient Babylon, Egypt and Rome. Humane, sustainable family farming regenerates our cultur...