Secession petition

And what about farm subsidies (in any state)?

 

You and I probably agree 100% on most farm subsidies.

As far as the actual number, no clue at all. Honestly.

 

Kraft is a very good firm. Wish her the best.

 

They're complicated. I'm all for keeping people from starving elsewhere in the world due to price increases. I greatly value soil conservation and paying farmers not to be retarded. There is a reason we haven't had a repeat of the dust bowl despite having two worst droughts since then. But there comes a point where it gets ridiculous, and we do some things that are absolutely ridiculous.

 

That is what I have been told. By her. Repeatedly.

Seriously though, thanks for the well wishes. Things are really going a lot better than I could hope for with both of us, really a blessing.

Sorry to get off topic.

 

My grandfather was a farmer and my dad did it part-time as a hobby more than anything (which I have now figured out was probably so he could go ride on a tractor and enjoy peace and quiet - he was a smart man). One year the govt paid him to not do anything with about 25 acres. Don't cut it, don't do anything, just let it grow for one year. I mean, it was hay. Nothing fancy, hay. He tried to explain to me why. I could not understand then. I doubt I could now. All I know is he made more money farming that one year than any other by doing nothing with about a 1/4 of the farm.

Go figure.

 

Because topsoil erodes and degrades 10 times as fast as it forms. By him resting the field, he actually increased his productivity in future years. Soil is what brings civilizations down. The climate in Lebanon hasn't changed much, but where are its cedars? Cut down, soil eroded, can no longer support forests.

 

Don't you think technology (roundup, etc) is the primary reason?

 

A hayfield that he cut twice a year?

I would get it if it was some type of row-cropping, but it's just an average run of the mill hayfield. It wasn't going to affect anything at all whether he cut it or not.

 

Interesting info, IP.

 

This is part of that. Who do you think paid to research no-till agriculture, strip fields, etc? You did. It is government money. Buying up shitty land that would only barely make a profit and cause erosion problems for everyone else and then letting them sit was tax-funded. They're now "National Grasslands." Individuals are economically motivated to make decisions that bring about bad outcomes in the long-term for both them and their neighbors and eventually their market. Direct government intervention was and is necessary to change that dynamic. And it worked.

 

For example, the drought the midwest is currently experiencing would have been apocalyptic 80 years ago. Now, we just complain about higher prices. Different irrigation and plowing practices allow for more efficient water use. Crappy land that would have only lost their owners money and triggered erosion problems for their neighbors sit fallow. It works.

 

I'd like to think Monsanto and Dow (the evil empires according to prop 37 here in california) had something to do with it.

 

This is a true statement....

 

Rye grass is a great cover crop, and can aerate the soil a bit, as well.

 

You guys do realize that there are a group of people out there that are organizing as we jack around on here to bring back they CSA and then crazy hate groups that live in compounds out in Idaho and Montana sit back waiting on the chaos to occur so they can rack up on supplies that they just can't get the normal way by covering it up as looting!

This could get serious...

 

Think whatever you would like. Soil erosion used to be a huge issue in the US. It is now under control. It wasn't due to new chemicals.

 

I wonder what the TVA cost, and what that has done for electricity, flood control, and the economy in Tennessee and Alabama?

 

Sovereign citizen wet dream

 

All those dam projects across the country.

Id like to see some data conclusions also.