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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] OT Thought Provoking (or maybe just provoking:)

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  • From: "Del Williams" <delannw AT dlogue.net>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] OT Thought Provoking (or maybe just provoking:)
  • Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 18:42:56 -0600

> It is difficult to think that we might actually find future generations
> living as Aldus Huxley portrays in his Brave New World, but many of the
> policy makers appear to believe that human destiny would be better off in
> the complete care and control of a few.

"That is more of a left wing approach. Many of us reject much of that
concept. We are constantly at odds with the left who want to always increase
taxes, increase regulations, and increase control of individuals."

Gee, I don't see that as left wing at all. Individualism is the province of
conservative thinking. Or shall I say, Republican thinking in a traditional
sense. The separate goals of taxation, regulation and control... that one
works both ways politically. I wouldn't mix it up so easily with left or
right wing thinking. It's more complex than that.

There is a certain aspect of individual determination that is frustrated by
corporate interests in interfering (because they can). And they are hell
bent on legislation to control that. Well, with an individual self
determination overall.

For example, why frustrate the labeling efforts on feeding practices or seed
development practices? Shouldn't the individual have full access to the
information that would help that person make their own choices about what is
good for their bodies and cultivation practices? Who seeks to block that
legislatively? You know as well as I do. It isn't the left wing.

When the greater good is about the greater profit for one corporate
identity, who loses there? I think it is the locality and the self
determination of the individual. That is not left wing thinking at all.
Call it what you want but taking away local control is not their agenda when
it comes to such practices.

Furthermore, there is nothing particularly attractive about monoculture
other than that it is easier than diversifying in ways that, perhaps, are
less lucrative but better for the land. Frankly, I'm not sure that
diversification is less lucrative. But corporate interests would have us
think that. I don't think market farmers buy that at all. The locality
needs the small independent grower/producer. Not one beset by legislation
and controls that make solvency as a farmer more difficult. Corporate
thinking does just that and you sure wouldn't call them left wing. Fascists
perhaps?

Finally, and more to the point, when a locality quits taking care of their
local ability to produce food to, say, develop recreation instead, the
locality weakens its position on several fronts. Most notably, that their
ability to live and control food availability is left in the hands of
unknowable and geographically distant people who mainly care about profit
margins. Those folks answer to no locality. The self determination of the
individual locality is entirely lost in that kind of thinking.

Our food production and distribution system, even worldwide, is awesome.
Nevertheless, any locality that lives at the mercy of only profit driven
corporate producers makes itself vulnerable.

A conservative view would promote local control and local production.
Wouldn't it also want some of that profit benefiting its local economy?
People must live and small producers have contributed an enormous amount of
variety in food that we can't expect corporate interests to cater to. Local
growers contribute to state and county coffers. They employ people, keep
families off the welfare rolls, maintain small individual but vast expanses
of individually owned land, and provide for the sustenance of the locality.

It isn't a left wing or right wing thing, really. It's about doing what is
wise and long sighted for a local economy. But it is a far more complicated
political and economic reality than the simple distinctions of the left or
the right.

When localities (or businesses) decide to "outsource" their basic needs for
survival, they become vulnerable to those outsourcers. That isn't wise long
term thinking at the local, state or national level. I live in a pretty
right wing area of Illinois. Maybe it's because we are mostly French and we
thumb our noses to those who want to tell us what we should be doing
locally. The irony of it is that it is almost apolitical. It's just
profit, survival and keeping your children geographically close for their
own financial survival.

Not meaning to ethnicalize but is that left wing thinking or right wing
thinking? I think it's self preservation.

Del Williams
Farmer in the Del
Clifton, IL









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