The practice of "dumping" by the United States which, in simple terms, means selling agriculture commodities on international markets at prices below the cost of production, is putting farmers in America out of business and is hurting farmers in other countries as well. Dumping is a policy by agribusiness and governmental bureaucrats to drive down the price of commodities so as to open new markets in foreign countries. Small family farmers don't get a lot of governmental help to stay in business, the ones you see selling at your local farmer's market or at roadside stands. On the contrary, local county and city officials enforce regulations so severe that farmers can't afford to comply. The results are that our small rural farmers are forced to quit the work they love, sell their farms to developers, and move on.
It is no secret that multinational agribusiness companies have their hand in the government subsidy trough; they are able to make huge profits while our small farms languish and die. Those huge farms in the United States have freedoms that small farmers simply do not have and, if the going gets tough, they are able to move to other countries for cheaper labor and fewer restrictions. Cheaper production costs and higher profits for agribusiness giants can be the result of a simple move to Brazil, China or a number of other foreign countries.
It is with sincere gratitude to T. W. Smestead that this article is being written. I feel that a challenge was placed before the readers of COUNTRYSIDE to brainstorm some solutions to the "Food security as part of our national defense" situation as described in the Jan/Feb. 2004 issue. Basically, what I heard was that the article described the problem but nothing was suggested to fix it. At the end of the article a few things were suggested such as relaxing rules, regulate and inspect home kitchens, allow private testing, and basically, help farmers to survive in a changing world. How can we make these things happen?
Before I go into that, let me explain some of the problems that exist in the state of Washington because they may not exist elsewhere in the country; our ideas may not work everywhere. The first thing to consider is that I live on an island, which has, in the past, been the home of mainly farmers and fishermen. Their way of life is dying and the island is turning into a mecca for the rich and famous with tourism turning into the major industry. The few farmers left on the island are fighting for their lives and there doesn't seem to be much to stop their exodus.
A recent event became the impetus for the food security article referred to by T. W. Smestead in the July/Aug. 2004 issue "Joining the ranks of small property owners", page 115). A ferry landing was put out of service when a ferry accident hit it causing huge delays by grocery trucks that deliver dairy, meat, vegetables, the kids' breakfast cereal and all the other commodities necessary for island living. Did anyone starve? Of course no one went hungry but there might have been a riot if the beer trucks sat on the mainland much longer. Fortunately there was enough stock in the local island stores and watering holes to last. Although speedy repairs staved off starvation, it emphasized the notion that people are at terrible risk from major disasters.
For a closer look at how regulations are putting our local farmers of out business, I want to cite a case about our local goat cheese maker. With only eight goats that she calls by name she is kept busy with her daily milking. She is a woman of great integrity who has made and sold her cheese for almost a decade, but because she does not have a $10,000 stainless steel stand stanchions for her goats to stand on while they are milked, she can no longer sell her magnificent cheese which routinely passed all laboratory test parameters; tests that she had done at her own expense. Yet, brought over from the mainland and placed on the shelves of the local grocery store for wealthy patrons is imported cheese from France, cheese that local regulators haven't a clue as to what kind of milking stands the French goats stand on. You might tell the goat cheese maker to get with the program and get a small business loan. She already did that to purchase elaborate milking and cheese making equipment to comply with regulations, a loan she may never be able to pay off because she is out of business. The Health Department says she has to do more but now she can't afford to. They say she is stubborn and just doesn't want to comply but she rents the farm she is living on. She can't afford to buy a farm nor invest large sums in a rented farm. The public can personally check out her facilities, the white glove inspection that they'd never travel all the way to France to do, but it would do no good. Her goats stand on pristine, freshly painted and sanitized wooden stands while they are being milked, instead of stainless steel. What a pity if she has to leave this island because she can't make a living.
Or take another farmer and his family. He raises a wide variety of lettuce on his small well-managed farm, trying to make a decent living. He has no trouble selling a head of lettuce at the local farmer's market, but the restaurants around town that cater to the tourists like his mixed greens better, for ease of salad preparation. As soon as he mixed his lettuce he was out of business. It did no good to label his packages with the cautionary statement "wash before using" which the local chefs were more than willing to do. It didn't matter that the lettuce was fresher and that the farmer used few, if any, pesticides in his operation. It didn't matter if he washed off the produce himself before putting the label on. He lost his most lucrative customers and the wealthy patrons are now fed lettuce that is less than fresh shipped on the ferry from the mainland.
This is a good one. Local island farmer makes USDA inspected sausage and he flavors it with his locally grown herbs. It was so good that his sausage established a grand reputation that gained mainland attention until the local health inspector told him that he couldn't use the herbs out of his own garden to flavor the sausage. Instead, he had to buy herbs from a California herb farm, which wholesaled in $600 packages. Mind you, the local farmer's annual run of sausage gained him only $400, so buying the California herbs would lose money.
This is only the tip of the iceberg, and we aren't talking iceberg lettuce here; we're talking about the iceberg that took down the Titanic! Can we staunch the holes in our leaking vessel? The answer remains to be seen. U.S. farmers are sinking fast. Information was just received regarding a local island sheep farmer who can no longer run enough sheep to feed his family because grazing land is being gobbled up by developers. He has indicated that he might have to sell and move.
