To help their all-important rural voters, the Vos/Fitzgerald authority reached into their pocket of GOP "solutions" and came up with...wait for it, TAX CUTS? Uh, Wisconsin farmers, forget about broadband, saving local schools, access to community medical clinics, road repair, the labor shortage, and young people moving out...tax cuts, their answer to everything.
I'm Not Kidding: Now, after Wisconsin lost 819 dairy farms in 2019, Vos/Fitzgerald is going to make it even easier for small farms to go out of business.
Remember this jaw-dropping offhand comment from Ag Sec. Sonny Perdue that left most farmers breathless:
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.”
Here are two farmers reactions, and they're not good:
Wake-up Farmers, tone-deaf Republicans want to kill your Family Farm: The story below should make it all perfectly clear. WPR:
Republican Rep. Travis Tranel needs a comb...
Rep. Travis Tranel, R-Cuba City, one sponsor of the plan, said it would give farmers the confidence they need to get bigger ...
"The way that farming is working is farmers are continually having to get bigger and consolidate, not because they want to, but in order to compete. I'm not necessarily saying that I like that, but that is the reality."-Tranel
But if Rep. Tranel doesn't like it, then why go big-corporate-farm? Why not?
Goodbye Local Control...Again: Like what happened under Walker, Rep. Tranel wants to take local control away, and put Vos/Fitzgerald and lobbyists in complete control:
The bill would also take the decision out of the hands of local governments that have adopted the state's livestock siting standards ..."It shifts what are state rules, state responsibilities, back to where we believe they belong," said Wisconsin Towns Association President Mike Koles. "The state."
Remember city guy Scott Walker's really bad idea to increase milk production? Yes, Walker started this downward slide:
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.
But it gets worse. Getting bigger through more Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations will actually destroy small rural communities.
But don't take my word for it, here's a comment made at the Minnesota Farmfest about CAFO's, explaining how this will happen:
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.”
Come November, I want every farmer and rural community in the state to watch their Republican representatives sit on their hands when Gov. Tony Evers presented his plan to save America's Dairyland and fading rural communities.
For the last 9 years with Scott Walker and Republicans in full control of the state, they did nothing to help farmers and rural voters while farms were disappearing at an alarming rate...NOTHING. Yet Republican Rep. Robin Vos, in a breathtaking moment of gaslighting, said this:
Vos: “Certainly if he (Evers) has finally turned his attention to rural Wisconsin, that basically shows he has ignored that part of the state for most of last year since he’s been elected governor. So if he’s a newfound convert that rural Wisconsin has problems, of course we’re going to listen.”
But Evers reminded voters that his budget, the one Republicans abandoned in order to take credit for many of Evers promises, contained farm help as well:
Evers: "Some of these proposals aren't new, many of them are a form of what I proposed in my budget that were unfortunately taken out."
Proving Republicans have no intention of working with Evers ever, they refused to even stand up and support help for rural America: After 9 years of taking their rural voters for granted, they never once even noticed or promised to stop the loss of farms in Wisconsin. The following didn't matter:
1. Wisconsin lost almost 700 dairy farms in 2018, an unprecedented rate of nearly two a day.
2. In 2019, Wisconsin lost 819 dairy farms, leaving 7,292 dairy farms in place. It marked the biggest drop in a single year, and underscored the negative impact of Trump's trade war in a state critical to his re-election bid. The state leads the nation in the number of farm bankruptcies, according to the American Farm Bureau.
3. During just the last decade, about 40% of Wisconsin dairy farms have shut down.
4. Wisconsin's remaining dairy farms, along with milk and cheese plants, contribute about $45 billion to the state.
Vos is hoping no one is going to remember that he and Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, along with Gov. Scott Walker, were in charge for the last 9 years. Instead, Vos is blaming the new governor for doing nothing...seriously. Oh, and after Gov. Evers calls the special session, Republican will only gavel it in and then leave, doing nothing again...putting it off for another day. From WISN:
Vos: "It's nice that they're trying to play catchup after literally almost a decade of ignoring rural Wisconsin..."
