During the February 8 meeting of MLT, two new directors were elected: Judy Kobza and Werner Krieglstein. Judy is the mother of two small boys, a teacher of science at Southwestern University, and gardener of Judy and Bill's six-acre farm.
Werner was brought up in a small town in rural Germany where he was active in theatre at the age of five. His first director was a small-scale farmer who brought the village young people together because he loved theatre. After leaving his country environment, Werner studied in Germany and the University of Chicago, where he met his wife, Maryann. After travelling in Europe and Africa, and teaching at the University of Helsinki, Finland, they now live in Lawrence on a 40 acre farm. Werner is presently teaching at Western Michigan University and at Nazareth College. With four boys, Werner thinks it would be worthwhile to open his own school!
Mike Wybo, a "graduate" of the School of Homesteading, who is now working on a master's degree in Community Development at Michigan State University, attended the February meeting with a proposal for MLT. As Mike stated it, "... the proposed project aids to increase the options available to small farmers (in the Bangor area) through the identification of several alternative marketing schemes and/or the development of related industries." Some of MLT's goals as established in the by-laws are: (1) to perform an educational function, and (2) to promote small farms and the access to land. Under these directives a committee of MLT members, chaired by Norm Bober, was appointed to assist Mike in organizing the project.
Royce Downey, Bangor's city manager, presented a plan to the MLT membership for a garden project. The plan envisions garden plots located on farm land circling Bangor. This would be available for Bangor residents who wished to raise their own vegetables and supplement their dwindling economic resources. During 1981 two garden plots would be located on the north and south edges of Bangor. Instruction would be provided by local MLT members and city gardeners. MLT agreed to support the project.
The next MLT meeting will be March 15 at the Land Trust Homesteading Farm. A potluck dinner will be held at one o'clock, followed by a business meeting at two o'clock. Any MLT member and prospective member is welcome.
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Recently, we have received information from a non-profit organization called "Sativa". From their brochure: "Sativa ... arranges temporary work on organic farms in the midwest ... "workers" donate their labor to one of these "growers" who ... provides the workers with meats, a place to sleep". Anyone desiring further information can write Sativa, P.O. Box 2410, Station A, Champaign, Illinois 61820, and include a stamped self-addressed envelope.
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Governor William G. Milliken has appointed a task force on small and rural communities "... to identify the major problems facing small towns and rural areas and to recommend state actions to counter those problems." A public forum will be held in Paw Paw, Michigan on March 5. Ken Dahlberg volunteered to present a statement in behalf of MLT.
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The next issue of the MLT Newsletter will be by and about rural women. You will receive it in June.
Second American Revolution
In older revolutions,
the intellectuals went to the People
to rally them against the status quo;
but in our Second Revolution,
intellectuals are returning to the land,
are learning how to be the People,
are learning how to have a land
to have a revolution in.
- Paul Gilk
THE FAMILY FARM DEVELOPMENT ACT (A PROPOSED BILL)
Versions of the Family Farm Development Act have been introduced in Congress since 1978, and it wi11 be introduced again in 1981. Several provisions of this proposed bi11 will be of interest to MLT Trustees, particularly in light of the new Reagan Administration. The overall strategy of the sponsors is to include a wide range of goals and programs in the bill and to keep it before Congress, hoping that some parts of it can be passed each session.
The bill seeks to change federal and state priorities in favor of the small family farmer, toward better soil conservation programs, more ecologically based farming, and to help young farmers get established.
Title I would modify the crop price support system to provide higher support for some crops of particular interest to small farmers. It would provide a cut off point beyond which these increased supports would not be paid. Also, it links receipt of price support monies (and participation in other USDA programs) to adherence to good soil management practices developed by the farmer and local soil conservation officials. These would have to meet new levels of minimum acceptable soil loss which would be set by USDA according to soil type and climate.
Title II would amend the IRS code to eliminate the current tax advantages that absentee farm owners and hobby farmers gain through loss write-offs and capital gains exemptions. This would discourage high income investors and corporations from seeking farm ownership.
Title III is of particular interest to MLT. It would provide for $200,000,000 each year in grants to counties, local governments, and nonprofit corporations to purchase land suitable for farming which would then be made available to new and young farmers under favorable terms. The basic idea is to increase land available to new farmers. Title IV provides for a new loan program to help new farmers get started.
Title V seeks to strengthen marketing systems for small farmers through increased assistance, establishment of direct farmer to consumer markets, and encouragement of marketing cooperatives.
Titles VI and VII seek to change USDA policies by setting up a Family Farm Development Service within USDA. It would be charged with carrying out the Act and with developing a research program within USDA that would examine trends in farm size and ownership, the energy efficiency of alternative farming methods, better soil conservation practices, the importance of humus and organic farming techniques, and the costs and benefits of more ecological approaches to agriculture. The recent study of organic farming done by USDA can be seen as a kind of prelude to this sort of research.
Title VIII is very close to many MLT goals. It is titled "Education, Training, and Demonstration Programs". It would set up in each state a series of coordinated small farm extension programs. These could be run not only by the land grant colleges, but by private organizations, groups, and individuals. Similarly, demonstration and training centers would be set up in each state for small and moderate-sized family farmers. In addition, demonstration programs could be carried out on individual farms. "State instruction agents" to instruct small farmers in the installation and operation of appropriate technologies are to be trained and sent into the field. Similarly, a program to assist small farmers in biological and integrated pest management is to be developed. Finally, a program to encourage an apprenticeship system by and for small farmers is to be set up.
