Journalist Art Cullen: “Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack complained last week of getting batted about, left and right, from one day to the next. …
“When Biden took office, Vilsack lined up all the big players in agribusiness for his “climate-smart” initiative — Cargill, Tyson, ADM, everybody who’s anybody. They issued joint statements with the support of the House and Senate agriculture committee leaders. …”
MY RURAL AMERICA suggests that leading with BIG AG is not a good idea if the people who actually live in rural America are to be respected. Talking urban and science about matters affecting farmland and water is also not a good idea. Why not local? Why not start projects by listening to users?
At the ground level, rural people worry about whether the land holds water as well as it used to, about clean water, and what seems to be changing in the seasons … are they changing? Is 50+ years of chemicals too much? Are farmers paying the price for decades of bad advice from USDA? Does BIG AG’s influence hurt farmers and their rural communities?