You can bet Republicans will trash any effort Evers puts in front of them, so they can take credit for their own stripped down copy cat version of legislation they never would have come up with themselves. See what I mean...
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Monday afternoon that he will convene a special session Tuesday to introduce bills regarding the state's dairy crisis. The special session bills will be introduced and referred to committee. "Farmers are already telling us the governor’s package does more to grow the size of government than actually help our rural areas," Vos said in a written statement. "We’re open to amending the bills or introducing our own proposals in order to do what’s best for rural Wisconsin."
From a previous blog post.... 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...like 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 worse, 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. But...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:
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."
Watching "America's Dairyland" Disappear: Besides the rapid rise of lake choking algae threatening Wisconsin's summer tourism industry, including...
...we're also watching a rapid disappearance of our dairy farms:
1. Over the past two years, nearly 1,200 of the state’s dairy farms have stopped milking cows and so far this year, another 212 have disappeared, with many shifting production to beef or vegetables. 2. The total number of herds in Wisconsin is now below 8,000 — about half as many as 15 years ago. 3. In 2018, 49 Wisconsin farms filed for bankruptcy — the highest of any state in the country, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Trump Tariff Debacle?Again, he isn't in any hurry: Trump's tariffs needlessly put farmers on the front line of a battle that only benefits businesses trying to protect intellectual rights, copyrights, and drug patents. It was never about agriculture, which has now lost markets that may or may not get them back entirely, and even if they did, it would put the US back where it was.
YahooNews: the problem for American farmers has becomes bigger than something a bailout can fix. “This trade thing is what’s brought on by the president and it’s really frustrating because he took away all of our markets. Our prices are probably as low as I’ve seen them in a long time,” he told Yahoo Finance. “We were losing just about $70 an acre just by putting our crop in [the ground] this spring,”Bob Kuylen, a farmer from North Dakota who grows spring wheat and sunflowers, told Yahoo Finance. “All these countries went to different countries to get their grain,” Kuylen said. “How are we going to get the relations back with them to buy our grain again and be our customers?” “Farmers are profoundly wary of the trade war, embarrassed that ad hoc government subsidies are all that stands between many of us and financial ruin, and ready for the return of more normal times.” Between 2016-2017, China was the fourth-largest wheat buyer in the world, importing more than 61 million U.S. bushels. In 2019, the top U.S. export destinations for wheat include Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, and Nigeria — China is not even among the top 10.
Blame Canada?: Rising corporate farms and over supply is the biggest culprit, but Trump and Republicans want to blame Canada's control of milk production, and a few high tariffs, as the problem. Instead, the U.S. should be looking at Canada's solution to saving dairy:
PRI; The new NAFTA agreement, called the USMCA ... boiled down to Canadian milk ... the president has been railing against Canadian dairy farmers in rallies ... US dairy farmers would get more access to Canada, a worrying prospect for Canadian dairy farmer Phillip Armstrong. Armstrong says his cows are nearly twice as productive ... to keep things in check, Canada has a system (to) match supply with consumer demand. “Each farm has a quota and that's our share of the Canadian market.” Part of its supply management system ... Canada does let in some American dairy before (a 300 percent) tariff kicks in ... the updated trade deal would open up 3.6 percent more of its market to American dairy. Armstrong says. “That's (3.6 percent) growth in income that we're giving up that allows us to modernize, to expand. And Trump said we were hurting their dairy farmers. Well, the Americans had a $600 million surplus with us. But he got into his head that we were mistreating their farmers.”
It's true Canada had made a few other changes to protect against losing dairy farms...but one of those changes, price supports that shut out American products, has been repealed.
Dairy Farmers Hurt, a Nationwide Problem: While we're seeing thousands of dairy farms shutting down in Wisconsin and elsewhere...
