Tag: Agriculture

Boom! Is That American Heads Exploding?

No it is not!  At least not right now but maybe I can change that….(he said with a small smile creeping across his face)……

I always enjoy giving my more right wing readers something to make their brains fly out their ears…..I recall all the whining when Japan was “buying” up America back in the 1980’s……..then of course all the crying about the Chinese owning so much of our debt……these are brain implosion moments….all because few stop and think about the situation……. nope they fall short of thought but long on ranting and raging of the imminent doom of our country…..

About now there are those that are going to think that I am just replaying “ancient” history….well that may be true but I do have a rhyme to my reason…..

So many Americans are dearly concerned about the possible influx of refugees, not just any refugees,,,,no thewe will be Muslims and they will take over the country and we will all be wearing burqas and living under sharia law…..do you know any of these?

Well why they were crying and fretting over the refugees that may come to this country and whole other situation is happening under the wire……

In Southwestern states, including Arizona and California, the Saudis are making hay while the sun shines, and local farmers aren’t happy about it. Last week, a Saudi company bought 1,790 acres of farmland in Blythe, Calif., the Saudi Gazette reports, adding to the amount of farmland bought by Saudi investors to grow alfalfa hay on and save water in their homeland. But the Southwest has drought problems of its own, and some farmers say exporting the hay to Saudi Arabia, where it’s fed to dairy herds, is “exporting water” from an area that needs all it can get after years of drought, CNBC reports.

“We’re not getting oil for free, so why are we giving our water away for free?” asked La Paz County Board of Supervisors Chairman Holly Irwin tells CNBC. Saudi food giant Almarai bought 10,000 acres of farmland in the country for $48 million in 2014. “We’re letting them come over here and use up our resources,” Irwin says. “It’s very frustrating for me, especially when I have residents telling me that their wells are going dry and they have to dig a lot deeper for water.” CNBC notes that despite drought-related restrictions on water use, the Saudis have been able to buy in areas where there are few restrictions on groundwater consumption.

Not a big deal?  Keep in mind that the Saudis have a very strict fundamental form of Islam and that is the same beliefs held by AQ and ISIS…..think it over……

Not worried now?

In reality this will not be a big deal on the Rightie side of the equation….they are too busy spreading fear to worry about this situation.

Great Balls Of Shade!

Let’s change things up….enough of the BS of daily political life in the US……

About 2 weeks ago was the best news report of the month……involving BALLS!  LOTS OF BALLS!

By now the entire country knows about the massive drought in California……which will effect the cost of food in the future if it has not already done so……everyone is looking for a way to make the water they have now last as long as possible…..conservation, prayer, divining, pulling out all stops……

Also by now the media has reported on the next big idea to conserve the water……..shade balls!

But what kind of idea is it….good, bad or a waste of money and energy?

Los Angeles’ 96 million shade balls are bizarre to say the least—which is partly why the media pounced on the story of their role in conserving water, as officials had hoped, Grist included. Now, the website does a careful walk-through of just why these balls aren’t so hot. Based on an LA Weekly report, Grist finds the city has been using the balls since 2008, before California’s drought, because their main purpose is to prevent the formation of bromate, a carcinogen that develops when sunlight mixes with bromide and chlorine in water. Why do we care about the balls now? Apparently, LA mayor Eric Garcetti correctly thought tying the balls to the drought would help sell them to the public and emphasized they’ll save 300 million gallons of water a year. However, that much water is worth $2 million or $20 million over a decade; LA’s shade balls cost $34.5 million, according to LA Weekly.

In comparison, the Washington Post reported California could save 500 billion gallons if the agriculture industry cut its water use by 5%. Grist notes that marine pollution researcher Max Liboiron has additional concerns. At Discard Studies, he argues “most plastics leach endocrine disrupting chemicals that interfere with animal and human hormone systems.” Some of these disruptors break down in water in weeks or months and most water treatment systems don’t remove them. Then there’s the fact that plastics break down into microplastics and are consumed by humans and marine animals. The “poison pills” also soak up chemicals that then enter animal tissue and food chains, Liboiron says. Apparently the risk is worth the reward for Garcetti, who told the Huffington Post, “It takes bold ingenuity to maximize my goals for water conservation.”

Will these ‘balls’ save the day?  Or just another government program that wasted money with no good outcome?

Thoughts please.

Eat Your Veggies…….

For decades there has been a movement toward eating more veggies and less meat……more recently a vegan diet has become popular one where you eat only stuff that comes from seeds…..no eggs, no cheese no honey, etc etc etc……….

Of course as with anything there has been study after study to produce some “facts” that will support this idea…….and now we have a doozey…….

A federal panel that helps set federal dietary guidelines is recommending Americans eat less meat because it’s better for the environment, sparking outrage from industry groups representing the nation’s purveyors of beef, pork and poultry.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a federally appointed panel of nutritionists created in 1983, decided for the first time this year to factor in environmental sustainability in its recommendations. They include a finding that a diet lower in animal-based foods is not only healthier, but has less of an environmental impact.

