Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill

Book Description

The Farm Bill is perhaps the single most significant land use legislation enacted in the United States, yet many citizens remain unaware of its power and scope. With subsidies ballooning toward $25 billion dollars per year, the Farm Bill largely dictates who grows what crops, on what acreage, and under what conditions--all with major impacts on the country's rural economies, health and nutrition, national security, and biodiversity. As debate and wrangling over the 2007 Farm Bill intensifies, Food Fight offers a highly informative and visually engaging overview of legislation that literally shapes our food system, our bodies, and our future.

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Food- a political opportunity.......2007-06-11

No one goes to the grocery store thinking that the government legislates what they buy or eat. But in fact, the government plays an enormously influential role on what products and foods are grown and produced, as well as distributed in your local grocery. The legislation known as the Farm Bill (some call it the Food Bill) has greatly altered the way that farms operate, thereby changing the landscape of food choice, nutrition, biodiversity in our country as well as other poorer countries, quality of life for farmers and eaters, as well as a multitude of other issues. Interestingly, this is legislation that not many citizens know about or realize has such far-reaching implications. This book is simple to read but clearly lays out many of the prominent issues that the Bill deals with and why the allocation of money and priorities in the Bill are so important for us to confront and influence, as eaters and as citizens.

Here is an example of an outcome of the Farm Bill's mismanagement and where we are now: (with some knowledge also gleaned from Michael Pollan's excellent book The Omnivore's Dilemma)
You may think that the US grows a lot of corn and that's a good thing- did you know that most of the corn is not edible by humans and b/c of subsidies by the government to grow it big and cheap, most corn actually gets processed into byproducts: animal feed (forcing cows, who are physically designed to eat grass, to eat corn), processed sugars (corn syrup replaced sugar in many foods simply b/c it is cheaper and it's subsidized) or gets dumped onto poorer countries, driving those country's economics beserk b/c of our subsidization policy?

CHeck this book out if only so that you can be better informed about how the government has their hands in your meal. The Bill is up for re-legislation this year in 2007 so we have to get involved fast!

Farm Policy for Dummies (Like Me).......2007-06-07

Word of the day: "cornification." Cornification, in a nutshell, is the takeover of a diverse landscape by one mighty plant: corn. The "Effects of Cornification" graphic on page 17 of Dan Imhoff's new book shows the results: the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, factory livestock farms, obesity, immigration problems, food deserts (that's "deserts" not desserts"), the emptying of our rural communities, etc., etc. One look at the "cornification" graphic and a message comes through loud and clear: what the government tells farmers to raise has ramifications far beyond Renville County, Minnesota. Imhoff's book, Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, is full of these kinds of eye-opening, mind-expanding graphics. His message isn't new, but the way he presents it is fresh and important. The phrase "must-read" is much abused (I've thought that ever since someone used "must-read" and the book The Bridges of Madison County in the same sentence). But if you are interested in how U.S. farm policy affects our environment, our communities and what we eat, and you want to do something about reforming the system, then Food Fight, is, yes, a must-read.

Imhoff's book provides a valuable service in a year when a new federal Farm Bill is being written up. It's time to take the development of ag policy out of the hands of large agribusiness and narrowly-focused commodity groups. But creating a Farm Bill that's accountable to society requires an informed public.

That's where Food Fight comes in--it makes a dense topic quite accessible. In a succinct, clear, USA Today-type format, Imhoff's chapters relate information that anyone who reads newspaper investigative pieces or watches PBS regularly probably has an inkling of: federal farm policy in this country is dysfunctional and expensive, as well as harmful to the environment, human health and our communities.

Imhoff, who is the writing/publishing force behind such books as Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature and Farming with the Wild, knows the power of images. He's summarized studies, media reports and sleep-inducing statistics in brief, easy to digest graphics. He's read the think-tank white papers and plowed through the USDA data, so you don't have to. And then he's put it all in context.

Don't let the readability of this book fool you into thinking this is lightweight material; these are some heavy topics Imhoff is addressing: "...nearly 40 million Americans, 12 percent of all households, confront food insecurity, meaning that they often experience hunger or need to skip meals to get by. Many are children," reads one sentence above a heartbreaking photo of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk.