It’s not all because of Canada, far from it. American farmers have been squeezed out by consolidation, corporate agriculture, global competition and low prices. People are also simply consuming less milk. Brian Gould, a professor of agribusiness at the University of Wisconsin says the US shouldn’t be telling Canada how to manage its internal agriculture. "I really think we're on thin ice when we demand that they get rid of their quota system" ... think of the reverse: Canada telling the US to dismantle its system. The US government sets a minimum price for milk and also provides subsidies to American dairy farmers. And, the US has its own high tariffs on certain products — the US sour cream tariff, for example, is 187 percent.
Failed "Supply-Side" Scott Walker Meddling: When 70 percent of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer spending, it's hard to imagine why anyone would take the opposite economic approach, unless your only plan is to give more money and power to business. Oh wait.
The following isn't me saying it, but I have so many times here on my blog:
NYT: Farmer advocacy groups say policies enforced by former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, exacerbated the problem. In 2012, Mr. Walker put into place a program to encourage dairy farmers to step up production with the goal of producing 30 billion pounds of milk a year by 2020. That was easily accomplished by 2016, but the oversupply crippled the industry. “He wanted to put Wisconsin back into the lead in milk production over California,” said Joel Greeno, a dairy farmer and the president of the Wisconsin advocacy group Family Farm Defenders. “It was more an example of arrogance than practicality.”
And so...
Still, there’s an ironic twist here: Many American dairy farmers and organizations are actually now looking into a supply management system of their own ... similar to Canada’s. Armstrong says the new NAFTA agreement doesn’t address the fundamental problem: American farmers are producing too much milk ... opening a little bit more of Canada won’t make a dent in that. “I feel for the dairy farmer in the United States. I mean, it's got to hurt,” Armstrong says. The new trade agreement, he says, “is going to hurt us here, but it has no impact on their well-being at all.”
Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and now enlightened Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher are on the same page:
Senator Tammy Baldwin said of Mr. Trump in an interview. “Our farmers need good trade deals, not trade wars.” Representative Mike Gallagher had said that the top concerns of dairy farmers were the tariffs, along with Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, which make finding farm labor more difficult.
The First Red Flag? Republican targeted Butter as Too Expensive: This really happened:
Republican state Rep. Dale Kooyenga, an accountant from
Brookfield wants to undo law he calls silly, antiquated and anti-free market. A
quirky Wisconsin law intended to protect the state's dairy industry by making
it illegal for restaurants to serve margarine as a replacement for butter is
being targeted for repeal. Kooyenga argues that changing the law would save the
state money since margarine is typically a third of the cost of butter.
If you haven't noticed, it's sometimes taken me a week to eventually crank out a few blog posts. There are so many bad things going on, so many problems, and so much gas lighting that it's now almost impossible to focus on just one thing.
If anything, Scott Walker gave bloggers here in Wisconsin a head start on what the real Republican agenda was all about; in your face raw naked power. Surprisingly, we found out Republicans never wanted to solve our growing local and national problems, they simply wanted to roll out their alternative vision of reality, where unproven theories solve everything.
The "Scott Walker" name is now a brand that he's marketing like Trump, pushing the same cliche'd horrors and fallacies their cult like voters lazily accept as gospel. Think Walker's cruise is another free-be for him and his family?
Digging through the avalanche of stories, here are a few that need so much more attention...
1. Dairy Farmers: I've been harping on this for years, wondering why rural voters supported Republicans when they got nothing back and no support under the excuse of "small government." Walker, who had no clue about dairy farming, even advanced laws that exacerbated the over supply of milk now, allowing larger corporate farms (CAFO's) that disadvantaged small dairy, record bankruptcies, suicides, and no solutions in of all places, "America's Dairyland." This borders on criminal.
