So what can Democrats do to convince rural farmers to vote for them? Let's see if there are any common interests first. Farmers are calling for:
1. More funding for
infrastructure.
2. Funding for schools.
3. Better broadband internet access for rural areas.
4. Use a nonpartisan redistricting process (because) rural
people don't feel they're being represented as well as they could be.
Farmers want what Democrats want. Farmers and Democrats have been trying to get Scott Walker and his legislative band of Republican pirates to do all four of those things since 2011. EVERY item listed above.
And yet, "Stand with Walker" field signs dot the rural landscape, right next to yard signs for anti-government Republican legislators. And yet, Democrats are offering the same basic things rural conservative voters want.
The Wisconsin Farmers Union are calling for more funding for
infrastructure and schools in the new state budget during Tuesday's Farm and
Rural Lobby Day at the state Capitol … also calling for better broadband
internet access for rural areas and for the state to use a nonpartisan
redistricting process, saying rural people don't feel they're being represented
as well as they could be.
That's just the opposite of what Republicans say they're hearing from their constituents. Confused? How about expand rural broadband? Ah, Democrats have the covered too....
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat representing the states 2nd District, is sponsoring an expansion bill in Congress.
But rural broadband is more or less wireless, and from what I've heard from a few rural friends, it's nothing like a wired connection:
It might seem that wireless coverage – which covers broad
areas from antennas across the territory rather than needing to connect wires
to every home – could be the answer for rural communities. In fact, rural
residents are among several groups who have started shifting their internet connections away from a
landline residential connection and towards a smartphone. However, those
connections aren't necessarily fast enough to meet the formal FCC definition of
"broadband." Specifically, 85 percent of U.S. wireline connections meet
the current 25 mbps download threshold, while only 14
percent of wireless connections do so. In addition, wireless coverage is
sometimes spotty and can vary by
provider and geography.
Or these two issues....
On education, the Wisconsin Farmers Union wants to keep
the state’s farm-to-school program, which Walker’s budget repeals.Selling locally grown food to schools provides economic benefits for farmers and educational benefits for students The farmers
union supports a bill that would reimburse some student loan debt for beginning
farmers. The bills sponsor, Rep.
Mark Spreitzer, Democrat-Beloit, plans to bring it up again this year.
See that, a Democrat is sponsoring the bill, which failed the first time around. Here's the story from WPR:
WKOW's Capital City Sunday's host A.J. Bayatpour became the first newsperson to ask candidates running for office what they would do to help dairy and ag farmers survive in Wisconsin.
Bayatpour asked Democratic candidates how they would help, and guess what, that had solid proposals, which I've listed below.
But first......I've never seen this same question leveled at Republicans, who have ignored farmers and taken their rural vote for granted.
Did I mention Republicans did nothing for farmers, and took the whole year off?
We're at a point now where Republicans like Rebecca Kleefisch have moved on from solving the farm bankruptcy problem to creating fake issues like this.
Here's how Scott Walker Republicans punished farmers; Republicans abandoned farmers completely under Walker. I wrote thisback in Jan. 2016:
Scott Walker's $3.6 million budget cut to the UW Extension should get rural Republican voters riled up. It continues the Republican assault on their own rural constituents that keeps them frustrated and angry at their own government. The UW Extension "provides farmers with technical assistance, nutrient management and more," but those days are slipping away, thanks to cuts signed by Walker. UW-Extension, which applies research and expertise across the state in myriad areas, has been forced to restructure ... cut $1.2 million from county-level programs, $1.7 million from campus programs and state specialists and $700,000 from the administration.
In 2020, Gov. Evers forced Republicans to reconsider that bad decision, but...
Adam Warthesen, director of government and industry affairs at Organic Valley, said the state's efforts are coming too late for many dairy farmers who have gone out of business in the last few years. "We should be out in front and figuring out what's going to help agriculture earlier in every year," Warthesen said.
They even wanted to make it easier for farmers to lose those farms...not kidding: Walker went after Rural Farmers Estates to Fund Medicaid:
WSJ-Dee J. Hall: The state Department of Health Services has new powers under the state budget to recover money from the estates of people whose loved ones have received Medicaid funding for long-term care … the Legislature’s own nonpartisan legal and financial agencies have warned that the changes … could violate federal law. Critics say the changes could prompt some elderly couples to divorce and make it harder for children to inherit the family farm or business. A couple’s home is exempted … But proceeds from the sale of that home could be taken by the state to repay Medicaid used to pay for a spouse’s nursing home or other long-term care. An elder law attorneys said, “It greatly expands the types of property the state can go after … In the past, the state could not go after the property of the (non-Medicaid receiving) spouse.”
Eight Democratic Ideas to help Dairy and Ag Farmers: Democrats have always had suggestions, ways to improve the industry by working with farmers and their groups in Wisconsin but were ignored. The articles timing couldn't be better. From June of 1951...
