Desperate Farmers of a dying environment.

by Paschen | April 16, 2009 at 09:43 pm

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By, Uwe Paschen.

Desperate Farmers.

For decades now Farm communities around the globe have been bleeding by several factors. Politics comes to mind as well as Industry and mismanagement by the WTO, the respective governments and IMF as well as WB. Countless UN and EU as well BMZ and JICA reports and studies have been warning of the stress and unreasonable demands put on the Farm communities through out the world.

News articles and documentaries over the past decades have been mentioning the negative impact of our policies, trade regulations and industry and the impact those have on the Farm communities as well as the environment over all.

One of the symptoms we can monitor is the ever-increasing suicide rate among farmers and statistics as well as environmental degradation and dept –equity ratios.

To look for a single villain here is not only dangerous, more so misleading. Why the problem is not so simple and wont be an easy one to fix either.

This started some 60 years ago with a serry of bad decisions followed by even worth decisions to fix the initial problems caused in the post WWII era.

After the second WW, we where left with massive devastation through out Europe and Asia, as well as with a incredible amount of bombs and ammunition stocks, that no one knew what to do with. Except for some very smart Chemist, that believed that they fund the way to solve the Weapons arsenal surplus as well as the food shortage dilemma that we where faced with at the time and not to forget the Baby Boom, meaning more food was needed.

This was the beginning of a long line of mismanagement that leads us to today troubles.

The compounds used in Bombs and ammunition are the same then in fertilizer, we simply converted Weapons into fertilizer and this lead to mass monocultures of Maize and soy as well as wheat, rice and potato.

We encouraged farmers to go big and when that did not work we forced them to do so with programs and penalizing those that would not comply because they believed that those mono cultures where a big mistake in the long run.

Once we established this new system through out North America, Europe and latter even Asia, Africa and South America we started to run into trouble with pollution due to excess fertilizer being washed away into the creeks and water table, this due to bare top soils and mono cultures over wast areas. Erosion of good organic matter followed as well, due to the burning of the topsoil with those synthetic fertilizers, and the monocultures as well as wind and water erosion wish are unavoidable in monocultures.

All those troubles caused by some bad political decisions lead to GMO, the believed saviour of all our troubles. As once the fertiliser and herbicides as well as pesticides where suppose to fix all problem of a post World War World, faced with a population explosion and needing all it s labour in the rebuilding of the nations rather then in agriculture. Why the farmers had to comply and become industrialised disregarding the environment and generations of common sense and know how.

After some time we where faced with massive over productions since Farmers ended up being better then expected and more innovative then anticipated. Why we forced on the creation of the WTO and forced third world countries to buy our surpluses or in many cases, we just gave them those in the name of aid and development. This lead to the destruction of local farm communities in Africa and Asia and forced a massive migration to the cities causing poverty and unemployment as well as the lack of farmers now able to produce food wish lead to a chronic dependence on food aid. This we cured with GMO. First, we gave away the GMO as a drug dealer would do with Crack or Cocaine and encouraged them to disregard their own seeds, promising them the sky and heaven with GMO.

Once they where hooked and had no longer their own seeds to fall back on. They discovered that the GMO where engineered so that they could not be used for planting again once harvested and that one was now forced to buy new seeds in order to be able to plant again.

This lead to massive problem and hight dept load for the farmers now forced to buy seeds and all that was left to buy where of course GMO seeds. No different then drug dealing only legal and in this case with the help of governments and taxpayers money.

We do have a real disaster on our hands and this through out the World. Trying to find genuine and original seeds today is as much a challenge as it would be to find a model T Ford truck. Wish bring the price up of course and makes it rather difficult to go back to the way Grand Dad farmed in a responsible way and in balance with the environment.

What make this even worth is the fact that Farmers are a special breed of people, they main goal is not to make money, even less to get rich, but rather to maintain the land and the history as well as the family farm. This is why death seems the only way out for more and more of them. Because Farming Is not a job, it their life and way of life, there are bound to the land and their environment as a tree would be and they die once uprooted or poisoned by Monsanto or bad government policies.