Or the idea that farmers care more aboutsecuring corporate intellectual property than their own family businesses and generational farms...seriously? These red state governors in Nebraska, and Missouri are gas-lighting their constituents and should pay the penalty:
2. Walker/GOP Economic Hype: Sure, if you think making one of the countries largest cuts to education is a good idea, trashing environmental regulation including banning references to climate change, and letting our transportation infrastructure go to hell, well then Republicans saved some money. Of course voters taxed themselves just to keep schools open, but go ahead, ignore that tax increase:
3. Student Debt Relief, Finally? Let's hope the following story isn't being too optimistic:
4. Justice and Liberty: Only in the alternative world of conservative politics can this be a dangerous piece of legislation:
AP- Democrats in the House approved sweeping anti-discrimination legislation, the Equality Act, Friday that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The protections would extend to employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said it will bring the nation "closer to equal liberty and justice for all."
Sexual orientation and gender identity "deserve full civil rights protections - in the workplace and in every place, education, housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations," Pelosi said. Sexual orientation and gender identity "deserve full civil rights protections - in the workplace and in every place, education, housing, credit, jury service, public accommodations," Pelosi said.
What denies religious freedom or "requires acceptance"? Individuals can always think what they want, but can't infringe on others, right? Of course, it's the end of the world according to the upside down thinking of one Republicans:
Republicans said the bill would jeopardize religious freedom by requiring acceptance of a particular ideology about sexuality and sexual identity. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., called the legislation "grossly misnamed" and said it is "anything but equalizing." The bill "hijacks" the 1964 Civil Rights Act to create "a brave new world of 'discrimination' based on undefined terms of sexual orientation and gender identity," Hartzler said. The legislation threatens women's sports, shelters and schools, and could silence female athletes, domestic abuse survivors and other women, she said.
5. Trump/GOP war on Health Care: Rural Towns and Farmers Lose Hospitals: The greatest health care system in the world? Guess what...this is happening to conservative Trump voters. And who saw this problem coming, Democrats. It was requested in 2017 by then-Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and then-Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn:
"Babies are going to be dying," said longtime resident Darlene Doherty, who was at the coffee gathering. "This is a disaster." James Cosgrove, who directed a U.S. Government Accountability Office study about rural hospital closures, said the nation needs a better understanding of what the closures mean to the health of people in rural America, where the burden of disease — from diabetes to cancer — is often greater than in urban areas ... a follow-up study later this year on the fallout from rural hospital closures. In 2002 when Mercy decided to build a new hospital, residents raised $1 million for construction. Another $1 million was given by residents to the hospital's foundation to upgrade and replace hospital equipment. But today, Mercy is a major health care conglomerate with more than 40 acute care and specialty hospitals ... Fort Scott's hospital is the second one in Kansas that Mercy has closed. The GAO report found states that had expanded Medicaid had fewer of them. The GAO report also found that residents of rural areas generally have lower household incomes than their counterparts in bigger cities and are more likely to have chronic health conditions — such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity — that affect their daily activities. The county's premature birth rate is also higher than the 9.9% nationwide.
6. Rural Areas "Under-performing" thanks to lack of Broadband and Tariff affected Farmers:
Data revealed Thursday at MadREP’s “State of the Madison Region Economy” The findings included lessons that shouldn’t be lost on the rest of Wisconsin: “Our rural areas are significantly under-performing compared to Dane County,” said MadREP President Paul Jadin, who presented the region’s next five-year economic development strategy. There are many reasons for that, not the least of which is the lack of robust broadband connections in parts of those counties, a farm economy that is suffering in some sectors – and a mix of opportunity and social factors that have contributed to rural out-migration in America for a century or more.
Democratic Socialism, the real Story: I've been meaning to post this story for a long time, so here's the link. Some of the concepts and individual parts could work in the US, benefiting Americans first, not just business. Some I like, some seem problematic knowing our system. Again, these are ideas...:
First, the Northern Europeans are focused on building strong national and local institutions that can make markets and drive societal benefits, not just change policy. Cities like Copenhagen and Hamburg, for example, have created public asset corporations that dispose of publicly owned lands and buildings in ways that spur large-scale urban transformation, particularly around historic harbors and downtowns. The revenue from such regeneration is then used to fund infrastructure, affordable housing, and other societal benefits. These regeneration efforts show a mature balance between public- and private-sector interests—a stark contrast to the tax-break scramble over landing Amazon’s HQ2, or New York City’s Hudson Yards private megaproject. Denmark and Germany have pioneered publicly owned and professionally managed corporations that are self-governed and self-financed and act in the interest of the broader public rather than a small group of private shareholders. The Northern Europeans ... use the nation-state to provide a platform for local market realities, political priorities, and social needs. The knowledge and decision-making capacity of the public sector is robust, with a steady supply of highly educated public servants across technical, environmental, social, and business fields. The supply stems from the free tuition public sector educational system (which also greatly benefits the private sector).