Governor Evers actually included huge benefits to farmers in each of his state budgets:
Evers’ bills would expand grant opportunities for small dairy processing plants, assist farmers seeking to expand or diversify their operations and establish five regional positions across the state to provide farmers with mental health support. The bills would also create 20 county-based positions with UW-Extension to provide farmers with free research and technical assistance.
It will be interesting to hear how Republicans trash many of these forward ideas without ever suggesting any constructive plans of their own:
Farmers are now dealing with the stacked-up effects of a pandemic, supply chain disruptions and inflation.
1. Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson wants to bring back parity pricing, which ties commodity prices to production costs. "What this means is ensuring a consistent and fair price for farmers," Nelson said. "So this controls the up and down spikes, like what we're seeing right now."
2. Making broadband internet a public utility.
3. Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes' "Barnes for Barns" tour tied together ag and climate policy and shifting federal subsidies away from corporate farms. "Making sure our farms are more resilient in the face of climate change, which is making it harder for our small family farmers."
4. State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski's campaign touts a 12-page rural policy plan. She said her first act in the U.S. Senate would be asking for a seat on the Senate's agricultural committee, neither the Senate nor House ag committees currently have any members from Wisconsin.
5. She would prioritize the development of a health care program specifically for farmers.
6. Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry said he believed a key solution was offering loan forgiveness to farmers. A bill doing just that was introduced in the Senate last year but hasn't been called for a vote.
7. Lasry said he also would push to give credits to domestic fertilizer producers, hoping to lower costs and, in turn, make a crucial supply more affordable for farmers.
8. Both Nelson and Barnes specifically mentioned growth management, a concept supported by the Wisconsin Farmers Union and the Farm Bureau Federation, which aren't always on the same page. The idea is similar to a luxury tax in professional sports; if a farm decides to capitalize on high prices by increasing production, it has to pay a fee that goes into a pot that's divided among all farmers. That way, the theory goes, if the spiked supply depresses prices, smaller farms can weather that drop with the funds they receive through fee sharing.
UPDATE 10/7: I think farmers have had enough, maybe, I hope anyway...
1. “I went to Madison feeling financially scared and emotionally depressed but hopeful,” said Paul Adams, who runs a 500-cow organic dairy near Eleva, WI."I came home feeling financially scared, emotionally depressed, unwanted, and unneeded.” 2. Brittany Olson left her Barron County farm at 2am to make the trip to Expo and hear Perdue speak. “To go through the effort to see the USDA secretary, only for him to say that small farms like ours likely have no future made me feel like little more than a peasant in a system of modern-day feudalism,” Olson said. 3. “To me, it really drew a line in the sand on just where this administration stands,” said Chippewa County dairy farmer George Polzin.
Danielle Erdvick summed it up this way in the story:
But I sense a fire growing in the belly of the family farmers I meet in my work with Farmers Union. Farmers are weary. But there’s a growing flicker that’s starting to feed a change in the narrative. No more will they be spoon-fed a top-down vision for rural America. Instead, I see a drive for a farmscape where fair prices, local food systems, clean water, and land conservation are at the heart of farm policy. How can we achieve it? It’ll take actually enforcing America’s antitrust laws and holding corporations accountable when they try to monopolize an industry. It’ll mean addressing market manipulation. It’ll mean not raising our hackles, as farmers and ag groups, every time someone wants to talk about clean water or livestock siting. It’ll mean continuing to adopt regenerative practices and thinking outside the box so we’re protecting our natural resources for our children and grandchildren.
Farmers will never stop voting for Republicans. Sadly, GOP promises of "small government" simply mean they don't really have to do anything for their constituents, and deregulation is anything that basically leaves them alone.
Tariff War is not Their Fight: It seems farmers are okay sacrificing their livelihoods for big corporate interests seeking intellectual rights and protections.
And then the last shoe dropped; Ag Sec. Sonny Perdue told us what big corporate Republican politicians were really thinking about family farmers:
Perdue told reporters that he doesn’t know if the family dairy farm can survive as the industry moves toward a factory farm model ... “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out. I don’t think in America we, for any small business, we have a guaranteed income or guaranteed profitability.”
Jerry Volenec, a fifth-generation Wisconsin dairy farmer with 330 cows, left the Perdue event feeling discouraged about his future. “What I heard today from the secretary of agriculture is there’s no place for me. Can I get some support from my state and federal government?" Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union and a third-generation dairy farmer who runs a 50-cow organic farm (said) getting bigger at the expense of smaller operations like his is “not a good way to go. Do we want one corporation owning all the food in our country?”
Democrats, Governor Tony Evers backs Family Farms, despite never getting their vote, but after Sonny Perdue's comment, even our laid back Gov. had to say something:
"Are they struggling? Absolutely. But I think at the end of the day we need to get behind them rather than saying, ah maybe you should go larger. I, frankly, resent that the Department of Agriculture secretary from the federal government came in and kind of lambasted them."
But don't take Evers word for it, here's a comment made at the Minnesota Farmfest about CAFO's. Note: Why were visa's for dairy labor ever determined to be seasonal and not year around?:
Wisconsin dairy farmers are still feeling the sting of Trump's visit to Milwaukee in July, where the president downplayed the suffocation felt by farmers here because of Trump's own tariffs.