In Canada wile there we had several suicide that where covered up as Farm accidents so the family could at least get the life insurance to keep the farm and get out of the dept, at least partially. In Japan and Europe Life-insurance is not a choice and yet many chose death rather then having to see the farm go under, they die with the farm.

I was broth up differently and have become more of a weed then a tree. This due my family having lost the farms they build up and this five time since the seventeens century. Due to wars and invasions for the most part. We just learned to be stubborn, rebuild and fight back, maybe why we never feel into the Monsanto trap or the government grand trap forcing us into a direction that was not wise nor good for the environment. Had I not enjoyed the benefit of generations of hardship and learned to go my own way as a farmer, I may very well be among those that would have taken their own lives. I am still a thorn in the eyes of Monsanto and Purina as well as Pioneer and Hoechst. Eventually the parasite that they are will perish; unfortunately, not before they destroyed the host they feed on, unless the host destroys them first.

The task at hand to fix all this may seem overwhelming, however vital to undertake for the sake of all of humanity. No better time then right now to start, yet this time with out profit as primary goal but rather sustainability and ecology.

Sources and references.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/hsq/1422.pdf

http://www.rfnsw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=328&Itemid=177

http://content.karger.com/produktedb/produkte.asp?typ=fulltext&file=000099845

http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/facts/suicide.asp

http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/04/17/02/0316-82/index.xml

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tri-robinson/americas-dangerous-short_b_187292.html

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0379073896018956\

http://gmopundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/more-debate-about-farmer-suicide-pity.html

http://www.growingedge.com/farmers-in-india-are-committing-suicide-over-gmo-seeds

https://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/de-gtz-jb-2006-lang.pdf

http://virtualreview.org/japan/zoom/806892/jica-agriculture-emergency-support

http://www.bmz.de/de/themen/umwelt/wasser/deutscher_beitrag/ernaehrung/index.html

http://www.ifs-ifs.de/troma_08/timia.pdf

http://my.nowpublic.com/environment/revenge-gaia-humanity-under-attack

http://www.infowars.com/thousands-of-indian-farmers-are-committing-suicide-after-using-genetically-modified-crops/

http://ec.europa.eu/research/quality-of-life/gmo/06-tools/06-06-project.html

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/283/2/188.pdf

http://www2.worksafebc.com/Portals/Agriculture/Statistics.asp

http://ehs.okstate.edu/training/oshafarm.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/eurostat/ramon/coded_files/KS-51-05-473-EN.pdf

Michael Tippett his post lead me to write this.

http://my.nowpublic.com/environment/1-500-farmers-india-commit-mass-suicide#comment-345412

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Amitjha

at 22:35 on April 16th, 2009

Well written , the most neglected section of the society, ie, farmers.Even in India hundreds of farmers opted to suicide due to failure of crop and resulting financial burden.

Paschen

at 06:39 on April 17th, 2009

It is a vicious circle in deed and with pollution and environmental changes it will only get worth.

Thank you for the comment and input here Amitjha.

jumpingone

at 03:23 on April 17th, 2009

Naru is a problems faced by farming they are one of the biggest produces of fertiliser there digging is what keeps them afloat there need to be more soils composting before there is a lifeless farm with dying tree on mountain perimeter i have seen this rising ground water lay wast to many trees if there is no management then the creation of a subterranean sea could make the farm baron .

albertacowpoke

at 04:25 on April 17th, 2009

Good story Paschen. This is a problem all over, in addition farmers are faced with outrageous input costs. Most of them can.t survive without an operations loan in the spring. GM seed is blown all over the countryside and then the large corporations claim that farmers are stealing their seed. We won.t even talk about the high costs of equipment and maintenance.