This isn't all graphics, charts and photos. Imhoff also uses clearly-written text to explain complicated issues like the history of U.S. farm programs, how New Zealand reformed its system and what can be done here, now, to reform ours. With chapter titles like, "Why the Farm Bill Matters," "What Is The Farm Bill?" and "Where It All Started," this book lives up to its "Citizen's Guide" claim.

Glancing over Food Fight's facts and figures, I was surprised at how many of them I was familiar with. But the sheer weight of their overall impact had not struck me before. Having all of this information put together into one cohesive piece provides a powerful tool for action. As I was reading the book, I was also chagrined at how I've become numbed to the ludicrousness of federal ag policy. Over the years, I've read about the major corporations that receive the lion's share of crop subsidies, but it wasn't until I saw Imhoff's top 20 "Subsidy Recipients" list that the sheer criminality of it struck home.

For example, J.G. Boswell Company received over $17 million in USDA ag subsidies between 1994 and 2004. Boswell grows cotton in the bottom of what was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Sixty percent of U.S. cotton is dumped on the world market at cut-rate prices, threatening the livelihood of farmers all over the planet. I've met a few of those Third-World farmers and they don't want a handout. All they want is to be able to sell their crop at a fair price. But they can't because our tax money is subsidizing behemoths like Boswell. Free market agriculture? Give me a break. I know a West African farmer (Ear to the Ground No. 20) that could teach us a thing or two about the free market.

Food Fight is a quick read and that's good; the 2007 Farm Bill deliberations are upon us and may be wrapped up as early as this fall. Read this book and call your Senators and Representatives armed with facts, figures...and a lot of righteous citizen anger.

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Agriculture and the Citizen
C. Spedding
Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0412715201

Book Description

The purpose of Agriculture and the Citizen is to help people understand the way in which agriculture operates, providing the information necessary to enable them to arrive at an informed view on major issues: can the increasing world population be adequately fed without unacceptable pollution to the environment? Is the food and water we consume safe? Will we run out of natural resources such as land, fuel or water? Is the current use of agrochemicals necessary or dangerous? Is intensive farming sustainable or would organic farming be better? How can we help developing countries? Is food aid a good thing or not? How far should the genetic manipulation of plants and animals be allowed to go? This important book will appeal to all concerned with such issues, including all those studying and teaching agricultural and environmental sciences, research scientists, policy makers, and libraries, it is written in language that non-specialists can understand.

Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s

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A look at Southern Culture in the 1950's
Excellent appraisal of the Southern paradox

Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s
Pete Daniel
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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ASIN: 0807848484
Release Date: 2000-04-12

Book Description

This sweeping work of cultural history explores a time of startling turbulence and change in the South, years that have often been dismissed as placid and dull. In the wake of World War II, southerners anticipated a peaceful and prosperous future, but as Pete Daniel demonstrates, the road into the 1950s took some unexpected turns.

Daniel chronicles the myriad forces that turned the world southerners had known upside down in the postwar period. In chapters that explore such subjects as the civil rights movement, segregation, and school integration; the breakdown of traditional agriculture and the ensuing rural-urban migration; gay and lesbian life; and the emergence of rock 'n' roll music and stock car racing, as well as the triumph of working-class culture, he reveals that the 1950s South was a place with the potential for revolutionary change.

In the end, however, the chance for significant transformation was squandered, Daniel argues. One can only imagine how different southern history might have been if politicians, the press, the clergy, and local leaders had supported democratic reforms that bestowed full citizenship on African Americans—and how little would have been accomplished if a handful of blacks and whites had not taken risks to bring about the changes that did come.