Trump: "Some of the farmers are doing well. ... We're over the hump. We're doing really well."
Farmer Response...:
"If he's saying farmers are over the hump, he would be badly mistaken," said Darin Von Ruden, a third generation dairy farmer. "In order to get over the hump we need to stop losing dairy farms."
From PBS's Market to Market: Trump's says farmers are happy...
Farmers are slamming Trump's $28 billion farm bailout — more than double Obama's 2009 payment to automakers — as a 'Band-Aid'.
Perdue editorial doesn't repair Damage: Nope, his word salad backtrack to obscure how he really feels, is a little late. In fact, Perdue reminds farmers how this whole problem was really Trump creation:
Purdue: "President Donald Trump has made it his mission to support American agriculture and negotiate better trade deals so our productive farmers can sell their bounty around the globe."
Here's a past post from Feb 2019 that strongly pertains to Trump's disastrous tariffs (even back then), not to mention then Gov. Scott Walker's insistence that farmers produce more milk when supplies were already at a peak:
Scott Walker Legacy; he Ignored and Destroyed Dairy Farms: Walker's 8 year focus was to replace our current structure of government with a theoretical conservative system that shockingly ignored solving problems; youth prisons, veterans homes, polluted drinking water, underfunded state parks, deteriorating roads, financially squeezed schools, mass transit, CWD, etc. and...
...the one things that put Wisconsin on the map; America's Dairyland. Instead of understanding the problem and leading a reform movement to save our states dairy farms, heck the whole industry, he instinctively thought of mega corporate farmers and producing an oversupply milk. That resulted in low prices for the last 4 years:
In 2012, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced an incentive program to produce, as a state, 30 billion pounds of milk a year by 2020 — a 15 percent increase. Despite record production every year since 2002, Walker urged farmers to step it up even more. Dairy farmers ... reached 30 billion pounds in 2016 — four years ahead of schedule. By then, however, the market had turned and many dairy farmers were having trouble breaking even on their new investments. Some felt duped by the agribusiness system. “The more surplus farmers produce, the lower the price of agricultural commodities for food processors,"said Kara O'Connor, government relations director for the Wisconsin Farmers Union.
Who did Walker help most? Guess...
"All of the most powerful players in the industry, except the farmer, benefit from overproduction."
Notice how Walker's program alone brought down the dairy industry in the chart below:
Walker left another major problem for the Democrats to solve:
1. By the turn of the 20th century, 90 percent of Wisconsin farms had dairy cows, and led the nation in butter and cheese production ... until 1993 when that recognition went to California. 2. For nearly 80 years, “America’s Dairyland” has been imprinted on the state’s license plates. 3. Dairy contributes more to Wisconsin’s economy than citrus does to Florida or potatoes to Idaho, and more than a quarter of the nation’s cheese comes out of the state.
4. Wisconsin lost almost 700 dairy farms in 2018, an unprecedented rate of nearly two a day. 5. As of Feb. 1, Wisconsin had 8,046 dairy herds, down 40 percent from 10 years earlier, according to state Department of Agriculture data. 6. Remaining dairy farmers have burned through their farm equity and credit to remain in business. 7. Although consumption increased, they've not always kept pace with runaway production. 8. Foreign markets for American dairy products have shrunk in response to tariffsthat President Donald Trump placed on foreign steel and aluminum. Cheese shipments to China have fallen almost 65 percent, according to industry figures, and exports to Mexico are down more than 10 percent. 9. Laurie Fischer, CEO of the American Dairy Coalition (said) “The administration has not lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products, and in response, those countries are refusing to (ratify) the pact or lift retaliatory tariffs, impacting dairy products and other items."
And Trump's supposed farm "bailout? Horrific:
10. A 55-cow dairy farm would receive a one-time payment of $725 from the bailout but stood to lose between $36,000 and $48,000 in income last year from low milk prices, according to the Wisconsin Farmers Union. A 290-cow dairy would get $4,905 but would lose several hundred thousand dollars. 11. Farmers have flushed milk down the barn drain because they couldn't find a processing plant to take it. 12. Some farmers have shot calves because the newborn animals had no market value and were considered too expensive to raise for beef. 13. The stress farmers have endured in trying to keep everything together has been overwhelming, especially on farms passed down for generations. Nobody wants to be the one to close the gates.Elizabeth Rich, an attorney from Plymouth and president of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund Foundation said, “Fifth- and sixth-generation dairy farmers are losing their farms; many are killing themselves. We can and must do better.” 14. Some farmers say the U.S. needs a milk supply management system, like Canada has, that imposes production quotas and protects farmers' income. Critics of Canada's system say it has resulted in trade barriers to U.S. dairy products. "But whether the answer is a system similar to Canada's supply management program or something completely different, we can't just sit back and continue down the same current path without trying to find something that actually works for farmers," Brad Rach, dairy director for the National Farmers Organization, wrote in a blog.