gerrypopplestone

at 05:00 on April 17th, 2009

In praise of farmers! Im not sure I agree with you, Uwe. I don't think farmers can always be regarded as victims of forces beyond their control. There are, after all, a huge number of suiccess stories of small farmers doing well. Farming varies enormously from region to region and it is almost impossible to generalise. In Devon (SW England), where I was brought up, 100 acres and a good dairy herd would see you make a tidy profit. China has a fifth of the world's population, yet produces enough food for them (it is more or less self sufficient) from a tenth of the world's arable land, using only 6% of the water supplies of the world! That is a record of fantastic agricultural efficiency! .Parts of Indian agriculture are enormously successful too. After all, Indian farmers brought about a huge increase in food production during the so called Green Revolution. GM food is not an issue in the US; I don't think it is necessarily good or bad - just a way of productioon that works for some and not for others. But I do think the subsidies that Europe, the US and Japan pay their farmers is doing enormous damage by undercutting cotton farmers for example in both West Africa and India. I don understand why the WTO does not ban subsidies which are after all gross protectionism. The other issue that the world is slowing changing is the appalling shortfall in agricultural investment since the 1980s, something that is recognised now. FINALLY, (and I promise to stop!) we in the Global North consume four times the food available to those in the Global South (according to historian John Pointing), and no one blinks an eyelid about it. Such inequalities are completely unjust! AMEN!

albertacowpoke

at 05:24 on April 17th, 2009

I can.t disagree with your comments, however I would like to make a couple of points. A farmer in North America with less than 2 sections of land cannot make a living off farming. I suspect that input costs in North America are much higher than in both India and China. As an example if you had hayland, in my area you would be lucky to produce 2 larger round bales per acre (approximately 1200 lbs per bale). To yield this you need a hay bind or swatter to cut it, followed by curing it approximately for a week, while it is exposed to the elements. The hay then has to be raked before you finally bale it.

A round bale yields approximately 30 - 50 CAD, depending on the season. Our grazing season for cows here ranges from around the beginning of May to late October. The rest of the year cattle has to be fed hay and some grain.

My time to stop rambling and whining. A family farm basically exists here because farmers go out and find jobs to keep their land and farm going. I also think that most of them will die with the babyboomer generation. The next generation is not interested in the hardship and do not have the same attachment to the land.

Paschen

at 06:18 on April 17th, 2009

Thank you Gerry, I read your comment and I actually did not try to portray the farmers as victims rather as having given in to pressures and lures to fast when they knew better not to. Then again they are just human as well all and like to believe a good deal when one is offered like by Monsanto. Yet, many did and do resist still about 60% try to remain family farms and keep good management and environmental sound practices. I appreciate the time you took to read this and comment as well as the "R".P.S. I think that albertacowpoke did a rather good job replying to your comment, The numbers are correct as well as the hilt.

sara star

at 05:12 on April 17th, 2009

New bills being drafted in the USA may lead to the demise of organic and backyard farming, some believe will pave the way for Monsantos.

These "food safety" bills in Congress driven by Monsanto, Cargill, ADM, the big meat packers, and giant surveillance companies, will industrialize ALL farms in the US, the ones they do not eliminate outright. The environmental impact will be extreme and the loss to biodiversity incalculable. Similar laws in the EU (with which these bills are meant to "harmonize") have already gotten rid of 60% of Polish farmers. The bills will end organic farming and criminalize seed banking ...

The parts that are dangerous are all buried elsewhere, hidden deep in various agency lists or regulations, but they are triggered by coded words in the bills themselves ("best farming practices," sources of contamination," "tracing"), but stripped of the details, they are made to look innocuous to the public.

Who would believe that seed banking will be criminalized or manure made illegal or that seed cleaning equipment is already illegal this year?

Paschen

at 06:30 on April 17th, 2009

The EU laws do encourage small Farms and Organic Farms though, Poland lost some farm in spite of EU help due to a lack of Small farmer, in the Soviet era there where no Family farm in Poland at all for over 65 years, so they can not have lost them after the Wall came down and they integrated the EU, since they never existed in the first place. It was all government run supper farms and now those have been broken up and put back into Family farms.

The Problem though with Poland today is that they are pro US and Monsanto and really try to steer the EU away from supporting Organic and fighting Monsanto.

sara star

at 05:16 on April 17th, 2009

Monsantos has threatened to sue Germany for banning GM corn seed.