While rural voters and farmers fight against electing Democrats and battle against "regulations" and "big government," I will personally continue to try an solve their problems anyway in a simple blog post. It's not political, it's problem solving.
Immigration Law Avoidance-Stall Tactic: Scott Walker provided me with that epiphanic moment; Republicans never try to solve problems, they just pass their own theoretical agenda and ignore the rest.
And taking care of the border first, securing that, like Trump's ridiculous wall, was an obvious excuse not to solve anything about work visas, Dreamers, asylum seekers, and other tough topics that requires them to do their jobs as elected officials. Forget that.
Trump's brutal immigration and trade policies are impacting farm communities in every way, with no signs of ending.
Gee, maybe if Trump heavy-breathers didn't see their typical South American immigrant....
BELLINGHAM, Minn: The Mulder Dairy is clouded by doom. Kelsey Mulder milked his father’s herd of 170 Holstein cows ... (and he) is counting the days until the United States of America – the only country he's ever known - forces him to leave.“That’s hard to accept,” Kor Mulder said, “very hard to accept.” Eighteen years ago, Kor Mulder and his former wife brought their two sons - ages two and three - from their native Holland to the open spaces of western Minnesota to start a dairy farm. With an E-2 Visa in hand, Mulder saw in the U.S. freedom and opportunity.
He hoped that if he paid his taxes and invested in his community, a nation built by immigrants would one day open its arms to his family and grant permanent status. “Boys go to school, I don’t live on welfare, then you would think you could eventually make it work to permanent residency. That’s logical thinking,” Kor Mulder said. But Mulder’s hopes have repeatedly been thwarted by rigid immigration rules. Now Kelsey - weeks from his 21st birthday – must, according to those same rules, return to Holland. In June he’ll go back to a language he doesn't speak and a country he barely knows. “I prefer the gravel roads of western Minnesota, that's for sure,” Kelsey Mulder said. And Kelsey will not be the first Mulder to go. Garion, Kelsey's older brother, was forced off the farm and back to Holland last year. With both his boys in Europe – and unable to run the dairy alone – Kor Mulder sees only one course: liquidating his farm and returning to Holland too. He wonders how new immigrants from other nations can seemingly swiftly find a path to citizenship, while he’s toiled on his farm for nearly two decades, done everything asked of him by the U.S. government, yet still feels treated like an outsider. After tens-of-thousands of dollars spent over the years on immigration attorneys and applications, Mulder and his sons have found no workable path to permanent status in the United States. “The other day I heard President Trump say we like people to come to America, invest in our country. Here I am,” Mulder said. “This is people who have come and earned their place here as far as I'm concerned,” Chris Anderson added. Jim Barthel stood with his wife Carrie, each wearing matching black jackets with the logo of seed corn company. “I've been farming alongside Kor for almost 20 years and I couldn't get a better neighbor, he's the best there is.” Jim Barthel said raising his voice. “We like him, we want him here.” A change.org petition started by a Mulder family friend has collected more than 2500 signatures. Residents of Lac qui Parle county have written letters to their state and federal elected representatives – all to no avail. “They all do understand, they all sympathize - it's not right,” Kor Mulder said of the politicians with whom he’s pleaded for help. “Do something about it!,” he added in frustration. “I can’t” As the days continue to tick off the calendar, the life Kor Mulder has built unravels in an immigration system pulling his farm and family apart.
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.
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:
