Friday, July 25, 2008
Click on the links to see NFU President Tom Buis discussing the perceived rice shortage on FOX News this morning and the FOX Business Channel yesterday and again today.
Buis said he does not believe we are headed to a food crisis. His TV appearances came on the heels of comments he made to the CFTC on Tuesday.
Lila Watkins lives in Claremore, Okla., with her husband Ralph, and the couple has been happily married for 58 years. Both Lila and Ralph are lifetime members of Oklahoma Farmers Union. Lila has been very involved, but not in a typical way. She has attended local and state meetings, as well as a few national conventions, but Lila has also been the All-States Leadership Camp nurse for twenty years.
“To watch and follow the development of our young people throughout the country has been a great joy for me,” Lila said. “I am so grateful to be part of this organization and to be able to help our youth learn about Farmers Union.”
Nearly everyone has wondered at least once why in the world we change our clocks twice a year to adjust for “daylight” hours. Most people will attribute it to farmers, who presumably need the extra sunlight for planting and harvesting crops. Others still will attempt to use an ancient tale of those living in nearly constant darkness to explain this strange necessity.
My intuition tells me neither is true.
Whatever the explanation may be, ABC’s 20/20 attempts to uncover the secrets behind the bi-annual tradition and debunk the myth that modern-day farmers actually need the extra daylight hours to feed and fuel America.
Watch the show, “Your Weather: Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity,” on Friday, April 18 at 10:00 p.m ET. ABC also ran a story, “What (or Who) Is Daylight-Saving Time Saving? Myths and Truths About Why We Change the Clocks,” yesterday about the time-change mystery.
When asked what activities and organizations she was involved with, Marge Kilkelly replied, “Oh, where to begin…”
In addition to New England Farmers Union, Marge rattled off several organizations including Knox Lincoln Soil Water Conservation District, Maine Farm Bureau, American Meat Goat Association, Empire State Meat Goat Association and Main Regulatory Fairness Board.
A Masters Degree in Community Economic Development is also under Marge’s belt. She uses her knowledge and skills off the farm for the Council of State Governments Eastern Region on agriculture and rural policy.
“Rural economic development should honor and celebrate the skills of rural people, not try to change them,” Marge said. “I have tried my best to stay true to that theory in my work.”
Marge also served in the Maine legislature, where she helped create The Northeast States Association for Ag Stewardship. After her term finished, she continued on the project as a staff person. Marge has also developed a free weekly e-newsletter, NSAAS News Gleanings, which covers news and issues from around the region. Click here to sign up!
“I am blessed to be able to work from my farm on regional ag policy and then walk out in the barn and live ag policy,” Marge said. “I think it helps keep me very pragmatic about the impact of public policy on the ability of farmers to earn a living.”
This afternoon, NFU President Tom Buis attended “The Rural Development Title of the Farm Bill: Why it is Vital to Rural America,” a briefing sponsored by the National Grange Foundation. Presenters at the event addressed specific rural development issues including access to high speed internet, renewable energy development and library facilities in rural areas.
Title VI of the farm bill addresses rural development, and this briefing aimed to highlight the importance of funding programs in rural America. Access to high speed internet is vital for rural economic development; studies have shown that state-of-the-art communications, coupled with transportation, education and library services, is absolutely essential in stimulating economic development in rural America.
Buis also highlighted the importance of providing incentives and opportunities for growth in the renewable energy sector in rural America. Locally-owned projects generate 2.6 times more jobs and 3.1 times more rural economic benefit than those with outside ownership.
“Rural areas will see much more economic activity from locally-owned projects than they will from corporate-owned projects,” Buis said. “Local investors will re-invest in the community where the project is based. Big companies will filter out their profits to other areas.”
Andrew Vetter grew up on a small family farm outside Linton, N.D., and eventually inherited the land from his parents without much contest when his three other brothers decided to leave farming. Andrew has been keeping the Vetter family tradition going strong for nine years, after his parents retired from the business.
Kristen became involved in farming when, well, she married a farmer. She has completely embraced farming as if she were born and raised on a farm, and works right alongside Andrew five days a week. The other two days, Kristen works off the farm for North Dakota State University Extension Service which aims to educate North Dakotans, emphasizing strengthening agriculture and developing the potential of youth, adults and communities.
The Vetters’ farm raises cattle, has a cattle feedlot and runs a small grains operation. The couple also used to own and operate a pumpkin patch and a corn maze for six years.
By Tom Buis, National Farmers Union President
The following letter was to the editor of TIME magazine in response to the magazine’s April 7 cover story, The Clean Energy Scam.
The Clean Energy Scam must be what Dwight Eisenhower was talking about when he said, “farming is mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the nearest corn field.”
It’s easy for those far away from the heartland to point fingers; yet rural Americans are the ones finding the solutions we need to decrease our dependence on oil.
Land conversion in developing countries, as explained in the article, has been occurring for decades. In fact, the Science article quoted by author Michael Grunwald uses land conversion data from the 1990s, long before the expansion of the ethanol industry and when commodity prices were at record lows.
