Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Excellent piece, thank you.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

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

On 10/15/2007 at 10:48 PM activism98201@verizon.net wrote:

>Awhile back a friend asked me if I knew anything of A.V. Krebs.  I had to
>respond that I didn't: I'm not sure if he did either, as he asked me if I
>knew anything of this "guy."  After some quick research I found out that
>Krebs was an overall activist, and an activist for farming in particular. 
>I discovered that he'd written some substantial books.  AND, I discovered
>that he lived right in my backyard!  I couldn't help but feel excited to
>seek this Krebs person out.  I sent out an e-mail but did not receive a
>response; and sadly, I now know why.
>
>Another real hero gone.  I never knew you A.V. Krebs, but I feel that you
>have influenced my life in ways that I have yet to find out...  I'll be
>ordering a copy of "The Corporate Reapers: The Book of Agribusiness" right
>away.
>
>
>-Mark Nagel
>Everett, WA
>
>[Note: For anyone reading The Omnivore's Dilema you'll notice the mention
>of George Naylor's name in this article.  Al and George appear to have
>known each other very well.]
>
>[Note2: CounterPunch.org always gets the good stuff!]
>
>Source: http://counterpunch.org/gray10152007.html
>
>Seek the Facts, Agitate, Raise Hell
>Al Krebs, a Fighter for Family Farmers
>
>By HEATHER GRAY
>
>I was first aware of Al Krebs in the 1990s at a Farm Aid event. Merle
>Hansen of the North American Farm Alliance was walking everywhere at the
>meeting holding fast to The Corporate Reapers: The Book of Agribusiness. I
>asked him about this. He said the book was his bible-- the magnum opus on
>the history of exploitive corporate agribusiness by Al Krebs. Krebs, I
>soon learned, was the guru, the intellectual and activist genius of the
>family farmer advocacy movement and like everyone else I craved to know
>him - to sit next to him and attempt to absorb his vast knowledge. In
>subsequent years that's precisely what I have tried to do at every
>opportunity.
>
>On October 9, 2007 this renowned pro-family farmer/anti-corporate
>agribusiness journalist and historian Al Krebs died from liver cancer. He
>was 75 years old and what a fighter he was!
>
>Talking with Al was always a unique experience --you would share a thought
>on something agricultural, he would respond and then suddenly launch into
>a discourse of facts and figures and personal experiences about the issue
>you had barely touched upon and barely knew about. I talked with him
>frequently from my Atlanta home, sometimes into the wee hours of the night
>and was usually astonished by his depth of knowledge. You were suddenly
>being taught the history of it all --probably more than you wanted to
>hear. As John Hansen, President of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said this
>week, "once Al learned something it was in his head forever."
>
>Al was born in Santa Monica in 1932 and grew up in California. His former
>wife Margaret tells us that "Al was Jr. to his father Albert Valentine
>Krebs Sr. Krebs Sr. was the chief electrician for a movie studio and was
>responsible for making the birds fly off the phone lines in Alfred
>Hitchcock's "The Birds" and he made a special bit for the talking "Mr.
>Ed".  His mother, Ione, owned a handmade (she made them) braided rug shop
>that was frequented by celebrities." He was married to Margaret from
>September 1958 to October 1971. She has since re-married. Al also has two
>sons, Jonathon and David, daughter-in-law Leigh Arevalo married to David
>and two grandsons Alexander and Ryan.
>
>There was a lot that obviously propelled this young genius and honed his
>skills. He was quite involved in the Catholic church which, he told me,
>offered a vast array of speakers on civil rights and other justice issues
>in the 1940's and 1950's that left its mark. In 1957 he received a
>bachelors degree in English from Seattle University, but prior to that he
>was already writing and involved in journalism. Early on his love of
>sports became apparent. It was in high school that Al began his career as
>a journalist with the LA Examiner in the Sports Department. While citing
>statistics of various sorts, Al covered the vast school sports program in
>Los Angeles.
>
>John Hansen noted that "anyone unfortunate enough to attend baseball games
>with Al got the entire lineup history and current statistics, the
>ownership and management history, and the batting averages with men on
>base with either right or left handed pitching."  Al's good friend Mike
>Galvin commented that though, "A kind and gentle person, Al said he never
>hated anything but the New York Yankees."
