Friday, September 21, 2012

Romney and Ryan - Nightmare for the Farming Community

This summer was one of the worst harvests for corn and other crops Wisconsin has seen in years. I think I was able to obtain maybe, 2-3 corn cobs that were just barely edible. We suffered days on end in the 90's, high humidity, unbearable conditions. That affects our farms, farmers and the way food grows. And not only does it affect food that grows, it affects livestock too. In bad conditions, cows don't produce quality dairy, chickens and pigs don't have good meat, eggs are bad. It's a mess.

Wisconsin is aptly named America's Dairyland. We're home to cheese and dairy galore! Hell, we have roadside cheese curd stands! That's one of the things that makes us who we are. It's something we are proud of. It's a rich tradition and trade handed down generation to generation. Dairy and farming adds billions to our state economy each year. It's who we are. Our farming community is a family with everyone in the state. They make products we rely on. We treat them with the utmost respect they deserve.

So, I got curious to just what Mitt has to say about America's farmers considering his running mate is from here.

I clicked on over to his campaign website (a dark, disturbing nightmare of lies and treachery that I never want to visit again) to research his positions on America's farmers. I didn't really find much other than a few blah blah paragraphs on how he supports our family farmers (those 47% government leeches!) and the names of all his Farmer and Rancher supporters. I found the fact that the list is rather long, very unsettling. I know that a lot of farmers to tend to fall on the conservative side of the scale, but what I don't understand is how they use farm subsidies, but they support a man whose VP pick wants to do away with them.

Mitt Romney's VP, Paul Ryan (Jerk-WI) wants to cut $5.3 trillion from the deficit over a number of years. This is a particular blow to farming. A lot of farmer's rely on subsidies, mostly on corn, to thrive financially. During the drought this past summer, Paul Ryan was one of congress's biggest obstructionist on giving farmers aid to help ease the loss they took. He's from Wisconsin. You would think he'd know better.  He's willing to hurt the one industry we can't do without, just to hurt President Obama.

One of the biggest things to take a hit in his budget plan, is crop insurance. In a time when the weather is changing and the climate is getting angrier each year, farmers cannot afford to be left in the dark and unsure about their financial future. Our economy and our food supply depends on making sure that farmer's can grow the crops we need, and if the weather doesn't permit them to, then they have the money they need to survive to grow crops the next year. People don't often really wonder where our food comes from. We go to the grocery store and it's just there. However, it had to come from somewhere.

Let's put out some facts and figures. According to the plan, he would start cutting $5 billion dollars per year in direct subsidies. I suppose one could make this easy on Mr. Ryan and explain that cleaning up the environment and the air, investing in clean energy, and help halt the expanding growth of climate change could help keep those subsidies from expanding but hey, he chooses to ignore the truth. Ryan says that his reforms will "...save taxpayers roughly $30 billion over the next decade." So what is he going to do with all that saved money? Well, put it back into the pockets of the wealthy, of course. 

And here, here's another Ryan gem - "...reform the open-ended nature of the government's support for crop insurance so that agricultural producers assume the same kind of responsibility for managing risk that other businesses do." I don't even know what to say to that, it's so ridiculous. Ryan is essentially telling farmers, "If they weather doesn't cooperate, it's your problem. Don't come asking for help, you government mooching, 47%er!


And don't mistake me. I'm not referring to giant agribusiness and factory farming in this whatsoever. As an animal lover, I'm the first one to tell you the errors of factory farms, the pollution they cause, and the cruelty they put on animals. Agribusiness and factory farming are billion dollars a year operations. They should never receive any federal subsidy. Who I am referring to are your neighbors. The farmers who bring in food to the local farmer's markets. The farmers who supply towns with local produce and dairy. The ones who make our local economies thrive. The backbone of our state economy.

I am sending this as a plea to America's farming community. I hope they take another look at the Romney/Ryan ticket. They aren't looking out for their best interests. They aren't looking out for the best interests in the food supply. They aren't looking out for America's best interests period. Vote for the ticket who will support farmers! Obama/Biden 2012 

2 comments:

  1. All you have to do in Wisconsin is contact a state senator for farming needs. One in particular has been able to take many, many subsidies for her family farm.

    This is one senator you should contact for the Wisconsin angle on the issue.

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    1. From Huffington Post:

      "From 1995 through 2009, state Sens. Luther Olsen, Dale Schultz and Sheila Harsdorf all had stakes in farms that received between them more than $300,000 in taxpayer funds."

      Ha! This doesn't surprise me. All for them, none for anyone else.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/08/wisconsin-state-senate-republicans_n_833058.html

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