Wisconsin Republicans are the laziest do nothing "representatives" you'll find anywhere.
1. State Parks Get All Funding Cut: For example, Republicans hate undeveloped publicly owned land that doesn't pad some private companies bottom line...like parks. So they passed and defunded state parks:
Gov. Scott Walker wants to remove state tax money from the operation of Wisconsin’s state parks and make them self-sustaining … proposing to remove all general-purpose revenue to operate Wisconsin state parks, trails and recreation areas - 46 state parks, 14 state trails, four recreational areas and two national scenic trails;In place of tax revenue, the governor is proposing that operation of the state park system be funded by entrance and campsite fees.
But that didn't work out so well. Sadly, Democrats failed to remind voters how we got to this place. You'll also notice ONLY Republicans came to rescue our parks...from themselves?:
2. Farmers Ignored, Rural Areas Completely Ignored, until Gov. Evers Exposed them: With little time left at the Capitol, Republicans are now scrambling to make Gov. Evers special session focus on farmers and rural communities something they came up with...after 8 frigging years of doing nothing, borrowing liberally from Evers first budget. You remember that, the one Republican Rep. Robin Vos and Sen. Scott Fitzgerald tossed into the trash bin.
In fact, Republicans abandoned farmers completely under Walker. I wrote thisback in Jan. 2016:
Scott Walker's $3.6 million budget cut to the UW Extension should get rural Republican voters riled up. It continues the Republican assault on their own rural constituents that keeps them frustrated and angry at their own government. The UW Extension "provides farmers with technical assistance, nutrient management and more," but those days are slipping away, thanks to cuts signed by Walker. UW-Extension, which applies research and expertise across the state in myriad areas, has been forced to restructure ... cut $1.2 million from county-level programs, $1.7 million from campus programs and state specialists and $700,000 from the administration.
Vos and Fitzgerald are now trying to cover their asses and look like heroes after arrogantly removing Evers first budget efforts. Hell, they're even blaming Democrats. Remember, Scott Walker ruled over the state for the last 8 years, so who's "they're?" Seriously, Vos actually said...
"It's nice that they're playing catchup, after literally almost a decade of ignoring rural Wisconsin."
Believe it or not, now they want to evaluated how the UW had been helping farmers after dumping the UW Extension program 3 years ago. Again, Republicans are rescuing farmers from their own bad legislation!!! You can't make this stuff up:
The package includes two bills aimed at the University of Wisconsin System. One would require the UW System to study the current problems facing farmers and evaluate how the university is helping support farmers through curriculum and staffing of agricultural programs. The other bill would require the UW System to develop an agricultural science and technology program. (Plus) amended versions of two of Evers’ bills...items included in Evers’ 2019-21 budget, including similar health insurance deductions for self-employed individuals, dairy processing grants and increasing dairy export spending. However they were removed by the Republican-led Legislature.
Adam Warthesen, director of government and industry affairs at Organic Valley, said the state's efforts are coming too late for many dairy farmers who have gone out of business in the last few years. "We should be out in front and figuring out what's going to help agriculture earlier in every year," Warthesen said.
And rural Republican voters just keep putting these people back in Madison.
They even wanted to make it easier for farmers to lose their farms...not kidding:Walker went after Rural Farmers Estates to Fund Medicaid:
WSJ-Dee J. Hall: The state Department of Health Services has new powers under the state budget to recover money from the estates of people whose loved ones have received Medicaid funding for long-term care … the Legislature’s own nonpartisan legal and financial agencies have warned that the changes … could violate federal law. Critics say the changes could prompt some elderly couples to divorce and make it harder for children to inherit the family farm or business. A couple’s home is exempted … But proceeds from the sale of that home could be taken by the state to repay Medicaid used to pay for a spouse’s nursing home or other long-term care. An elder law attorneys said, “It greatly expands the types of property the state can go after … In the past, the state could not go after the property of the (non-Medicaid receiving) spouse.”
It seems the bond between Trump Republicans and farmers isn't about to be broken anytime soon. And I can't figure out why.
I will admit Democrats have done little to help advance pro-rural community solutions. But the growing problems farmers are facing daily have little to do with a handful of nagging regulations industry lobbyist say will kill farming.
My gut feel is that these are deliberate distractions from actual solutions that farmers and rural businesses everywhere need now, along with faster broadband connections. WPR:
Farmers have seen uncontrollable factors like droughts and storms and commodity prices threaten their livelihoods. In recent months, President Trump's trade policies have added fears of a trade war with China, the loss of friendly trade agreements and instability around the farm bill to the list. The string of political shifts have shaken farm country. Matt Purdue of the National Farmers Union say the instability comes at a time when farmers are already in crisis ... when the U.S. Department of Agriculture is projecting net farm income could fall to a 12 year low. Those slipping prices have meant existing crop insurance programs, which guarantee farmers a minimum price for what they plant, aren't helping to keep farmers solvent. Many of President Trump's farm state supporters in the Senate are starting to worry that the president's policies and the political fight in the House are taking their toll on farmers. "A lot of these folks are really concerned and it's gotten to the point where in some areas there's been suicide hotlines that have now been established for more than a year," said South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds. "They want the president to succeed, they want him to be strong but they want to know what his end game is. Are you going to provide us with protections in the farm bill so we know that if we are hurt by the negotiations with regard to tariffs with China, is there something that is going to be able to get us by." Bob Worth, a soybean farmer in Minnesota, said the frustration is growing in rural America. "You know, rural America really did elect President Trump and as of today, we're not mad at him," Worth said. "He's done a lot of great things for us. He created some he's also created some hardship for us too."