Another dedicated farmer is working hard with his pasture-raised chickens. He uses certified organic feed and has been successfully butchering these chickens in a USDA certified processing facility on his property. For five years his chickens have been sold and enjoyed by islanders. Even though he is allowed to sell his chickens with no encumbrances placed by the health department, he is not allowed to butcher chickens raised on any other farm. In other words, he cannot provide a cooperative use of his expensive processing facility and the other chicken farmers are unable to afford their own separate facility. These are a few of the arcane rules that make no sense. Furthermore, the local health department wants the farmer to get a license and pay for inspections when neither are necessary in the state of Washington when there are less than a thousand birds. We are talking about very small farms.
If that doesn't touch a nerve, try this. A farmer was actually arrested for selling his daffodils on public property when there is an RCW (Revised Code of Washington) that clearly states:
"It shall be lawful for any farmer, gardener, or other person, without a license, to sell, deliver, or peddle fruits, vegetables, berries, eggs, or any farm produce or edibles raised, gathered, produced, or manufactured by such a person and no city or town shall pass or enforce any ordinance prohibiting the sale by or requiring license from producers and manufacturers of farm produce and edibles as defined in this section."
There are some exceptions but this certainly covers the daffodil farmer who was arrested. The police and judge ignored the RCW. I believe the farmer is still fighting this in court and in the meantime he has lost the money his daffodils would have brought because they wilted away just like our farmers are going to do if something isn't done to correct the situation.
The irony of all this is that the developers and Realtors are quick to point out to potential buyers the pristine beauty of our farm lands and pastures. People want to move to the island because they love the rural countryside, the sheep, goats and llamas out grazing in pastures; trees, birds and deer. As farmers leave, will these new people continue to love the islandwhen it is built up with nothing but condos and big expensive homes? How will it be if a national disaster upsets ferry service, cruise or cargo ships and airplanes? Millions of dollars go into national defense and not much is going into food security. In reality it wouldn't take a lot of money to fix the problem if the food regulations were modified to help farmers and ranchers instead of putting up barriers. Value-added is an important issue and for most small farms it is a necessity if they want to make a living. Being able to butcher and sell chickens, mixing lettuce for restaurant sales, making jams and jellies from farm grown fruit, etc., is where they can make enough money to live on and stay with farming. Selling their products with as low an overhead as possible is a necessity. Home kitchens should come back so that a farm doesn't have to spend thousands of dollars for a separate kitchen lined with stainless steel. Home kitchens can be as easily inspected as one sitting alongside of and separated from the house. So here goes, with some thoughts on solutions:
It didn't take a whole lot of digging in the RCW before I found chapter 24.28 on Granges. If it is in the RCW, it is Washington law.
24.28.10: Any grange of the patrons of husbandry desiring hereafter to incorporate may incorporate and become bodies politic in this state.
28.28.020: Said grange may engage in any industrial pursuit, manufacturing, mining, milling, warfing, docking, commercial, mechanical, mercantile, building, farming, equipping, running railroads, or generally engage in any species of trade or industry...
Alayne Sundberg vsits one of her goats on San Juan Island. A profitable home-based goat cheese business has been shut down by regulations that islanders believe are burdensome for small enterprises such as hers. |
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There is more written in the RCW about Granges, but the idea was planted in my mind to go further. In my research I found that the Washington State Grange has many Granges throughout the state and about a 60-70,000 membership. They have their own newspaper, a Legislative Director who lobbies in Olympia, and an impressive office building across from the state capitol building. The National Grange in Washington D.C. boasts a similar structure, which is also located close to our country's capitol.
Some solutions that are the most apparent include talking about the problems, writing articles, cite examples of poor regulations made by people who may never have stepped on a farm. We need to gather all small farmers together to work on common goals and have a power base to change damaging regulations. Old Grange Halls in many communities have deteriorated, or, like ours, has simply turned into a local meeting place for everything from real estates seminars, theater groups, craft or rummage sales venues, and the inevitable potluck dinner once in a while. There is nothing there for farmers in this scenario. That is changing in our small community.
When it became apparent that farmers were having a difficult time, the idea of looking at the Grange and its potential to lobby in our state capitol became a focus. Many resolutions were written and passed at our local Grange. From there they went to communities at the Washington State Grange Convention in Pullman, WA where one of the finest agricultural colleges is located. Our Grange wrote seven resolutions; they all passed the nearly 300 delegates at that convention. From there they will be sent via our Legislative Director to the politicians in Olympia where they, hopefully, will write bills and pass them. The discovery that Granges have a focus, excellent reputation, strength and political acumen to change history, quite literally, was easily recognized through reading about its history. Witness the establishment of rural route delivery, cooperatives, upsetting the stranglehold of the railroad barons, bringing in rural electricity and many other battles of survival for rural people. Some of the resolutions our Grange wrote included, "Small Farms, a Homeland Security Issue," "Independent Testing of Food Products," "Uphold the Revised code of Washington's RCW 36.71091" which allows farmers to sell their products without a vendor's license on public property; all of these went through the State Grange Agriculture Standing committee. "Residential Kitchens," a resolution that would allow for licensing a kitchen in a residence, passed the Health, Health Care and Safety Committee and was adopted by delegates.
If we can make our leaders in Washington State see that the Health Department Regulations are completely unrealistic and unfair, we will have done a great service for our small farms, and hopefully, they will stay on our island. If they all pack up and leave, we will be lost if we have a huge national disaster. Interestingly enough is the fact that all the encumbrances placed on farmers does not save us completely, because there are still outbreaks of e-coli, Mad Cow Disease, avian flu, SARS, and other illnesses.
I'll take my food from my small local farmer, someone I know, who lives and farms close to my home. I can witness my farmer neighbor at work and know how he manages his vegetables, fruits and animals whereas I will never be able to view the produce or animals raised in foreign countries that may or may not be regulated. How can I really know?
