Is the Independent U.S. Family Farm About to Be History?

Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes President Back in July of 1999, journalist Bill Bishop wrote a piece in the Lexington Herald Leader, entitled; “Corporate Interests plow deep”. In the article he said; “In the new agriculture, all farmers will work for “the man”. They’ll raise his chickens, turkeys, cattle, corn, tobacco, wheat and hogs. Farmers won’t farm; they’ll fulfill contracts. They will be hog-house janitors for Smithfield and plow jockeys for Cargill and ConAgra. ………. These companies don’t own the farm; Read More …

Forget Oil, Worry About Phosphorus

“The following was authored by C. Robert Taylor, Alfa Eminent Scholar and Professor of Agricultural Economics at Auburn University and OCM Senior Economic Fellow and published in the Daily Yonder.” (all charts, graphs and illustrations can be found in the Newsletter archives, October 2010 edition) The world’s agriculture depends on a mineral that is declining in production and is controlled by a cartel of companies. Troubling, ain’t it? Modern farming methods depend increasingly on fossil fuels and major Read More …