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A look at Southern Culture in the 1950's.......2007-07-13

Read this for graduate American history course. Lost Revolutions by Pete Daniel is a book that looks at the South during the 1950's. More specifically, it is a cultural history of the American South from the end of World War II until the Freedom Summer of 1964. Daniel's thesis is, "The South that evolved in the twenty years after the war emerged out of displacement, conflict, and creativity - not tranquility" (1). Daniel covers many themes that support his thesis. Among these themes are the migration of small farmers to cities, the advent of NASCAR, Rock n' Roll, and the lost occasions to give full citizenship to African Americans. The author's intention for writing this book is twofold. First, Daniel explores the cultural achievements of the "Lowdown culture" (91). He does this by looking at how the displaced farmers kept their rural roots, despite the fact that they lived in urban areas. Second, Daniel delves into the reasons why the middle-class and upper-class South did not want to desegregate. Lost Revolutions is a fascinating cultural history that sheds light on many current issues.

Daniel discusses numerous issues that surrounded the South after the end of World War II. Primarily, the author looks at a multitude of reasons that massively shrank the number of farmers in the South. "Over a million farm operators left the land in the 1950s" (60). Ezra Taft Benson was a major contributor in the displacement of small farmers in the South. Benson was appointed the secretary of agriculture under
Eisenhower in 1952. This is about the same time that farm machinery, such as tractors, began to replace labor-intensive farming techniques. Additionally, since the Great Depression the majority of southern farmers relied on Government subsidies. "Calculations, allotments, and regulations - not hard work - determined whether farmers succeeded or failed" (46). In 1959 a seventy-one-year-old Alabama farmer named E. Spech said, " ... now we can't move without a handout ... Each morning the men headed for some local restaurant for a cup of coffee while their wives sleep till noon" (59). It was obvious to many that Benson did not want to support the small farmer, but rather Agribusiness and the large farmer. Many of the white southern landowners bought more farms, machinery, and became wealthy with the support of the government. Conversely, small farmers, tenant farmers, and sharecroppers, both black and white, left their farms for the cities.

One of the themes that Daniel discusses in Lost Revolutions is the role of the government on the southern environment. As machinery cut down on the need for workers on a farm, so to did the use of chemicals. Interestingly, after World War One, two the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) teamed up with the Chemical Warfare Service to combine their chemical research. These organizations researched
chemicals like DDT, which could be used against humans or insects to shut down the nervous system. DDT and other similar chemicals were used to dust crops by plane, but usually this was done by hand to save money. The USDA even funded the dusting of private property with dieldrin, which is 20 times more toxic than DDT in order to eradicate Argentine fire ants. This supposed scourge was built up by using "Red propaganda" in order scare Americans that an invading insect was going to ruin their land.
The government would eventually spend $156 million dollars to extinguish the Argentine fire ant. This resulted in ruining the environment in many places and actually caused the ...fire ant to speed up its evolutionary cycle and spread throughout the country. The picture that Daniel paints of organizations like the USDA and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) helps to support his thesis that the South was changing out of conflict.

Lost Revolutions gives the history of displaced southerners who banded together, despite having different skin colors. " ... when it came to exchanging something offensive to the upper class, racial barriers collapsed" (92). The Lowdown culture of the South thrived on being unruly, unrespectable, hard-drinking, and rough. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has roots in bootlegging and quickly became something that the Lowdown culture gravitated to in the 1950s. The drivers, mechanics, and fans typically put pleasure over values by their bad behavior on and off the track. Additionally, the Lowdown culture produced, "jazz, blues, country, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock On'roll, and soul music" (122). People like Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Willie Mitchell, and Otis Redding were the sounds of the 1950s and the music had no color barrier. The culture that the displaced southerners found joy in reflected their beliefs and could have helped to end segregation in the South. The author describes the South in the 1950s by looking at the continuation of segregation as something that came from the white middle class and the elite. Daniel argues that the working-class southerners were typically not fighting against integration in the South. This is seen through the crisis at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daniel describes why many whites and blacks feared integration at Central High School. The nine black students who attended Central were kept from major physical harm by the 101st Airborne, which was sent by President Eisenhower. Segregationists saw this action as a threat to state rights and a throwback to
Reconstruction. The strength of Daniel's account of this well-known event lies in his telling of the rest of the story. He tells how the "Littlerock Nine" were subjected to being hit, having hot soup dumped on them, seeing racial words written in the bathroom, and having to be submissive. In the end, Daniel notes the opportunity for positive integration was lost when, "Segregationists policed the color line with a vengeance and intimidated and white person who deviated from their code" (283).

