If you are a family farm pork producer, your action is needed before January 2.
The USDA (under the cover of Christmas) is asking pork producers if they want to vote on the pork checkoff. If 15% of producers request it, a vote will be held within one year. You can [...]
This is a near quote of Michael Pollan on NPR’s Fresh Air this week:
There is a real issue of perception of elitism, and it is one of ironies of our society that junk food being sold by multinational corporations like McDonalds and Kraft appears to be populist, and [...]
My little brother sent me the below photo of our family farm this evening. He found it online at an aerial map service.
I remember the aerial photo of my family’s farm that my grandparents used to have hanging on their wall. They paid an aerial photographer for it. Apparently such [...]
I had the following oped published in today’s Des Moines Register:
Livestock pollution turns off young Iowans
BRIAN DEPEW, SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER
I recently returned from a visit to my family’s farm. While there, I was dismayed to learn that three more livestock confinement buildings are being built within 2 miles. [...]
I’ve only been through Magnolia, Iowa once or twice, and I don’t know much about the town. Though, what I do know reveals a story all to common in the Midwest and Great Plains. Located in Harrison County in far Western Iowa, the population of the area [...]
Guest Post by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin
In the last few weeks I’ve traveled to over 26 cities and towns all over Iowa to meet face to face with residents and listen to their hopes, their concerns, and their feedback on the 2007 farm bill, which will strengthen investment and [...]
In our next post, Iowa Senator Tom Harkin will write about his hopes for the 2007 Farm Bill. A story in yesterday’s Des Moines Register offers some policy-context to parts of his post.
Talk of agriculture often dominates discussions about the farm bill, but yesterday Philip Brasher wrote about another [...]
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The activist-bloggers at openleft.com have launched a campaign targeting Bush Dog Democrats. You can read more here and here and join up here. Part of the campaign seeks to profile each of the identified Bush Dogs. You can find links to [...]
Why is Farm Aid in Manhattan this year?
[...]On Monday Iowa Senator Tom Harkin will write a guest post at Rural Populist outlining his priorities for the 2007 Farm Bill. The House passed their version of the Farm Bill in late July. The Senate is expected to take up their version of the bill sometime this fall. [...]
By Steph Larsen
In a recent post that was crossposted on Gristmill, there were a few comments that reflected a view of rural areas by folks who I can only assume have chosen not to spend much time in the country. They asked questions like:
“What’s so special about rural [...]
Before you catch yourself nodding in agreement with that title I have to warn you, Jim Branscome doesn’t agree:
[T]he reality of what really drives the rural American economy is Wal-Mart and the 39 other companies in the Yonder 40.
But perhaps I should back up and explain how we [...]
The Daily Yonder is a new online (blogish-style) newspaper on rural issues. Backed by the Center for Rural Strategies, and actual paid staff, the site is generating original news and commentary on issues of interest to rural communities at pace that makes the site worth checking in on [...]
Long time readers know I’m no fan of corporate behemoths, and have no confidence in the idea that what a rural community needs to prosper is another Wal Mart, another large livestock facility, or a corporate dump.
For similar reasons, I don’t put much faith in [...]
The Farm Bureau supports unlimited commodity subsidies — subsidies that help the nation’s largest farms drive family farmers out of business. Responding to a draft version of the 2007 Farm Bill, the Farm Bureau said in a press release:
While Farm Bureau was pleased there are no cuts to [...]
I grew up in (or rather near) Laurens, Iowa. Laurens native Rick Davis writes about growing up in Laurens in the 1950s and 60s in this week’s mylaurens.com online newspaper. He tells a different story (pdf) than the one I could tell today:
A couple thousand miles [...]
by Steph Larsen
In a recent trip through the small town of Walthill, Nebraska, the phrase “rural revitalization” took on a whole new meaning. In this case, it was the lack of any kind of prosperity that made it obvious to me why rural communities are in need of revitalization. Main [...]
The League of Rural Voters is going to bat to support the proposed merger between the only two satellite radio companies - Sirius and XM. I wrote about this puzzling dynamic at some length a few weeks ago. You can read that analysis here.
After I first wrote, the League [...]