>
>His Seattle University experience offered for Al the mixture of journalism
>and activism that continued for the rest of his life. Galvin notes "Al
>worked on the Seattle University Spectator as an editor and writer. He was
>very active in school activities including Catholic social activism,
>politics and the intellectual discussions and debate during a time leading
>up to Vatican 2. He also was an assistant drama critic to Lou Guzzo at the
>Seattle Times before moving to San Francisco where he pursued a career in
>teaching and writing. His concern for the poor went so far as to help
>establish soup kitchens for the homeless in connection with the Catholic
>Worker movement."
>
>The next phase of Al's life and work is a line up of the most profound
>activists and organizations in contemporary American family farmer and
>farm worker activism. In the early 1960's he was a free-lance journalist
>and contributor to the National Catholic Reporter. This was when Al
>encountered Caesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers. I have tried to
>imagine the spirited conversations these two must have had --I would love
>to have been the infamous fly on the wall!! It was during this period in
>1964 that Chavez had Al break the news about the Mexican and Filipino
>Grape Workers Strike in California's Central Valley.
>
>Here's the listing of his work in the 1960's to the present: National
>Sharecroppers Fund (1969-70) --New York; Jim Hightower's Agribusiness
>Accountability Project (1971-75); Consumer Action-San Francisco (1975-76);
>San Francisco Study Center (1977-1989); California Food Policy Project
>(1978-1980); Rural America (1979-1983); Ralph Nader's Center for the Study
>of Responsive Law (1989-1992); PrairieFire Rural Action (1993-95);
>Director of the Corporate Agribusiness Research Project (1995-2007) which
>was devoted to monitoring the activities of corporate agribusiness from a
>public interest perspective which included weekly email updates "The
>Agribusiness Examiner" to over 1,000 subscribers. He also distributed
>weekly the "Calamity Howler" which was filled with articles and
>information he wanted all of us to know about such as the non-agricultural
>corporate and government abuses from Karl Rove to the Iraq War fiasco to
>the concern for the safety of miners, etc.
>
>He served on the Board of Directors or volunteered for the: North American
>Farm Alliance; National Family Farm Coalition; Organic Consumers
>Association Policy Advisory; Family Farm Defenders. He was featured
>significantly at Farm Aid events. He was asked to speak on the shenanigans
>of corporate agriculture at events in India and Europe.
>
>In the midst of his agriculture research, he got to know the likes of
>anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt (author of "As You Sow") who, during the
>1930's and 40's New Deal period, engaged in research on the harmful
>effects of corporate agribusiness and large acreage ownership in rural
>America and the disastrous consequences of industrial agriculture on the
>workers and communities alike. He occasionally talked with noted economist
>John Kenneth Galbriath who, he told me, stressed the importance of federal
>assistance to farmers based, of course, on empirical research. In a 1954
>controversial speech to USDA graduates Galbraith said that the Eisenhower
>administration's contrary opinion on farmer assistance was "sonorous
>boondoggling" and an "evil viewpoint."
>
>The views and research of Goldschmidt and Galbraith resonated throughout
>Al's agricultural philosophy, research and commentary.
>
>What was it like to work with Al? Here's what John Hansen had to say: "Al
>was a close friend of mine.  We met in 1972 when we both worked for the
>Agribusiness Accountability Project in Washington, D.C.  Al taught me how
>to do agribusiness research.  His journalistic background and the research
>standards he brought to every issue were impeccable.  His research and
>writing on agribusiness and family farm issues changed the course of more
>than one public policy battle over the many years.   
>
>"You had to be glad that Al was on our side.  Anyone unfortunate enough to
>go grocery shopping with Al got the "rest of the story" on who owns what
>brands and the "illusion of choice" in the supermarket aisle.  The passion
>of his life was family farm agriculture.  He had more institutional memory
>on who the agribusiness conglomerates were than any other person I have
>ever met or known.   