The 571-page report says the average U.S. diet has a larger environmental impact in terms of increased greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use and energy use than the healthy dietary pattern it suggests — one that’s rich in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, seafood, legumes and nuts; moderate in low- and non-fat dairy products and alcohol; and lower in red and processed meat, sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, and refined grains.

In its review of scientific studies, the committee highlighted research concluding that a vegan diet had the most potential health benefits.

“The organically grown vegan diet also had the lowest estimated impact on resources and ecosystem quality, and the average Italian diet had the greatest projected impact,” according to the report. “Beef was the single food with the greatest projected impact on the environment; other foods estimated to have high impact included cheese, milk, and seafood.”

With this report the meat industry went batcrap crazy…….like that would be a surprise…….

A new federal report points to the environmental benefits of a vegan diet, and the meat industry is not exactly happy about it. Industry representatives say sustainability isn’t within the purview of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, whose recommendations factor into guidelines by the federal agriculture and health departments, the Hill reports. “The same concern would exist if an expert sustainability committee were making nutrition policy recommendations,” says a rep for the North American Meat Institute. “It is not appropriate for the person designing a better light bulb to be telling Americans how to make a better sandwich.”

Indeed, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack seemed to agree in an interview last month with the Wall Street Journal, the Hill notes. “I read the actual law,” he noted. “Our job ultimately is to formulate dietary and nutrition guidelines.” But earlier this year, the committee noted a need to address the “complete challenge” in order “to ensure a healthy food supply will be available for future generations,” the Journal reported. The chair of the committee also points out that the committee outlines three separate diets, with one vegetarian-focused, one Mediterranean, and one American. “If people took the time to understand, this is not a meat-free diet and this is not [a] vegan approach,” she tells the Hill. “They’d realize this is a healthy dietary pattern with three models that offers consumers a lot of choice.” The group is accepting public comment until next month.

I will be a good boy and eat my veggies…..but I really need my meat!

Any thoughts?

But There Is No Water!

Do you like Pistachios?  How about almonds?  Maybe some avocados?  And then there is all that citrus that goes to market.

The point is that a lot of our ‘home grown’ produce comes out of California……and in case you have missed it….there is a massive drought going on in the state……even with the drought they seem to be plugging along fairly well……at least for now.  you see sports fans California imports a lot of the water they use for agriculture…..and with this drought how long will that last……native Californian water supply?

Water isn’t just running low in California, a top NASA scientist warns—it’s going to plum run out in about a year. “As difficult as it may be to face, the simple fact is that California is running out of water—and the problem started before our current drought,” writes Jay Famiglietti in the LA Times. He notes ominously that since 2011, California has lost roughly 12 million acre-feet of stored water per year, and water sources in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins are way below normal levels. He says the state needs to ration water, manage groundwater better, and form a task force to create better water strategies. “We’re not just up a creek without a paddle in California, we’re losing the creek too,” he writes. In other bleak water news:

  • Desperate for groundwater, California is drilling deep enough to extract ancient water that dates back 15,000 to 20,000 years, Mother Jones reports. That groundwater may never be replenished, water quality will suffer, and pumping will grow ever pricier, experts say.
  • An article in the journal Groundwater warns that a water supply amounting to two Lake Eries was depleted across the US in recent years. “That’s enough to contribute to rising sea levels, along with melting glaciers and polar ice,” says Mother Jones.
  • Meanwhile, a blistering heatwave has struck California with record-high temperatures yesterday in several locations, including Los Angeles (90) and San Diego (89), the LA Times reports.
  • And Cali isn’t alone: Officials in Brazil predict that Sao Paolo—the biggest and most economically vital city in South America—will run out of water by June, PRI reports. Some 20 million residents are taking precautions amid the region’s worst drought in decades.

But let us not worry about this situation.  Or the fact that produce grown in the US may become prohibitively expensive.  Nothing to worry about according to those pseudo-science twats that are in Congress…..all this is just normal and we will just have to wait it out…..

Immigration UpDate

Today I will step back from the chaos that is the Middle East and the total breakdown of American civil society that is Ferguson, Missouri and concentrate on some issues that are being neglected by the MSM…….

A couple of years ago when immigration was the hot button issue many states started making laws that punished the immigrants for finding work…..the state next to my own, Alabama, passed a bunch of laws and some were really strict on those people that hire undocumented workers……there seem to have been a problem with this ne3w law……local farmers were up in arms and predicting that they could not bring in their crops without the hiring of immigrants……the Alabama legislature back down and passed a watered down version of the harsh law.

I bring all this up be cause there seems to be a mutiny going on among the country’s farmers….not the large stifling farms but those of the family farms…..

(Newser) – Immigration is a hot topic for many Americans—but for US farmers, especially those far from the Mexico border, it’s a problem that needs a quick solution, McClatchy reports. “Because we’re not a border state, it’s definitely harder to get people over this far from the border to work,” says the owner of South Carolina’s Titan Farms, the biggest peach grower on the East Coast. “There’s truly not enough farmworkers now, legal or illegal.” Why not? Because immigrant workers who came over years ago are getting too old to work, and younger ones are being held up by red tape, says McClatchy.