Lost Revolutions is a book that looks at the driving forces behind the Southern culture in the 1950s. The author focuses on segregation as a major topic, but also looks at the cultural collision brought out by the upper-class, middle-class, and the Lowdown cultures. After WorId War II many people in the South favored integration, civil rights, and a positive change in culture. However, "The white elite engineered agribusiness, migration, and massive resistance, a counterrevolution that poisoned both the environment and race relations" (305). The damage done to race relations is to take many years to heal, and in many places is still waiting for resolution. The Blues and NASCAR are proof that race relations in the South could have come from positive cultural influence. Daniel does not look at the South as being predominantly full of segregationists. Rather, he points to lack of leadership, ignorance, and fear as the major reasons that the South had an uneasy end to segregation. Daniel claims that the working class
people of the South were swept away in the racial tension that embattled the 1950s. Segregation in the South ended through laws and intervention rather than a belief in equality. "Before they [the working-class] were divided or tamed, these people redefined the South and established enduring cultural monuments" (305).

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I recommended this book for anyone interested in American history, civil rights era history.

Excellent appraisal of the Southern paradox.......2000-07-28

The 1950's South was both a time and a place of contradictions. On the one hand, there was a cultural revolution going on that fused both white and black musical tastes into one revolutionary music genre (rock 'n' roll) and a political revolution that went on (integration) which made the cultural achievements seem to pale in comparison. In essence, the South of the 1950's was a confusing maelstrom of contradictory policies and failed opportunities for peaceful change.

So argues Pete Daniel in his book "Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950's". Daniel's thesis is that the South offered ripe opportunities for change during the immediate post-World War II era but these opportunities were overlooked by the fact that warring factions between African-Americans and whites prevented to make important cultural revolutions make a difference in the political spectrum. These important cultural revolutions consisted of: the importance of rhythm and blues in forging feelings of appreciation between blacks and white country and western singers, the rise of NASCAR as a unifying factor among lower-class whites to challeng the hegemony of the white middle and upper-classes, and, finally, the rebeliousness exhibited by both white and black youth to forge a new consensus for political change. Daniel's book does an excellent job of explaining both why there were contradictions in Southern society and how these contradictions contributed to a painfully fought battle for integration and equal rights. This is a battle which is still being fought today but more on a state's rights and regionalistic front than a racial front.

Book Description

While terrorism in agriculture takes few lives, the misinformation emerging from the rhetoric of anti-globalists, radical environmentalists, and animal welfare extremists costs Americans billions of dollars in lost income every year. This controversial volume illuminates the political, economic, and global effects of these groups on the agricultural industry.The clear, concise, and readable book discusses specific events and issues, helping readers understand how radical agriculturalists think. Tweeten explains how half truths and false ideologies find their way into our political systems and bring about bad public decisions, increasing losses and causing global repercussions.Terrorism, Radicalism, and Populism in Agriculture offers enlightenment for anyone involved in business, agriculture, policy-making and politics.

Understanding Community-Based Forest Ecosystem Management

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Understanding Community-Based Forest Ecosystem Management

Manufacturer: Haworth Press
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Forest Communities, Community Forests: Struggles and Successes in Rebuilding Communities and Forests

ASIN: 1560220813

Book Description

Here is a state-of-the-art reference and information source for scientists, community groups and their leaders, resource managers, and ecosystem management practitioners. Healthy ecosystems and community well-being go hand in hand, and the interdependence between the two is the focal point of community-based ecosystem management. The information you'll find in Understanding Community-Based Forest Ecosystem Management will be invaluable in your effort to manage and maintain the ecosystems in your community. Understanding Community-Based Forest Ecosystem Management examines the emergence of community-based ecosystem management (CBEM) in the United States. This comprehensive book blends diverse perspectives, enabling you to draw on the experience and expertise of forest-based practitioners, researchers, and leaders in community-based efforts in the ecosystem management situations that you deal with in your community.