Trump Has "Done a lot of Great Things" for Farmers? At the conservative website The Daily Signal, one rural contributor wallowed in "grateful" and "celebrated" servitude to leader Trump, the Obama slayer, praising the small things he's attacked like rescinding...
1. The “Waters of the United States” rule ... Thankfully, Trump signed an executive order to rescind the Waters of the United States rule. (Me: Ignoring science and water protection, House Speaker John Boehner used every GOP hotbutton imaginable- “The administration’s decree to unilaterally expand federal authority is a raw and tyrannical power grab that will crush jobs. [T]he rule is being shoved down the throats of hardworking people with no input, and places landowners, small businesses, farmers and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell.” 2. The EPA under Obama banned a commonly used insecticide that had been approved by its own science advisory panel, chlorpyrifos. Thankfully, Trump’s EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, lifted the ban as they continue to ensure that the product is safe for use as an insecticide. (ME:The graphic here says it all. If you're "pro-life," why aren't you trying to protect fetuses from this chemical? Because you're not.)
Or this feel-good challenge over a simple once a year general statement requiring no specialized equipment...
3. ... livestock farmers would be required to report emissions of greenhouse gases coming from livestock waste. Livestock farmers should be grateful for the support of the president ... (any facility emitting over 100 pounds per day of ammonia or hydrogen sulfide via animal waste (roughly 208 head) will be subject to CERCLA.) This is another major win for agriculture and for rural America, and it deserves to be celebrated.
Scott Walker's smoke and mirrors legacy is really starting to crumble, even as Republican legislators brag about how great the last 8 years have been. Oops?
Let's note just how bad things after Walker replaced reality based problems crying out for solutions with right wing theoretical concepts that ignored everything.
Keep in mind, this is just two months into Gov. Evers first term. Republican Rep. Robin Vos repeated Walker's ridiculous sales pitch, even as the following facts contradicted every word:
Vos: "Our state and its people are thriving. Wisconsin now has more jobs than people to fill them. It’s clear: the state of our state is strong. You might ask, how did we get here? For the last eight years, Republicans worked hard to make Wisconsin open for business. We cut taxes by more than $8 billion."
1. Walker thought Tax Cuts created Jobs...Wrong: The numbers just came out, and they're not helping Vos' argument one bit. For a complete breakdown see Jake's Wisconsin Funhouse:
Try attracting out of state workers with wages 20% lower than surrounding states. Looks like that ad campaign is just another waste of taxpayer dollars.
Tax Cuts = 30 Percent Fewer Jobs, Poverty Rates Higher, Lower Participation Rates: A study from July 14, 2017, from a researcher who calls Wisconsin his home state...:
WPT: Wisconsin Tax Cuts Did More Harm Than Good, Study Finds: A new study coauthored by Oklahoma State University Economics Prof. Dan Rickman found recent tax cuts actually hurt Wisconsin. The study, which compared Kansas to Wisconsin, found that 30 percent more jobs could have been created from 2011 to 2015 if it were not for tax cuts. The study also found that the unemployment and poverty rate would have been lower, and labor participation would be higher.
Scott Walker Legacy; he Ignored and Destroyed Dairy Farms: Walker's 8 year focus was to replace our current structure of government with a theoretical conservative system that shockingly ignored solving problems; youth prisons, veterans homes, polluted drinking water, underfunded state parks, deteriorating roads, financially squeezed schools, mass transit, CWD, etc. and...
...the one things that put Wisconsin on the map; America's Dairyland. Instead of understanding the problem and leading a reform movement to save our states dairy farms, heck the whole industry, he instinctively thought of mega corporate farmers and producing an oversupply milk. That resulted in low prices for the last 4 years:
In 2012, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced an incentive program to produce, as a state, 30 billion pounds of milk a year by 2020 — a 15 percent increase. Despite record production every year since 2002, Walker urged farmers to step it up even more. Dairy farmers ... reached 30 billion pounds in 2016 — four years ahead of schedule. By then, however, the market had turned and many dairy farmers were having trouble breaking even on their new investments. Some felt duped by the agribusiness system. “The more surplus farmers produce, the lower the price of agricultural commodities for food processors,"said Kara O'Connor, government relations director for the Wisconsin Farmers Union.
Who did Walker help most? Guess...
"All of the most powerful players in the industry, except the farmer, benefit from overproduction."