It is commonplace now to see stories about agricultural water demand colliding with other demands for water in the West. When the following came across my RSS reader, I assumed it was another such story:
Amendment to farm bill would help pay for small irrigation reservoirs
Drought-plagued farmers [...]
Natasha over at Pacific Views has a great post up on the Economist and the business of agriculture. She starts with a quote from the Economist article:
… This special report will examine how climate change is affecting business, and how business can affect climate change. It will concentrate [...]
A recent press release by the League of Rural Voters left me scratching my head:
League of Rural Voters Adds its Voice and Support for Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Merger
May 31, 2007SIRIUS/XM SATELLITE RADIO MERGER CRITICAL TO GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES
Minneapolis, MN - The League [...]
The Associated Press reported this week that twice as many Iowa high schools are looking for teachers for their agricultural education programs this year than there are potential candidates graduating with the appropriate degree from Iowa State University. The same is generally true in other states as well.
Some [...]
Journalist Bill Moyers in an interview with the Christian Century on being a populist:
You seem to have a very strong populist perspective. Where does that come from?
If I had been an embattled farmer exploited by the railroads and bankers back in the 19th century, I hope I would [...]
by Steph Larsen
Biofuels are clearly getting a lot of attention lately, and some speculate that ethanol and biodiesel will bring much needed income and spur revitalization in rural communities. Ethanol might be good for the price of corn at the moment, but it looks like it’s not going to be [...]
Steph Larsen, a Policy Organizer with the Community Food Security Coalition, is joining Rural Populist as a new contributor. Larsen will write occasional posts on agricultural policy, the current farm bill debate, and whatever else strikes her as thought-provoking.
[...]Hillary Clinton was in Iowa this week courting rural caucus voters. From the Des Moines Register:
Fort Madison, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton introduced her campaign to rural Iowa Monday… promoting her agenda as the same as small-town America’s.
“There’s a lot we can do, and obviously we [...]
From the Washington Post:
Data Show Rural Money’s Urban Drift
Friday, April 6, 2007A Washington Post analysis found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program sends billions each year to areas that bear little resemblance to the isolated, rural regions where the program started in the 1930s. [...]
From today’s Des Moines Register:
Replaced appointee blasts Culver:
Environmental commission now weaker, he chargesA departing member of the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission wore a white t-shirt to his final meeting Tuesday to express his disappointment with Gov. Chet Culver’s attention to the environment.
Commissioner Francis Thicke of Fairfield used the [...]
Montana Democrats have been on an impressive roll state-wide the last several years. Now they are gearing up to go after the single at-large U.S. House Seat. Here’s one potential candidate:
Dennis McDonald — The current chair of the Democratic Party in Montana, Dennis may find his background as [...]
Comments of farmer and Senator Jon Tester on the floor of the U.S. Senate speaking in favor of stricter farm bill payment limits.
Mr. President, I thank Senator Baucus for allowing me to speak. I also thank the good Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. President, I rise to speak on amendment No. [...]
Updating a story covered a couple of weeks ago here, residents of towns set to be erased from official state maps in Georgia have gained the support of the governor in their effort to be put back on the map.
Gov. Sonny Perdue […] sent a letter to [...]
The Brownfield Network did a review of the “big stories” in agriculture in 2006. It is an hour long audio report that can be listened to streaming or downloaded. It is mainstream agriculture news, but a decent review nonetheless.
[...]An important story from The Rural Blog.
Medicare drug program is Wal-Marting rural pharmacies, CBS says
“What Wal-Mart once did to rural downtowns, Medicare is doing to the rural drug store.” That was how CBS correspondent Wyatt Andrews summed up his report last night on how the new Medicare Part D [...]
Was 2006 the year food went political?
“This is the year everyone discovered that food is about politics and people can do something about it,” [said Marion Nestle]. “In a world in which people feel more and more distant from global forces that control their lives, they can do [...]
This is simply astounding!
Mapmaker puts tiny towns on road to oblivion
CHATTOOGAVILLE, Georgia (AP) — Poetry Tulip has vanished. So have Due West and Po Biddy Crossroads. Cloudland and Roosterville are gone, too.
A total of 488 communities have been erased from the latest version of Georgia’s official map, victims [...]