Germany joins five other European countries in banning the planting of genetically modified maize(corn).

Paschen

at 06:23 on April 17th, 2009

Well, I hope they can persist and keep Monsanto at bay.

Thank you Sara for the added info. I appreciate it.

djermano

at 05:33 on April 17th, 2009

I use to work at a company called Agribasics, and VanDiest Chemical Supply in Montana and Iowa. I quit them both, when I found out what they were doing. Atrazine is a very bad chemical they spread everywhere. It is a wonder the people are not poisoned to death...and when they wanted me to burn chemical waste at night, so people could not see the smoke billowing out the stacks...I quit... I refused to work there any longer. Their excuse I can hear him to this day. Ole Walt Sayers a Mormon who was VP of VanDiest....It takes a long time to turn the ship around......I thought of him as a Pirate. Thanks Paschen...

Rev. Jermano

albertacowpoke

at 05:52 on April 17th, 2009

Good for you djermano. There is too much of this hidden stuff going on. Who knows what is really in our ground water and our rivers and lakes.

Paschen

at 06:24 on April 17th, 2009

Good for you djermano, I wish more would have that kind of Civil courage and ethics to live by. Thanks that is really good to hear.

QueensHart

at 16:19 on April 17th, 2009

Thank You Paschen! This is a very good article. I can't wait to show it to my brother.We see the writing on the wall. Of course he has for much longer than me. I came home from the city to take care of my parents and witness as a grown up the business of farming. There is little encouragement to me except for the closeness to the earth, nature and more opportunities for building one's soul than office jobs. The little farm communities barely exist with the redistribution of the elementary and secondary schools to a county big school. It has affected so so much of family living not just for farmers. Little churches have withered and most businesses due to WAL Mart.

I think albertacowpoke is correct. It is dying with the babyboomer generation. Deals made with the devils a long time ago are in stone now. Government and chemical companies.

PIM of SPAIN

at 07:55 on April 17th, 2009

Uwe, receive my sincere compliments for bringing this story to our attention. As an industrialist, I always have been against GM. Indeed I dealt with Monsanto in the past about equipment, so I learnt first hand the developemnet of GM. In the end I stopped talking to them about this subject, because it is like differences in religions and tastes. I know exactly where you are talking about, because I also have been at loggerhead with the EU's common agriculture policy in another way. Even my experience with FAO meets with your complains. I sincerely hope that this financial crisis will make a change in those counterproductive policies. Once politicians become aware that money has to be spend differently they might quit the Farm subsidies and there dictating policies. One way or another it is my believe that this mess will come to an end. And hopefully people are realizing that they need the farmers more than anybody else. Back to basics will be the best step in the right direction. We'll watch and see. Thanks PIM

Amy Judd

at 10:09 on April 17th, 2009

I think it's just awful what has happened to the farming industry. The business of farming just cannot survive the 21st century even though we still need farming and what farmers do to survive. I feel like it's a losing battle here though.

albertacowpoke

at 03:32 on April 18th, 2009

amy, It.s a battle we can.t afford to lose. The problem as I see it, is that a lot of the folks living in cities have no idea where there food comes from. It shows up on supermarket shelves. To the credit of some schools in Alberta, they do take farm tours with their classes to educate kids that their food cannot just be taken for granted. Hopefully some eyes will be opned for the next generation.

Paschen

at 06:28 on April 18th, 2009

We are loosing the battles as well as the war. Farming may not survive the 21 century and food will become a form of gel to be taken every 8 hours or so made by Monsanto and co with all the nutrients we need on daily basis.

All synthetic, sterile and controlled. This way we can even administer the needed drugs with out people even knowing it.

By the year 2111, should we not have blown humanity into extinction by then, people will be disgusted to even imagine that we once where eating Raw fruits grown on a bush or drink milk from a Ewe.

Woman, will no longer give birth either it will all be done by Monsanto and controlled education and genes so we may not have a rebel in there.

By 2150 we will have the perfect bee hive state thanks to Monsanto and co.