Notice how Walker's program alone brought down the dairy industry in the chart below:
Walker left another major problem for the Democrats to solve:
1. By the turn of the 20th century, 90 percent of Wisconsin
farms had dairy cows, and led the nation in butter and
cheese production ... until 1993 when that
recognition went to California. 2. For nearly 80 years, “America’s Dairyland” has been
imprinted on the state’s license plates. 3. Dairy contributes more to Wisconsin’s economy than citrus
does to Florida or potatoes to Idaho, and more than a quarter of the nation’s
cheese comes out of the state.
4. Wisconsin lost almost 700 dairy farms in 2018, an
unprecedented rate of nearly two a day. 5. As of Feb. 1, Wisconsin had 8,046 dairy herds, down 40
percent from 10 years earlier, according to state Department of Agriculture
data. 6. Remaining dairy farmers have burned through their farm
equity and credit to remain in business. 7. Although consumption increased, they've not always kept pace with runaway production. 8. Foreign markets for American dairy products have shrunk
in response
to tariffsthat
President Donald Trump placed on foreign steel and aluminum. Cheese shipments
to China have fallen almost 65 percent, according to industry figures, and
exports to Mexico are down more than 10 percent. 9. Laurie Fischer, CEO of the American Dairy Coalition (said) “The
administration has not lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexican and
Canadian products, and in response, those countries are refusing to (ratify)
the pact or lift retaliatory tariffs, impacting dairy products and other
items."
And Trump's supposed farm "bailout? Horrific:
10. A 55-cow dairy farm would receive a one-time payment of $725
from the bailout but stood to lose between $36,000 and $48,000 in income
last year from low milk prices, according to the Wisconsin Farmers Union. A
290-cow dairy would get $4,905 but would lose several hundred thousand
dollars. 11. Farmers have flushed milk down the barn drain because they
couldn't find a processing plant to take it. 12. Some farmers have shot calves because the newborn animals
had no market value and were considered too expensive to raise for beef. 13. The stress farmers have endured in trying to keep everything
together has been overwhelming, especially on farms passed down for
generations. Nobody wants to be the one to close the gates.Elizabeth Rich, an attorney from Plymouth and president of
the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund Foundation said, “Fifth- and
sixth-generation dairy farmers are losing their farms; many are killing
themselves. We can and must do better.” 14. Some farmers say the U.S. needs a milk supply management
system, like Canada has, that imposes production quotas and protects farmers'
income. Critics of Canada's system say it has resulted in trade barriers
to U.S. dairy products. "But whether the answer is a system similar
to Canada's supply management program or something completely different, we
can't just sit back and continue down the same current path without trying to
find something that actually works for farmers," Brad Rach, dairy director
for the National Farmers Organization, wrote in a blog.
"Our Great Patriotic Farmers" never had anything to do with the US trade war with China. Farmers were thrown into the front lines of this tariff war via politics so China could hurt Trump's voter base.
This was all Trump's fault, and the press isn't shining a bright enough light on this.
And yet, not even Trump seems to be aware this, as revealed here in one of his latest tweets. No, they will not "be one of the biggest beneficiaries."
Socialist Farm Subsidies? Yes: So our tax dollars are now going to be distributed again to farmers because they vote Republican? Remember, most of the subsidies went to large corporate farms, and what subsidies did go to smaller farmers were a drop in the bucket compared to their actual debt. Here are some of the twitter comments...
1. The Chinese buyers will find other suppliers so Trump better be ready to pay off the farmers forever! 2. You made it worse for the farmers not better! RESIGN. ... Meh. Farmers voted him in. Let them reap what they sowed. Maybe they’ll do a little research before they cast their next vote. 3. “Patriot Farmers?” Or as the GOP would have called them if the Democrats had created this mess “Welfare Kings.” 4. 1. U.S. companies pay for tariffs; then taxpayers pay tariffs when those companies pass on the costs to consumers. 2. Hoping to be seen as a savior, you've now created a Socialist program for farmers that taxpayers will also pay for. And here's the rub: Trump pays NO taxes. 5. I just checked: China owns more than $1.1 Trillion in U.S. Govt debt. In other words, they are lending us the money (at interest of course) to pay Welfare for Farmers.
Note: Tariffs have also hiked farm equipment prices to unsustainable levels do to tariffs on steel and aluminum:
Brent Bible, a farmer, has nowhere to sell his soybean and corn crops. And that situation just got worse, because the futures trading market started planning for higher tariffs earlier this week, Bible said. "Just in the last three days of trading, we've seen the price reduction that equates to about a $50,000 loss for us," he added. Bible isn't just running a business, he's also a consumer, and increased tariffs on steel and aluminum have raised prices on tractors and farm equipment he needs. As both a supplier and a consumer, he says tariffs are hitting him on both ends.
Trump, friend of the farmer voter base? Not so much:
Trump’s budget cuts would lower federal subsidies for crop insurance and small growers. The spending plan for 2020 he submitted for Congress would reduce subsidies for crop insurance premiums to 48 percent from 62 percent and limit current subsidies for growers who make less than $500,000 annually.