>
>"He was a walking family farm agriculture historian who chose to defend
>our traditional system of family farmer and rancher owned and operated
>agriculture.  His research skills, and standards were remarkable.  When
>you got the facts from Al, you knew they were solid, or he would not have
>used them."  
>
>All of his work prepared him for what most consider his major achievement
>--The Corporate Reapers: The Book on Agribusiness published in 1992 by
>Essential Books.  Al described to me the process of writing this mammoth
>history and how thankful he was to have had friends with whom he could
>discuss the book as well as the supportive community that offered him
>financial assistance and space to concentrate. It is said to have taken 10
>years to write The Corporate Reapers in various phases. Ralph Nader was
>one of those who helped fund the project.
>
>The Corporate Reapers is a remarkably detailed 600 page history of
>American agriculture from the 1700's to the 1990's. Al describes the
>struggles and movements of family farmers and rural communities to hold on
>to their livelihood, their land, their economic independence and integrity
>while constantly being challenged by corporate agribusiness and corrupt
>politicians. Al explained at length that the corporate agribusiness
>control is at the expense of consumers, the environment, our health and
>our democracy.  Ralph Nader writes "A veritable almanac of information,
>The Corporate Reapers details how multinational agribusiness has worked to
>destroy the family farm. Krebs explains that the decline of the family
>farm is not a result of the interplay of market forces, but rather of the
>price-fixing and anti-competitive policies of Cargill, Continental and
>ConAgra and the allies."
>
>In the introduction Al provides an overview of the philosophy behind the
>takeover by corporate agribusiness the past century and it's
>anti-competitive thrust described by Nader above. The rest of the book is
>the history of it all and what folly it is to destroy our family farm
>tradition and that all of us --farmers and non-farmers alike - are
>threatened by this. First he defines agribusiness, which goes beyond the
>production of food to the ownership of seeds, wholesaling and distribution
>of machinery, fertilizer, packaging, processing and marketing food --in
>other words everything. Then the philosophy of takeover --going in for the
>kill: imposing free enterprise - this is anything but free as it's based
>on no competition and government policies that serve the corporate
>agribusiness conglomerates; the disposal of excess human resources --in
>other words the farmers --get rid of the farmers and millions of others
>off productive land in the interest of the powerful elite; the big
> ger is better efficiency philosophy - which is absolute nonsense in
>agriculture --the family farmer is by far the most efficient and best
>steward of the land; the implementation by agribusiness of SOCO (single
>overriding corporate philosophy):  (1) substituting capital for efficiency
>and technology for labor (2) the standardization of our food supply, and
>(3) the creation of manufactured, synthetic food --in other words destroy
>our family farmer system and healthy foods for the bottom line.
>
>Al says, "what is the meaning of economic and political democracy when
>corporate power so often is able to impose its own will and narrow
>interests on a government originally designed of, by and for the people,
>and thus thwarts the will of those very same people?"
>
>Al appropriately dedicated his book to the "stewards of the land: those
>men, women and children who plant, nurture and harvest nature's bounty of
>food." On December 13, 1992, He wrote the following in Ralph Paige's
>(Executive Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives) copy of
>The Corporate Reapers  "Ralph: Seek the facts, Agitate, Raise hell, Reap
>the harvest, and share the bounty. In Solidarity, Al Krebs."
>
>Lessons from Al Krebs? There are so many for me! Here are a few.
>
>(1) If you want to challenge corporate America, he told me, one effective
>way is to purchase shares, attend shareholder meetings and raise hell.
>
>He did that years ago in a concerted effort on behalf farm worker rights
>in the US and American corporate agribusiness abusive treatment of workers
>in other countries.
>
>(2) Don't let anyone get away with not speaking out about injustices
>--even and especially if they are your friends.
>
>When Bush's buddies were first occupying Iraq and Bush appointed former
>Cargill executive Daniel Amstutz as the head of "Agriculture
>Reconstruction," Al was furious. Why were American agriculture
>organizations and activists not speaking out on behalf of Iraqi farmers?