Two of the more cumbersome federal programs are for H-2A and I-9 temporary visas, which include identity and minimum-wage requirements that at least some farm owners prefer to avoid. Most Americans won’t do the jobs, farmers say, and seasonal harvesting jobs won’t wait: “When it’s time to harvest, it’s time to harvest,” says a farming rep. In a new ad produced by a farming group, a farmer talks about destroying farmland due to a labor shortage and urges Capitol Hill to pass an immigration bill, USA Today reports. But Washington lawmakers have dropped the political hot potato for now, going on August recess without a solution—and analysts expect little more leading up to November’s elections.

Like any issue in our politics….there is always two sides to the story…….and immigration is NO different.  The time has come for political lip service is done……action is needed and needed soon.

So what will it bee when the spineless pricks return to DC?  Will immigration get the attention it needs or will it just be another issue whose only function is to raise campaign funds?

Never Too Young

America has had a proud tradition of fighting against child labor…….especially in the early years of the 20th century……but in case my reader needs a reminder…….

1904 National Child Labor Committee forms……… Aggressive national campaign for federal child labor law reform begins

1916 New federal law sanctions state violators……. First federal child labor law prohibits movement of goods across state lines if minimum age laws are violated (law in effect only until 1918, when it’s declared unconstitutional, then revised, passed, and declared unconstitutional again)

1924 First attempt to gain federal regulation fails……….. Congress passes a constitutional amendment giving the federal government authority to regulate child labor, but too few states ratify it and it never takes effect

1936 Federal purchasing law passes Walsh-Healey Act ………..states U.S. government will not purchase goods made by underage children

1937 Second attempt to gain federal regulation fails…………. Second attempt to ratify constitutional amendment giving federal government authority to regulate child labor falls just short of getting necessary votes

1937 New federal law sanctions growers Sugar Act makes sugar beet growers ineligible for benefit payments if they violate state minimum age and hours of work standards

1938 Federal regulation of child labor achieved in Fair Labor Standards Act……… For the first time, minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children are regulated by federal law.

I know….thanks for the history lesson but why bring all this up?  I read some news the other day that made me think about the history I just wrote about………

Children are toiling in unsafe conditions, suffering everything from breathing problems to vomiting, and putting in 12-hour days and 72-hour weeks. Think we’re talking a third-world sweatshop? It’s what’s happening right now on US tobacco farms, Human Rights Watch alleges in a report today. The group spoke to 141 tobacco farm workers aged 7 to 17, and found that many came in bare-skin contact with tobacco plants. That can cause acute nicotine poisoning—and indeed, 66% of those polled reported symptoms consistent with that, including dizziness, nausea, and headaches.

“On the first day when I was working [chemicals] got on my face a lot and I didn’t know until I got home later that my face was burning,” one 13-year-old worker tells the BBC. US labor laws protecting child laborers have exceptions for agricultural jobs, the group explains, allowing children of any age to work the fields, and those 12 and older to work unlimited hours. An attempt to change that for tobacco farms died in 2012. HRW shared its findings with tobacco producers, and most expressed concern. Philip Morris, which has the toughest child labor policy, tells Reuters that it believes there’s an opportunity to impose an industry-wide standard. The complete report is here.

Child labor is something we here in the US condemn 3rd world countries for allowing to exist…..it is not something that needs to be watched in our country, right?

There was a time and a place when child labor could have made some sense…..but today a child needs to be educated….not working his ass off in some field.

Then There’s A Farm Bill

Since the economy is today’s big issue….I would like to say something about the new Farm Bill.  You probably remember this from a month or so ago……it was more about the cuts in SNAP (food stamps) than it was about the farmers…..so the question that was asked is ….why should the poor suffer to help agribusiness?

An excellent question…..but a better question is why do we need a farm bill in the first place?  What happened to all the rhetoric about the free market mechanisms?  Do farms work outside the rules and laws of economics?  All good questions……is there good answers?

(Newser) – In what is being hailed by many as a sign of progress in DC, House and Senate negotiators are finally poised to pass a farm bill next month. But at the Washington Post, Charles Lane has a fundamental question: Why does the US even need a farm bill? The answer, in the days of the Great Depression, used to be food security. But in an era of ultra-cheap food in which farms produce tons more output than farms of yore, that’s “preposterous” now.

“Is there something about farming, as opposed to other businesses, that makes market economics uniquely inapplicable?” asks Lane, who thinks the bill is more about the “hammerlock” that the agriculture lobby has on the Capitol. Yes, the farm bill also includes the nation’s food-stamp program, called SNAP. But that’s simply the result of an old congressional deal that makes little sense anymore. Surely, Congress can find a way to help the poor without providing “corporate welfare for agribusiness.” Click for his full column.

My next question is…….if welfare is such a horrible word and those using the program are slackers and such…..what are the farmers that get a form of corporate welfare?  If ‘welfare’ is such a dirty word why is corporate welfare acceptable?

Anyone have good clear answers?  Lay’em on me!