PIM of SPAIN

at 03:52 on April 18th, 2009

Alberta is right, it is astounding that parents and kids don't even know the names of vegetables and fruits that are on sale, let alone the way those crops are grown. I recently witnessed a general inquiry under thousands of school going kids, that showed over 80% don't have the slightest idea let alone the interest. Very worrisome and disturbing indeed.

jazzyzazzy

at 06:31 on April 18th, 2009

Farmers have a real bad time with the mad cow disease here in the uk. I find the plight of the farmers worrying. The farmers and their workers are what I call real men who graft so hard in their work. Up at the crack of dawn and long days and nights looking after the animals and plantation. It is so shameful that the goverments do not assist these guys through the bad times.

duo

at 03:36 on April 19th, 2009

All I can say is that having lots of money must be even better than I imagined, because so many folks murder themselves when it is gone! Trust me, the sun still shines when you're broke. Give it a shot -- instead of yourself.

Blessings!

Mary

PIM of SPAIN

at 07:49 on April 19th, 2009

I agree with jazzyzazzy Farmers in Europe on the continent get 22ct/liter for their milk that doesn't cover the cost. In the shops we are charged for the same 67ct/liter. Farmers need at least 44ct/liter milk to make their production sustainable. Despite widespread protests from the farmers, there is no change! Awful.

djermano

at 08:16 on April 19th, 2009

You know there is a way to solve that problem. The farmers get together and setup their own store, in fact they can setup a regional network...where they don't sell to the middle man any more. They sell the milk at their store Just think if they sold it for 50ct per liter..they would be helping themselves and giving the customer a savings and break in the price.

Rev. Jermano

QueensHart

at 10:08 on April 19th, 2009

This is an article that has absolutely NOT ONE COMMENT that is crude, rude or stupid. Think about that!

I am glad the editors pick this for it does deserve staying up a while for there are also so many good links that each by itself could launch into a piece.

It is also a reflection too that more farmers such as your family can prevail that one can hope for justice and fight.

In our area there are no good warriors for our men who work so hard...no political men help who have never had dirt under their fingernails or know anything about agriculture. They are usually lobbied by big Monsanto.

I had a neighbor when I lived in St Louis who was a scientist. (young, with a new family). I listened to his wife bemoan his unhappiness with the hierachy there. After just about a year he came home devastated that he had to fire everyone in his department. Young families just like his who may have just moved to St Louis expecting financial security. He became ill for he was a good hearted man. He found a job with a university immediately and left them after seeing how ruthless the climate was. It is always ultimately about the money and control and maybe something worse we don't want to imagine.

PIM of SPAIN

at 10:01 on April 19th, 2009

Your are right djermano, that already happens here, not for milk, because that is restricted by sanitazion laws, due to sterilization and patrization processes that has to be undertaken under strict conditions and performances, all regulated by the authorities. But for vegetables and fruits there is a widespread initiative for selling farmers produce direct to the consumer and are a great success.

djermano

at 16:20 on April 30th, 2009

You know PIM, when I worked on the farm milking cows, we would dump the milk into strainers into a big stainless steel milk tank. The tank would keep the milk cold. I remember after a morning or afternoon of baling hay...we would all come into the milkhouse and dip in with our cups a big cold glass of milk. Boy was that ever tastey and good. It was not pasteurized yet....we never got sick....... And the process of pasteurization certainly does not cost the amount they would have you believe. You can probably and easily setup your own pasteurization process as well. The middle guys are the greedy people...who use the farmers, and use the public to suck us into their lies and cronyism. I would not give up on this.

I also remember this was before Monsanto got its grip on the Dairy Industry, and before farmers began injecting hormones into the cows.

http://www.tuberose.com/Dairy_Products.html.....

How to Pasteurize Milk:

Heat milk to 161 degrees F for at least 15 seconds, agitating to ensure milk is entirely heated, even the foam must reach 161. Microwaving doesn't work due to uneven heating. Use good food thermometer, and clean kitchen techniques to avoid recontamination after pastuerization.

or see here: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Pasteurize-Milk-at-Home/.....

Rev. Jermano