Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Without getting into politics, we might remember that his WIN didn't work
and made Ford a laughingstock. Central government control of the economy
and the necessities of life is a main feature of totalitarian governments -
and doesn't work. I always stress it's the cumulative effect of the actions
of millions of us, the little people, that keeps the wheels turning and
food on the table. We can feed ourselves. We are the ones who build our
homes, raise children, arrange transportation - do all the work of the
world. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

    "The real argument against aristocracy is that it always means the rule
of the ignorant. For the most dangerous of all forms of ignorance is
ignorance of work." - Our society is so abnormal that the normal man never
dreams of having the normal occupation of looking after his own property.
When he chooses a trade, he chooses one of the ten thousand trades that
involve looking after other people's property."
   -- G.K. Chesterton

   "Most people in our country, and apparently most people in the
"developed" world, have given proxies to the corporations to produce and
provide all of their food, clothing, and shelter.  Moreover, they are
rapidly giving proxies to corporations or governments to provide
entertainment, education, child care, care of the sick and the elderly, and
many other kinds of "service" that once were carried on informally and
inexpensively by individuals or households or communities."
   -- Wendell Berry in The Idea of a Local Economy

   "If America could be, once again, a nation of self-reliant farmers,
craftsmen, hunters, ranchers and artists, then the rich would have little
power to dominate others. Neither to serve nor rule: That was the American
dream," 
- - Ed Abbey  wrote in his journal.   From Earth Could Use Friends Like
Abbey, John Balzar in LA Times


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 8/10/2007 at 11:21 AM Dan Conine wrote:

>Here's one of the causes of cheap food:
>
>Gerald Ford's "Whip Inflation Now 
><http://www.millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/digitalarchive/speeches/spe_1
974_1008_ford>" 
>speech from 1975:
>
>Keep in mind that the ADM and Monsanto influences were there as well as 
>they are now, but fewer people realized it back then. Now, they enact 
>policies like this and do it with arrogance that there isn't anything we 
>can do through government to stop the Corporatocracy from manipulating 
>everything people eat.
>In those days, food and energy were the inflation factors. Now, they are 
>excluded from inflation calculations to keep retirees from getting their 
>due social security raises.
>
>Excerpt:
>>
>> A stable American economy cannot be sustained if the world's economy 
>> is in chaos. International cooperation is absolutely essential and 
>> vital. But while we seek agreements with other nations, let us put our 
>> own economic house in order. Today, I have identified 10 areas for our 
>> joint action, the executive and the legislative branches of our 
>> Government.
>>
>> Number one: food. America is the world's champion producer of food. 
>> Food prices and petroleum prices in the United States are primary 
>> inflationary factors. America today partially depends on foreign 
>> sources for petroleum, but we can grow more than enough food for 
>> ourselves.
>>
>> To halt higher food prices, we must produce more food, and I call upon 
>> every farmer to produce to full capacity. And I say to you and to the 
>> farmers, they have done a magnificent job in the past, and we should 
>> be eternally grateful.
>>
>> This Government, however, will do all in its power to assure him--that 
>> farmer--he can sell his entire yield at reasonable prices. 
>> Accordingly, I ask the Congress to remove all remaining acreage 
>> limitations on rice, peanuts, and cotton.
>>
>> I also assure America's farmers here and now that I will allocate all 
>> the fuel and ask authority to allocate all the fertilizer they need to 
>> do this essential job.
>>
>> Agricultural marketing orders and other Federal regulations are being 
>> reviewed to eliminate or modify those responsible for inflated prices.
>>
>> I have directed our new Council on Wage and Price Stability to find 
>> and to expose all restrictive practices, public or private, which 
>> raise food prices. The Administration will also monitor food 
>> production, margins, pricing, and exports. We can and we shall have an 
>> adequate supply at home, and through cooperation, meet the needs of 
>> our trading partners abroad.
>>
>> Over this past weekend, we initiated a voluntary program to monitor 
>> grain exports. The Economic Policy Board will be responsible for 
>> determining the policy under this program.
>>
>> In addition, in order to better allocate our supplies for export, I 
>> ask that a provision be added to Public Law 480 under which we ship 
>> food to the needy and friendly countries. The President needs 
>> authority to waive certain of the restrictions on shipments based on 
>> national interest or humanitarian grounds.
>>