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  • From: "jay gee" <JayGee AT jghelp.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Cell phones and things related
  • Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 17:15:32 -0700 (PDT)

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 17:45:10 -0400, Leigh Hauter wrote:

> Jay,
>
> Please don't generalize when you don't know what you are talking
> about. Which small town did you grow up in to get your experience
> about small towns?

I grew up in the L.A. area. As a young man (20's) I spent a lot
of time visiting small towns in twenty states as part of my work.

I always went out of my way to talk to young people in these
places and find out what was on their minds. One of the things
I learned was that unless the kids came from wealthy or
strong land owning families, they were looking to get out, not
simply because of their "have not" status, but because of
their perception that the "grass was greener" elsewhere and
where they could blend in without the drawback of every one
in town knowing you.

Many of those who had left and returned were from the "better"
families in town. They learned they were non-entities in a big
city and their parents local influence had no value there. In two
words they became "small fish."

> Small towns die, not because people want to live in LA, or NYC, or
> Denver, but because there aren't any jobs in the small towns anymore.
> The kids leave for the city when the finish school, not because of
> television, but because they can't find any work. Maybe if you want
> to be a tv writer or a copy editor you move to LA. But most people
> don't.

With 10% of the 50 states' population total living in California now,
I'm not sure they don't all want to be screen writers. (-'

Jobs and views about what constitutes work are molded in large
part by what kids see on TV. It explains the rise in the numbers
of MDs, lawyers and even the armed services.

When was the last time you saw a TV series about a farmer
running a farm in a hard scrabble rural setting?

> The demise of rural life is a direct result of government farm and
> development policy. There is plenty of documentation for this one.
> It's not 'competition'. More small farmers would not raise food
> prices (not that farmers receive much of the cost of food prices
> anyway).

I would say it is more likely to result from improvements in
agricultural productivity and a few farmers being forward
thinking enough to learn marketing techniques and apply
them on a large scale.

> Yes, European small towns are under the same pressure as American
> small towns, but it isn't TV. The only difference is the Europeans
> are doing a better job of defending their interests than American
> farmers.

TV has a much greater influence than you imagine.

But they are losing the battle slowly. As the older generations,
including ours, die off, there will be less desire to return or subsidize
something 95% of the population has never experienced.

> Oh, and Jay, do you pay for the health care of the woman that comes
> in and cleans your apartment once a week? I hope so. (I found it
> very problematic for you to liken 'farmers' to walwart's criminal
> activity. Which farmer were you referring to?)

Independent contractors are responsible for their own insurance.
I accept no responsibility for the healthcare of any person other than
myself and the members of my family.

As for illegalities, I live in California. Traffic in immigrant labor
is big here thanks to a variety of political factors. The illegal
immigrants pay to get in, the farmers pay to get them.

The Ag School at the UC of Davis was ready to help California
farmers automate virtually all of their manual labor needs but
politics intervened and the beat goes on. I read regularly about
farmers in California and elsewhere who are busted for immigration
violations.

What else can I tell you Leigh?


jay gee
not a farmer -- but interested in farming



Free marketing aids for farmers at:
http://jghelp.com/farming





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