"If the trade conflict with China continues much longer, it will likely leave lasting scars on the entire agricultural sector as well as the overall U.S. economy," Amanda Countryman, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Colorado State University, wrote for the Conversation in 2018.
And then there's this:
This latest round of tariffs will add another $500 a year in costs for the average American household, says Katheryn Russ, an economics professor at the University of California at Davis. And that could grow. "Once the tariffs go onto cellphones, I mean then you're going to see people scream," she says.
The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office list “covers
essentially all products” not already affected by punitive tariffs … It
includes laptop computers, saw blades, turbine parts, tuna and garlic. The USTR
noted it excludes pharmaceuticals and rare earths minerals used in electronics
and batteries.
Farmers are known to died-in-the-wool conservatives. They’re
self-made, hardworking, no nonsense businessmen and women.
Surprise! They’re now on the receiving end of Scott Walker’s
big business, big government takeover of Wisconsin. Conservative voters who
celebrated Walker’s big recall win are suddenly not so happy.
I don’t think farmers ever knew it was their party holding
up high speed internet access. They should also ask State Sen. Frank Lasee why he wants to give anyone living near a leased wind turbine the ability to sue farmers into bankruptcy with frivolous lawsuits. Now the Walker Authority is coming for their
land.
Daily Reporter: A group representing Wisconsin farmers said its lobbying
agenda this
spring will include opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to
eliminate limits on foreign land ownership. No foreign person, company or
government can buy more than 640 acres of land in Wisconsin. A provision
eliminating that cap is included in Walker’s budget proposal, which the
Legislature is reviewing.
“Under this proposal, any foreign individual, corporation or
government can come in and buy up as much land as they want. This will drive up
land prices so high that Wisconsinites won’t be able to buy the neighbor’s farm
that comes up for sale or the neighboring 40 acres at a decent price that they
can afford,” Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden told the Fond du
Lac Reporter.
“What’s that going to do to the Wisconsin landscape and our
ability to produce food for our people?” he added.
How quaint, "food for the people." Sounds like socialism to me. Catching up slowly, farmers
are also starting to wake-up to who’s been blocking their ability to expand their
business online:
The group’s legislative agenda also includes a push for
expanding broadband services in rural areas. Von Ruden said many farm families
still lack Internet access.
What, they can’t wait for the free market to eventually
provide service like the Republican Party insists will happen someday, when it's profitable?
And even more ironic, the rural voter has more political power overall
by virtual of land size and the number of district’s, and Republicans are using
their legislative majorities to now block out farmers.
Don’t even get me started on affordable health care for
farmers or the delayed farm bill. I still don't get why farmers would keep voting Republican. On every issue above, Democrats have supported them
It's taken over 15 years to bring industrial hemp farming and jobs to Wisconsin, thanks to our anti-business Republican legislature who's favored list of businesses is limited to only the largest campaign contributors. What happened?
We didn't want to "tarnish Wisconsin's image," or give the impression we're a bunch of drug induced hippies milking cows and eating cheese.
But industrial hemp has seen huge growth nationwide...just not here in Wisconsin. After all, anything pushed by those 60's pot smoking liberal Democrats was just a marijuana smoke screen to legalize another burgeoning industry nationwide, recreational pot. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for that?
February 23, 2010 – Steps to legalize industrial hemp in Wisconsin are facing Republican opposition. All Republicans on the Assembly Agriculture Committee recently voted against a measure passed by the Democratic majority, which would allow Wisconsin farmers to apply for permits to grow hemp.
Make no mistake, Republicans didn't have any fact based, or science based reasons for their opposition...just a lot of mindless excuses that made sense then...until now:
State Representative Al Ott (R-Forest Junction) says there are worries about the drug connotation of hemp, which could tarnish Wisconsin’s image. He says there’s also no infrastructure to support a market for the product. Ott says he understands farmers are struggling in the tough economy, but he doesn’t feel it’s time to dilute the agriculture industry.
Now, agricultural hemp is a Republican idea. Hey Democrats...anyone want to remind voters who could have brought thousands of jobs and saved hundreds of family farms mentioned below well before our GOP overlords caught on? It's suddenly a high tech magnet for rural Republican areas (Foxconn fever baby).
Let's see, we were once a leader in hemp production, then what happened? Drug connotations...tarnish our image...dilute the agriculture industry...no infrastructure....blocked legislation for over a decade...yea, I wonder what happened (see and click image of history above):
Guest speaker: "We have watched our state farmers close generational farms year after year. We have lost farmers in the thousands...this is transformational."
Earlier this week, outgoing Attorney General Brad Schimel suggested in a legal analysis that barns rented for events are subject to the state’s liquor laws. His analysis came at the request of Rep. Rob Swearingen, a Republican from Rhinelander. On Wednesday, a state legislative committee tasked with examining the state's alcohol laws echoed Schimel, saying it interprets current laws to require venues like barns to obtain licenses to serve alcohol.
