Farm Bill 101

So apparently I've decided as of late that teaching (and all it entails) attempting to work out regularly, and raising a toddler just wasn't enough? I mean, heck, I was eating a leisurely dinner most nights and going to bed at the early time of 10pm.  I am a class advisor and our task this year is to raise enough money to throw a fabulous prom next year.  I am teaching two new classes this year.  I have also officially launched my "side project" called Backyard Spice Shop in which I travel to craft shows and pedal my wares (spice and bread mixes and homemade jelly so far) - Etsy site is coming soon!  I'm trying to get a Gay-Straight Alliance going at school and a student just asked if I'd help the school pride group produce a lip-dub video this year.  Sure, why not.  And now, I'm working with an activist group to fight for a fairer farm bill in 2012.  I am not telling you all of this to make you jealous of the fact that my kitchen sink is overflowing with dishes because I'm never home to wash them, I'm telling you so you can understand why the posts have been few and far between.

More importantly, I want to talk about the Farm Bill.  The Farm Bill was originally written in 1920 and included the GIPSA rules (Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration). These rules were intended to protect farmers, but over the years they haven't been funded or defined.  The current leg of the campaign is focused on getting U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (chair of the agriculture committee) to agree to make sure these rules are defined and funded the rules would do the following:

• Stop price premiums and secret preferential contracts granted to cattle and hog factory farms.

• Prevent one buyer from representing multiple meatpackers at an auction. This practice effectively eliminates competitive bidding on livestock, which hurts small-scale producers.

• Prohibits retaliation against poultry growers who speak out about abuses.

• Protects poultry growers who make expensive upgrades and investments and prevents companies from requiring growers to make expensive upgrades to their facilities if they are in working order.

(www.foodandwaterwatch.org)

Today the Kalamazoo group alone got 233 people to call Stabenow's office and demand change.  I'm still waiting to hear the totals from around the state, but we filled at least one voicemail box and had to be rerouted to a new number!

In addition, I played an integral role in the creation of this awesomely giant rooster prop.  His name is RJ. We painted his front side with chalkboard paint so that we could change his message as needed.
          

Now I don't pretend to be "small farmer" in any sense of the word, but I do raise chickens and turkeys and we have found that most processing plants won't even take your birds unless you have at least 25.  This is very frustrating and only a teensy example of what it must feel like to raise 200 head of cattle and be bullied out of the market by "farms" that raise 2000 head.

The reality is that our food system MUST change. Factory farms are using up our natural resources and leaving fields as barren as a parking lot.  Our food is full of chemicals that is having any number of untold effect on our healthy.  These large scale operations are pollution our land, water, and air.  This is at least one small step that I can be a part of when shopping at the farmers market and baking bread from scratch don't seem like enough.