Uphill against Water: The Great Dakota Water War (Our Sustainable Future)

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A Lesson in Citizen Action

Uphill against Water: The Great Dakota Water War (Our Sustainable Future)
Peter Carrels
Manufacturer: University of Nebraska Press
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In Uphill against Water, Peter Carrels examines the history of Missouri River water development projects in general and describes the struggle over one of the largest of those projects, South Dakota’s Oahe irrigation project, in detail. Opposition to the Oahe project was intense and well organized. After four years of bitter competition, an energetic and resourceful grassroots group, United Family Farmers, wrested control of the Oahe conservancy district board, a government agency that had been an ardent supporter of the irrigation project. That political triumph led to the only victory in the West by a grassroots group over the Bureau of Reclamation and the irrigation and business establishment.

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A Lesson in Citizen Action.......2000-06-09

This book covers the changing of the guard in American politics, when authority was no longer unquestioned and citizens were learning how to organize and exert their positions. In hindsight, it is amazing that such an ill conceived idea as transporting 800,000 cubic yards of water over 100 miles to irrigate land inherently unsuited to irrigation could have held sway for three decades before being exposed as impractical. The fact that this feat was accomplished by a handful of citizens, against the united desires of the press and business and political leaders, makes it even more interesting reading.

During the period that this drama was being acted out, I served as a Special Assistant to the Governor of South Dakota, and I was impressed by the clear, interesting and straightforward telling of this story. While I would dispute some of the details, to a reader that did not live out this drama, these are of a minor consequence. As the staff member that authorized funding of the study of transporting Missouri River water to Wyoming, I can assure the readers that this study was done solely to determine the impact of providing clean, fresh water to ranches and small communities in western South Dakota and was completely unrelated to the Oahe project. Governor Kneip quickly distanced himself from this study when objections arose from our political base in eastern South Dakota. This study, however, documented the importance of clean water supplies to the public health and the raising of livestock. The rural water systems that were created in the wake of Oahe addressed this need and as the author noted, this was the lasting legacy of the Oahe Project.

There is a natural tendency in books like this to paint the good guys as pure and the establishment as universally bad. In this case as part of the establishment, there were major differences of opinion within the Kneip administration on the feasibility and desirability of the Oahe Project. The decision to "leak" and make public a wide array of documents that were destined to aid the opponents was thoroughly debated and I admire Governor Kneip's tolerance of those that prevailed in providing the public the truth.

Book Description

Communities and Forests offers a timely view of the changing face of forests and forestry in North America today. In examining interactions between people and forests, the book shows that forests are as much a social institution as they are a biological resource.

Editors Robert Lee and Donald Field document the shift from scientific forestry to community forestry. They note that the traditional science-based, state-controlled model for managing forests ignores the voices of those affected by the use of forest resources. The editors suggest that science-based forestry is giving way to an alternative approach, one in which nature, economy, society, and culture are considered integral elements of the human-forest relationship. They see a future where forestry will continue to be informed by science but shaped by community values.

Contributors to this volume consider the connection between forests and communities from a variety of perspectives, including environmental history, natural resource sociology, and forest policy. The book begins with an investigation of the historical and sociological foundations of community-based forest management. Chapters in the second section highlight the diverse issues surrounding community forestry, specifically the conflicts between the management of public forestlands and the interests of various stakeholders in using forests as a public good. The final section examines urban forestry, focusing on both the importance of forestry in urban settings and the demographic shifts that have brought people with urban values and lifestyles to rural, forested settings.

With its unique focus on the integration of communities into decision-making about forests, this collection of insightful essays will prove useful to public and private land managers, as well as to researchers and students in the fields of forestry, resource management, rural sociology, regional planning, environmental studies, and parks and recreation.

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Forest crashers.......2006-01-11

It used to be that forests were the concerns of government and big business. But it has become impossible to separate forests from we the people of the United States. For there are people whose well-being depends upon being able to visit forests. That's one of the big ways the Forest Service makes money. It's not just about keeping the forests safe for the trees. It's not just about keeping endangered species and wildlife safe. It's also about keeping forests picturesque for people who want to see all our beautiful native and naturally diverse heritage among the trees. There are others who live in forests. Over the past 15-20 years, people have been moving into what Virginia Tech advanced master gardening calls the urban-wildland interface. That means they live among trees, whether that be along city outskirts, in countryside woodlands or close to our forests and parks. Finally, there are still others who make their living from forests. It's not just big business. It's ordinary taxpayers who make their small-scale livings as loggers, mushroom and berry gatherers, and brush pickers.