Sections IX and X deal with unfair trade practices and price gouging by large corporations. It would set up a Food Price Review Board among other measures. These last two sections clearly will have no chance of passage under the new Reagan administration. What about the others?
Generally, it would appear that there will be a push for higher prices and supports for farmers. However, it is less likely that the new administration will support cut-offs (which would reduce subsidies to the big farmers that Secretary Block favors). Attempts to link strict soil conservation measures to USDA subsidies will be seen as "unnecessary regulation". There might be some chance to reduce the tax benefits to large investors, but it is more likely that the unique needs and situation of agriculture will be lost to general pressure to reduce taxes. Also, it will be hard to get USDA to change its research priorities.
In short, there is not too much to be optimistic about at the national level. The conclusion must be that: (1) groups concerned about rural revitalization must work over the next four years to help build a constituency for an administration that will be more sympathetic to the goals of the Family Farm Act; (2) that for now it may be more effective to try to work at the state level to encourage some of the marketing and extension service goals in the Act; and (3) that groups such as MLT are vital in developing and demonstrating the local program in land preservation, access, training, and demonstration that the Act calls for. We should make a virtue of necessity and recognize that rural revitalization must be first and foremost a grassroots effort.
- Kenneth Dahlberg
REVIEW OF NEW ROOTS FOR AGRICULTURE
During the last few years some excellent books on organic farming and sustainable agriculture have been published -- Wendell Berry's The Unsettling of America in 1977, Robert Oelhaf's Organic Agriculture in 1978, David and Marcia Pimental 's Food, Energy and Society * in 1979, and now Wes Jackson's New Roots for Agriculture in 1980, published by Friends of the Earth, 124 Spear Street, San Francisco, California 95104. (155 pages, $4.95).
Wes Jackson, with a Ph.D. in Botany, founded The Land Institute in 1976 on farm land near Salina, Kansas, as a small private school for 8 to 10 students. The focus of the school is on research in sustainable agriculture. The main theme in New Roots for Agriculture is soil conservation. Unlike other books which call attention to problems in agriculture, this one focuses on the problem of agriculture as a production system based on regular tillage. Even organic farmers are in that system and part of that problem. Wes Jackson reminds us that estimates of soil loss from erosion range from 9 to 16 tons per acre per year on row-cropped land. At 150 tons of topsoil per acre-inch we could be losing as much as an inch every 10 years. Measure the depth of your topsoil and think about it!
In this context, the chapter on raising corn for alcohol fuel helps us recognize the folly of that enterprise. If the price of corn rises in response to demand of it for fuel, and more marginal and sloping acres are put into production, soil erosion would be greatly accelerated. Jackson argues that we must team to regard the farm as a hearth rather than as a food (or fuel) factory. He concludes with a well-reasoned vision of a sustainable agriculture based on seed producing perennial sod crops. Since few such crops are now commercially acceptable, Wes Jackson's book leaves us with a challenge to botanical research.
- Maynard Kaufman
* From which we learn interesting details such as: a gallon of gasoline, when burned in an internal combusion engine at 20% efficiency of conversion of heat to mechanical energy, produces almost 9.7 horsepower hours of work which is equivalent to a man working 97 hours. In other words, a gallon of gasoline does as much work as a man working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 21 weeks!
MEANWHILE, DOWN ON OUR FARM...
It's February (it's downhill from now on) and time to think about doing some pre-spring activities. There are vegetable seeds to be started, fruit trees to order, a barn to clean, and in the shop cobwebs to remove. Hopefully in this process, the winter cobwebs in my own head will disappear in anticipation of the coming spring.
It looks good for the homesteading program. A couple magazines listed our program and we have received quite a few responses. Pass the word on.
Some goings-on at the Homesteading Farm:
The end of last summer we started building a 24 X 40 foot pole barn with hay mow. Work went pretty well in the fall between other activities and we have yet to put on the windows, doors, girts, and sheathing. A concrete floor will also be put in. The total cost of materials is expected to be about $700 as we're using lumber taken out of the woods and from a partially built house that was on the property. When finished the barn will house cattle and swine with hay and some equipment storage.
This winter I set up a water heater utilizing the wood stove that heats the house. Water is heated in the firebox and rises to the tank upstairs by a thermosyphoning effect. A solar panel will be installed on the roof to heat water in the same tank during warmer months.
Coming up:
This summer the two-acre garden will yield bountifully, the corn will be ten feet high and weed free, the small fruits garden will be all planted, and the woods all cleaned up. Maybe the farm will break even. Oh, well....
Jonathan Towne, Farm Manager
The Whole Art Institute
The Whole Art Institute as an educational branch of the Whole Art Theatre will open for its first session in May. Two courses will be taught in wholistic philosophy and experimental acting. Both courses can be taken for college credit in a series of workshops. Students will be introduced to the ideas of organic agriculture, healthy food preparation, and natural living. Students will also be involved in a studio production of their own work. For further information contact:
Werner Krieglstein
Generation Gap
When old people are afraid
and have lost their way,
the younq become revolutionaries.
When old people stand by
their liberties, and the liberties
of their children, then
the revolution is already won.
- Paul Gilk