When Is a Farmer a Farmer--II

Dan Owens of the Center for Rural Affairs commented on the previous post with this title. He pointed out the Dorgan-Grassley bill which changes payment limitation provisions to require 1000 hours of labor. The comment triggered a sad chain of events:

1. First I remembered the tobacco legislation in the 1980's. The papers had found Sen. Helms (or his wife) had tobacco allotments which they were leasing out (something like that). And of course there was controversy over the government supporting tobacco, particularly when the Surgeon General was so against it. So the law was changed--first to the "no net cost" provision (allowing the tobacco people to claim the program didn't cost the government; second to require Sen. Helms to sell his allotments by requiring him to be actively engaged in tobacco farming. So I thought: all I have to do is go back and find the rules. Well, it took a while but it seems about all they did was to require the farmer to share in the risk of production of the tobacco. That's a let-down, because, at least in theory, that's always been part of the definition of a "farmer" for the wheat, feed grain, cotton, and rice programs. (Perhaps less so since 1996, because you no longer have to grow the crop to get direct payments.)
2. Second I looked up the bill Owens [update--corrected] had mentioned. In the good old days, when I was on top of my game, I could assimilate such a bill quickly, find the problematic areas where decisions were needed, and identify the software to support implementation. But those days are gone. I've no idea whether, as the good Senators claim in this piece, lawyers would be put out of business or not. I tend to doubt it, but who knows. And do I care? Not as much as I used to. That's probably a measure of how much closer to the grave I am now than 20 years ago. (As I say, a sad chain.)
   

I do wish they had thrown in a "circuit breaker". What happened in the 1986 farm bill was that everyone was required to file a farm plan. That overwhelmed the county offices with paper, generally p***ed off the farmers, and did no good for anyone. Implementing Dorgan/Grassley would at a minimum require new language in the existing (CCC-502?) forms for farmers to certify. Giving the Secretary discretion to phase in the new forms would greatly help the county offices. I.e., require them for any changes of operation, plus the producers on the largest farms in the county (top 10 percent) or something similar.

On Not Closing FSA Offices (How Congress Works)

FSA decided not to close 5 county offices in NY (including my birth county). Strange--while I've noted that other States have modified their plans, I think this is the biggest reversal I've seen.

(Of course, the article has this note: [Congressman] "Hinchey, who is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, has been fighting the FSA's proposal to close offices in New York, as well as across the country, since the agency provides critical services to local farmers and offers personalized attention and advice on an array of federal agricultural programs.") "

How The Melting Pot Works

The Post had an interesting article on the cultural problems between Korean-American business owners and managers and Hispanic employees. What struck me though was the idea that often the "melting pot" is not native-born citizens and immigrants, it's among immigrants of different origins. And even though each may learn a bit of the other's language, the practicalities say that they'll both end up with English as common language.

Remember Saipan?

One of the WWII battles, but now the site of an FSA meeting, according to this piece.

The legacies of history.

Organic Farming, Some Realities

Via John Phipps, a Cornell professor's observations on some practicalities of going purely organic in Bangladesh. (A quick summary--organic nitrogen isn't available in big enough quantities and in a form that can be moved without animal/machine transport. Green manure crops compete with existing food crops.) He doesn't describe the existing mechanisms for producing and distributing nonorganic nitrogen (apparently the main nutrient needed).

When Is a Farmer a Farmer?

When he's a Fairfax trial lawyer earning $500 an hour and a candidate for county supervisor?

The Post reported yesterday Gary Baise collected $300,000 in program payments 1995-2005:

"Baise's farm, where he grew up, is operated by John Werries, whose brother Larry was a high school friend of Baise's and former Illinois director of agriculture. Baise said he makes all decisions on planting, marketing and sales, and visits five to 10 times a year. The acreage is evenly divided between corn and soybeans."

I wonder what it would do if payments were restricted to those living on the farm? (Baise says he doesn't like the program. He can't be fairly criticized for taking advantage of it. )

Immigration Linkage?

This Post article describes a linkage between immigration and housing--actually two linkages: immigration swelled as more jobs working in construction became available. As immigration swelled, more immigrants entered the market to buy houses, sometimes financing the high costs by renting rooms to construction workers. Now the housing bubble has popped, anti-immigration seems the predominant mood, and local housing prices are going to pot.

From what I see around, I can't disagree. (The Post also had an article yesterday describing a shortage of cooks for new restaurants--$20K doesn't cut it for a line cook. And Wednesday my local Safeway Starbucks was closed--no workers. That is going too far.)

Prediction--This Blog Will Fold

The government has a new blog. I've been meaning to post on the redundancies in government outreach but I'm rushed today so I'll just record my prediction that the blog won't catch on--doesn't provide "added value" in the old consultant's catch-phrase. The information the posters are providing is available by Google, the personalities are rather opaque (I know, mine is opaque too, but these are active duty government bureaucrats).

"Legacy of Ashes"

Reading this history of the CIA--it's readable and seems authoritative, although rarely praising the CIA. It also doesn't put Presidents in a good light--so far Ike, Bedell Smith, and John McCone, come off the best (I'm up to Nixon).

Us Millionaires Are Too Damn Rich

From the Wall Street Journals blog, a report of a report on worldwide wealth:

Millionaire households (those with $1 million or more in assets under management) represented 0.7% of the world’s total and owned $33.2 trillion — or about a third of the world’s total.

I shouldn't claim to be a millionaire by this definition (though if you include the value of the house...). But it's obscene for less than 1 percent of the population to own a third of the wealth. (Remember this post when I appear to be moving rightward.)