>Al knew that with Cargill having the reputation of being one the worst
>violators of the rights and independence of family farmers throughout the
>world, the Iraqi farmers were doomed. Al, George Naylor (President of the
>National Family Farm Coalition) and I discussed what could be done about
>this. My contribution was an article, that Al helped me write, with
>reference to Amstutz, entitled "Home Grown Axis of Evil: Corporate
>Agribusiness, the Occupation of Iraq and the Dred Scott Decision."
>
>(3) You can't be effective in your organizing work unless you can it back
>up with facts and history --so know them!!!
>
>Probably more than any contemporary writer I know, Al would incorporate
>his dialogue and writing with historical quotes and treatises. His book
>The Corporate Reapers is a feast of these.
>
>He was an inspiration and always there in 2006 when we at the Federation
>of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, where I work, were
>researching farm subsidies and the impact on Black cotton farmers should
>the Congress end the program. I spent hours talking with him about farm
>subsidies to understand the program itself and its history. Al agreed with
>one of the Alabama Black cotton farmers we interviewed who warned that "if
>the government gets out of agriculture, both farmers and consumers are
>doomed. All of us will have to serve at the behest and control of
>corporate America." The farmer inferred that all of us might starve if
>that's what corporate America wanted.
>
>(4) Everyone must stand prepared to move forward for justice no matter
>your circumstances --money or otherwise --just do it!! Be vigilant!
>
>Toward the end of his life Al was prepared to fight the battle for the
>2007 Farm Bill. He was never able to get the financial support he needed
>for his newsletter but nevertheless he made sure his newsletter was
>published regardless. In one of his last newsletters on June 11 of this
>year, Al said: With the 2007 Farm Bill on the horizon and most likely a
>new Democratic Party administration in charge THE AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER
>has no intention in relenting its demand for full accountability from not
>only government policy makers and officials but also from farm
>organizations."
>
>When USDA Secretary Mike Johans retired in September 2007 to run for the
>Nebraska Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel, from his bed Al called
>Kathy Ozer, Director of the National Family Farm Coalition, to discuss
>what this meant. In recent conversations with Al, Kathy also asked him if
>he would like the recent biography of Senator Russ Feingold and, of
>course, he did. "He was political to the end," Kathy said.
>
>I have just touched on the history of Al Krebs. Importantly, however, his
>legacy will be profound as he taught and mentored so many in the
>agriculture movement. Mark Ritchie, now Minnesota's Secretary of State
>with whom Al had been associated for years, told me that Al managed to
>bridge and bring together the west, mid-west and eastern agriculture
>family farm and farm worker movements because he knew them all. Ritchie
>also said that he was instrumental in bridging the generations of farm
>movement advocacy work, which was a major and important achievement and
>contribution.
>
>I will finish this with words directly from Al. He was so prolific that
>it's difficult to choose something appropriate from his vast work.  But I
>decided it best to choose a passage from the last chapter of The Corporate
>Reapers which is a challenge to us all. The chapter is appropriately
>entitled "Bringing the Corporate State under Democratic Control." Written
>in the early 1990's his challenge is, unfortunately, as relevant today as
>in the 1990's.
>
>    "As the United States confronts the economic and political morass of
>the 1990's and keeping in mind that the early 1990's also marks the
>centennial of the agrarian populist movement, the time has come to
>disengage ourselves from the endless fratricide debates that have existed
>in the past among farmers, farm workers, labor, consumers and
>environmentalists. Rather, this period should be viewed as that one
>propitious 'democratic moment' in our lifetimes that we begin to seriously
>put together a progressive populist movement.
>
>    "It is time to be bold in our vision if we are going to be about the
>business of reviving the agrarian populist spirit of the 1880's and
>1890's, we need to both think and act "globally," but act locally.
>
>    "Yes, Joe Hill. We need to quit mourning and start organizing!
>
>    "Rural Americans and family farmers in particular have traditionally
>associated themselves with the ideals of American democracy as enunciated
>by Thomas Jefferson and embodied in the rich historical tradition of
>agrarian populism. They should not be ignored for the leadership they can
>and should provide in our nation's continuing struggle for economic and
>political democracy."
>
>Heather Gray produces "Just Peace" on WRFG-Atlanta 89.3 FM covering local,
>regional, national and international news. She can be reached at
>hmcgray@earthlink.net
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