Market Farming

["RDH" <rdhopkins AT americanpasturage.com>]

Phil and others,

You hit a point that has been on my mind of late.  I just want to think out
loud for a bit.

The general population vote the legislators into office based on media and
hear say information.  I think that many farmers may actually pay more
attention to who they vote for than the average citizen.  However many
farmers are influenced by corporate supporters such as Farm Bureau who
pretends to represent farmers in Washington.

After election, the constituents sit in the coffee shop and complain, but
seldom put pen to paper and send their elected official a letter voicing
their concerns.  Legislators will listen to individual concerns.  That is
part of their job.

Corporate lobbyist do as you stated, romance the legislators day in and day
out and have a way of persuading legislative support through an entangled
network of officials, administration, and industry affiliations.  Much of
the "bargaining" done in committee takes these interests into account.

How does the farmer, in this case, become better represented on legislative
matters?  As money and time is often our biggest constraint, the best way is
to either communicate directly with our elected officials or join support
groups that work to protect specific interests of farmers.  It seems there
is an ever growing number of these groups popping up each day.

Many organizations are touting partnerships as a theme this year.  Our
partners should be the consumers of our products.  They are more likely to
become involved in legislative issues that most producers and many are
willing to fight for what they want.

Therefore as many have said here in the past, education (for both consumer
and producer) seems to be our strongest option in achieving real solutions.
Thoughts?

Rick Hopkins
President
American Pasturage, Inc.
P.O. Box 190
Marionville, MO  65705
(417) 258-2394
http://www.americanpasturage.com/
For other information concerning grass fed beef see http://www.eatwild.com
and http://www.westonaprice.org
For the American Homestead Foods Certification Program go to
http://www.homesteadfoods.com
Also check out the new Graziers Forum at: http://bbs.americanpasturage.com

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-----Original Message-----
From: HackettShark AT aol.com [mailto:HackettShark AT aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 11:32 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: [market-farming] Re: Double Dipping- by Martha Stevens, Hatfield,
Missouri


In a message dated 10/3/02 8:57:50 AM Central Daylight Time,
webmaster AT globalcircle.net writes:



Despite numerous farm groups and state leaders urging
the USDA to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act and Anti Trust Laws,
that agency shows no inclination to do so.


One thing that you left out is there is no one in Washington that gives a
dam about the American farmer because we are less then 1% of the voting
public, so they are not going to take the time to do anything for anyone
that is not lining their pockets with greenbacks.  The big corporate farms
have lobbist in Washington with big checkbooks getting what they want.

Phil from Iowa
---