Guess what, Rep. Swearingen stands to profit personally...go figure:
The thrust of Wednesday's committee discussion was that such new legislation actually isn't needed; the requirement exists in current law and should be enforced immediately. It's also worth noting that Swearingen chairs the legislative committee. He is a former president of the Tavern League and the owner of a supper club — exactly the kind of business that would see wedding barns as competition, and unlicensed wedding barns serving alcohol as unfair competition.
Will rural voters continue to get behind Republicans, who might have eliminated a few environmental regulations, all the while they're being crushed and ignored by their party? Time will tell.
There's one big difference between the parties; Republicans never think to fix huge problems smacking them in the face, and Democrats do. It's that simple. Guns, pollution, health care costs, climate change...big problems that never move the needle for Republicans.
Dairy farmers are seeing this first hand, and if nothing is done, we'll have even more and bigger problems in the future...that Republicans won't want to fix.
And you can blame the cult-like tribal Republican Party loyalty under Trump for making this worse. What else could explain voting for a disconnected millionaire who's doing everything he can to make farmers lives miserable?
Not only are dairy farmer losing sales and established business relationships, but he's going after their workforce with ICE raids:
In September U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a four-day operation in Wisconsin. They visited 14 Wisconsin counties and arrested 83 people they referred to as "immigration violators" and "criminal illegal aliens." John Rosenow is a dairy farmer in Buffalo County. He hires immigrant workers to do everything, from driving and fixing tractors to milking and delivering cows. He said without their help, he would go out of business. "I would no longer be able to milk cows. It would destroy my life," he said.
Trump is actually getting further away from actual immigration policy, now that he's threatening to close off the border completely, making all this devasting:
According to the American Immigration Council, nearly 5 percent of Wisconsin residents are immigrants, and 22 percent are working in the farming and fishing industry.
Don't worry, Trump's got the farmers back again. Heck he's passing out other peoples hard earned tax dollars to his rural voting base for votes, but forgot to tell them it wasn't going to be much;
Just $838 million has been paid out to farmers since the first $6 billion pot of money was made available in September.
And tariffs aren't hurting Trump one bit either! But if you're a dairy farmer, he's killing you and he's probably already forgotten how important you are to the economy:
The program’s limitations are beginning to test farmers’ patience. The trade war shows no signs of easing,
The milk federation expects dairy farmers to lose $1.5 billion from the tariffs in the second half of this year and it has received only $127 million in aid. “This was supposed to make sure farmers were not the victims of this trade policy,” said Jim Mulhern, president of the National Milk Producers Federation. “I think most agriculture producers feel that the payments have not come close to making up for the damage for the tariffs.”
And without a national plan to save the dairy industry, like Canada, generations of farmers will be gone leaving corporate farms with a lock on an entire industry.
The most recent downturn in dairy farming – now in its fourth year — was one of the worst he'd seen. For many farmers, the price they've received for their milk hasn't covered their expenses. Some have lost thousands of dollars a month, and there’s not much relief in sight as the marketplace is flooded with the commodity they produce. As of Nov. 1, the dairy state had lost 660 cow herds from a year earlier, and the number of herds was down nearly 49 percent from 15 years ago — nearly half the size it was just 14 years ago. Meanwhile, the number of dairy cows has increased 2.6%. That’s because the remaining dairy operations are, in many cases, much bigger. But even some of the bigger farms have not survived.
And Rural Life continues to Change for the Worse:
Entire communities are falling apart as small farms go under, said John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders, a Madison based advocacy group. Grain mills, car dealerships and hardware stores suffer. The local tax base erodes. Churches and schools struggle or close. “The multiplier effect on the rural economy is huge. It’s why you are seeing all these boarded-up small towns,” Peck said.Wisconsin is on track to lose more dairy farms this year than in any year since at least 2003, according to state Agriculture Department figures for dairy producer licenses.
Like the sad pleas by families for Health Care support, Farmers are now reaching out with Go Fund Me:
There are now more than 2,500 U.S. dairy farms on the website, with some farmers urgently appealing for help after their finances were ruined by three years of low milk prices. “I have never asked for a handout, but I can’t keep borrowing money to pay for things,” one Wisconsin farmer wrote. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for even considering helping us continue our journey.”
Dairy producers feel like collateral damage in a war they had nothing to do with. Wisconsin may bill itself as “America’s Dairyland,” but California is the leading dairy state in the union, with the most cows and highest production. California dairies had made great strides in opening new foreign markets, in part by exploiting the benefits of NAFTA and by focused approaches to China and other Asian markets. “These are markets we’ve been working on for years,” says Annie AcMoody, chief economist for the trade group Western United Dairymen. Dairy producers fear that while they’re shut out of the markets, competitors from Europe, Australia and New Zealand will take the opportunity to strengthen their foothold. “Once you lose a market, it takes time to get it back,” she says. The number of California dairies has shrunk to 1,331 at the end of 2017 from nearly 1,600 as recently as 2012. Expectations are that by the end of this year the number will fall below 1,300.
Here are a few other images I've featured in the past:
