Study backs farmer in pollution battle with EPA

[plowking]

We have similiar circumstances in NH. There is concern of storm runoff and treatment plant discharge that is affected by catchbasins. The towns ,citiies and treatment plants in certain zones will have to apply for a stormwater discharge permit. This permit wil have to include a yearly maintence plan for catch basins. The discharge can affect the Great Bay Ectuary and other rivers that end up in the Atlantic Ocean. There is a guide for homeowners online [DES] to make drainage for their driveways to catch runoff from leaving their property. This may be a good thing if not overregulated. plowking

 

[dave1949]

Rant welcome '1949. You make your points well, and with obvious careful consideration behind them.

IMO, there are many things in modern farming (large and small scale) that can stand to be cleaned up, or optimized to use existing resources better. Scrapping (corn) ethanol for fuel, no-till farming, reduced fertilizer/pesticide use, to name but a few topics. It is probably too much to hope for - meaningful Government assistance that helps small farms transition to more efficient/balanced farming practices, instead of just pulling out a big stick to beat them into bankruptcy.

I'll pose yet another rhetorical question - Anybody know someone making big $$$ running a small farm ? (P.S. - talking legal crops here !).

Part of my knee-jerk personal reaction to seeing a small Ag operation targeted for fines like this is the knowledge that most small operations make little or no money. USA corn-lobby aside, much of Can/USA government policy is urban-centric, so to see the the little bit of government attention being directed to small farms highlighted this way does nothing to diminish the negative opinions of govt that '1949 detailed.

I've lived long enough to see that many forms of government "protection" tend to eradicate local domestic industries in the long term. Most of us on TBN have been around long enough to watch virtually all forms of manufacturing move outside of Can/USA. Wages are only one component of that migration. With no form of import tariffs, this slide becomes inevitable once it is initiated.

Already, we have way too many products showing up in our grocery stores here, coming from China. I'm mostly not joking when I say to my better-half "I'll eat leaves off the trees in our yard, before I'll knowingly eat food from China".

My personal fear is that more of this EPA style harassment is only going to accelerate the decline of small farms here. The 1% here can always afford the most expensive locally sourced boutique foods, if they choose so. For the rest of us peasants, losing more of the small farms means even more corporate domination of the food chain (look up XL Foods for a great example of that nightmare), and greater dependence on toxic imports.

As stated, I like clean air and water, and agree that there are many things that do need improvement in the N. American Ag business. That said, I'm willing to trade off a bit of local pollution, against the unknowns of Chinese food imports. I don't say that lightly, as I'm 10 minutes from one of the major vegetable growing areas in Canada.

I usually side with the devil I know, vs. the one I don't.

OK, my rant off, for now .

Rgds, D.

Good points Dave.

I think a lot of this goes back to globalization. We basically are forced to compete with places where the wages, standard of living and regulatory environment are very different than our own. The Wall St. Wizards and economists tell us how good this is for the global economy, yada, yada. What they don't mention is that many are not sharing in those benefits. It's Treacle Down economics all over again, just happening on a global scale now.

As the incomes of the lower 85% stagnate and the upper 1% skyrocket, the push goes towards blaming our work ethic, our environmental protections, unions, business unfriendly climate, and so forth. I am sure those are all impediments to maximum earnings for a few, but I have no desire to live in a toxic stew like the people in China do, for the sake of increasing the wealth of a few.

We do need to empower local everything, including agriculture. It's the only way to fight back against global corporatism, by removing our dependency on them. I think the pattern is pretty clear. In the US the cities, counties and states are played off one against the other for favorable tax treatment, give-aways, fast-tracked and low-barrier permitting procedures, low wages, etc. Now the same thing is happening with entire countries. I may be missing something, but I don't see any eventual benefit from all that for a large majority of the world's population.

Corporate power is out of control. Imagine, as with the case of requiring the labeling of GMO foods, states--which play an important role in our government structure--are afraid of being sued by Monsanto, a corporation. Just the thought of that is pretty danged scary to me. It ought to be a wake-up call.

 

[3930dave]

I agree with your points '1949, sometimes from a slightly different angle though.

Monsanto ascended to Evil Empire (sorry George) status a while ago, IMO. After reading some of the recent book written by the founder of Whole Earth News (name escapes me, at the moment), I may be shifting my thinking on GMO a bit. Of all of them, biology is my weakest science, so I definitely have more homework to do. His main point about GMO techniques that struck me as significant is that they are way more precise (rifle shot vs. shotgun) than traditional hybridization/cross-breeding techniques that are considered "natural" in comparison - something to think about, and research......

What I'm talking about is the technical aspects of new techniques, separate from the corporate mal-intentions and collateral damage you listed.

As has been discussed on here before, Dwight D's comments concerning beware "the Military-Industrial complex" more than likely was a warning from a very bright man concerning Corporate influence and dominance in general, long before most people understood modern corporate structure.

I'm hoping the younger "No Logo" generation continue to hold corporations publicly accountable, as it is a step in the right direction.

Rgds, D.