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  • From: "David Tannen" <david AT centerville.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Fwd: Please act today.BioDemocracy UnderAttackin Missouri!
  • Date: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 11:39:51 -0600

Mike,

Mike,

I was not being hard on her. Her opening statement was that the information was misrepresented. I saw nothing in her email to refute the information that 14 states have enacted legislation, with the help of Monsanto and the Farm Bureau, to make it illegal for local communities to ban GE crops. The country has become polarized, in my opinion, because a lot of people have adopted the strategy of blaming the messenger instead of rebutting the message. If Monsanto and the Farm Bureau have good reason to help a state supersede a community's right to enact laws by passing state legislation then let's hear those arguments.

David

----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Emers" <rosie-ck AT mosquitonet.com>
To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 11:13 AM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Fwd: Please act today.BioDemocracy UnderAttackin Missouri!


David,
Don't come down on her so hard. I think the main point she was trying
to make is it's a lot easier to complain about how the powers that be
are usurping our rights and progressing their own agenda than to work
within the system and be part of that policy decision making process.
This country has become way too polarized because people are yelling
across the aisles rather than trying to come to a real understanding of
the issues we're facing. I've had the opportunity so sit on boards and
discussion groups with people of widely divergent political leanings and
come out feeling we've gotten a better understanding of both the real
issues and each other. If you don't like what's going on, then get
involved!

Mike Emers
Rosie Creek Farm
Ester, Alaska


Brigette,

All that Marty did was forward a news report based on fact. Instead of
going off on your diatribe why not just disprove the premise? Are you
saying that 14 states have not enacted legislation, with the help of
Monsanto and the Farm Bureau, to make it illegal for local communities
to
ban GE crops? If so, where is your proof?

David



Just so you know, this information is more than a little misrepresented
in this article. I doubt if the only issue is GE seeds.The bigger issue
here is the ability of small units of government to intact any number of
very restrictive ordinances, which could just as easily ban a
sustainable practice if someone takes issue with it. Here's an example:
a local man was using an automatic "cannon" to keep birds out of his
fruit bearing trees and shrubs. The local township wanted to intact an
ordinance prohibiting him from using it. Here's another example: when we
wanted to construct our greenhouses, the twp. supervisor's witchy wife
made a big stink about it and wanted greenhouse structures to be banned
under our zoning ordinance. There are always two edges to the sword.
People can get screwy ideas about many things.

And besides, every one of you on this list can become members of your
local Farm Bureau. And by being a member you can participate in the
policy development process. The policy process starts in your county,
moves to the state level, and then on to the American Farm Bureau. If
you don't belong and actively participate, you are missing an
opportunity to influence policies. But then I am well aware that it is
easier to sit back and write derogatory comments than to make the effort
to convince people of your point of view in the confines of a meeting.
As an active farm bureau member at the local, state, and national level,
I can say that Monsanto has never asked me to do a single solitary thing
for them. I don't recall that in several dozen hours of drafting and
discussing policies that Monsanto has ever even come up. The more likely
story is that some one tried to enact local ordinances that would
prevent someone from building something, or following a particular
practice. I know for a fact that Michigan Farm Bureau policies are
available online and the American Farm Bureau's are also online. If you
want to know what the polices are, go in and read them yourselves, and
not rely on someone who might manipulate the information to serve their
own purpose. Lack of accurate information makes us all vulnerable to
manipulation. And I mean all.

I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel discussion Tuesday evening of
last week at Michigan State University, all by highly placed
departmental representatives from the department of ag and natural
resources. While the discussion was mostly about what Michigan
agriculture would look like twenty years from now, one of the professors
from the Horticulture department made comment that the organic and
conventional agricultural communities needed to have " respectful dialog
with each other", and I agree. Conventional producers are not likely to
be as critical of organic producers who just go about their business and
conduct themselves as professionals, but there are a lot of really flaky
and really belligerent "organic" guys around here. To them organic
mostly means letting everything go and their places look like the devil.
That makes us all look bad! Instead of paying attention to having well
run organic operations, they spend their time telling everyone else what
they're doing wrong. Are the conventional guys telling you that you
can't use sustainable practices? Many growers follow certified organic
practices not because it is their personal philosophy, but because it is
another way to market what they are growing to consumers who want to buy
it. So does that make them bad guys? Isn't more certified organic
heading in the right direction? No wonder consumers think all of us in
agriculture are a bit schizophrenic, we don't want to use chemicals so
when an alternative is developed, we don't want that either.

Brigette Leach
Avalon Farms Homegrown





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