Editors Robert G Lee and Donald R Field say this has had a definite impact. The impact of COMMUNITIES AND FORESTS can be clearly seen WHERE PEOPLE MEET THE LAND. Forests have changed. We've changed the way we look at forests. And hopefully so will forest science and forest management. Forests can't be managed without people values coming into the picture. They're not just sources of wood and wood products. They're settings for home, play and work. For example, the forests of our upper lake states are known as beautiful, tree-filled wildlife settings for people to visit and for retirees and seasonal residents to build homes. Recreation and residence needs are as important as resource demands. Seeing just like big business and government won't build up local communities. Instead, it'll be taking into account community well-being, forest conservation and forest product sales.

For the best decisions about forests should come from the pooled opinions of forest workers, forest residents, forest product customers, forest managers, and forest lovers. But is it possible and practical for government and big business to co-operate with people and workers? The Canadian government thinks so. It's trying shared decision-making of the country's forests with communities whose livelihood and well-being depend on trees. The US government doesn't copycat. So it's sponsoring the National Community Forestry Center. That Center helps community forestry efforts of organizations outside the government.

The book is well-organized. There's a good index. The contributing witers have filled their chapters with supportive examples and complete references. Realistic solutions are as well covered as the problems. In some places, the wording is a bit academic. But the overall message sounds clear throughout.

The Complex Forest: Communities, Uncertainty, and Adaptive Collaborative Management (RFF Press)

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The Complex Forest: Communities, Uncertainty, and Adaptive Collaborative Management (RFF Press)
Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Manufacturer: RFF Press
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ASIN: 1933115130

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The Complex Forest systematically examines the theory, processes, and early outcomes of a research and management approach called adaptive collaborative management (ACM). An alternative to positivist approaches to development and conservation that assume predictability in forest management, ACM acknowledges the complexity and unpredictability inherent in any forest community and the importance of developing solutions together with the forest peoples whose lives will be most affected by the outcomes.

Building on earlier work that established the importance of flexible, collaborative approaches to sustainable forest management, The Complex Forest describes the work of ACM practitioners facing a broad range of challenges in diverse settings and attempts to identify the conditions under which ACM is most effective. Case studies of ACM in 30 forest sites in 11 countries together with Colfer's systematic comparison of results at each site indicate that human and institutional capabilities have been strengthened. In Zimbabwe, for example, the number of women involved in decisionmaking soared. In Nepal, community members detected and sanctioned dishonest community elites. In Cameroon and Bolivia, learning programs resulted in better conflict management. These are early results, but a wide range of recent research supports Colfer's belief that these new capabilities will ultimately raise incomes and lead to sustainable improvements in the health of forests and forest peoples.

The Complex Forest reinforces calls for change in the way we plan conservation and development programs, away from command-and-control approaches, toward ones that require bureaucratic flexibility and responsiveness, as well as greater local participation in the setting of priorities and in problem solving.

This book is a copublication with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

The Equitable Forest: Diversity and Community in Sustainable Resource Management (RFF Press)

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The Equitable Forest: Diversity and Community in Sustainable Resource Management (RFF Press)
Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Manufacturer: RFF Press
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ASIN: 1891853783

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Research and policy toward sustainable forest management have often paid incomplete attention to the well being of local populations and their activities as forest managers. Where there has been recognition of local communities, the roles of marginalized groups and women are usually not well understood. This is despite evidence that equity and social relationships, including gender roles, are important factors in the ways that communities manage forest resources overall and adapt to change.

A copublication with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

The American cropland crisis: Why U.S. farmland is being lost and how citizens and governments are trying to save what is left

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The American cropland crisis: Why U.S. farmland is being lost and how citizens and governments are trying to save what is left
Wendell Fletcher
Manufacturer: American Land Forum
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ASIN: 0960789804

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