Farmers take Hall out to the barn

Local farmers seek action on climate change, fair trade, and guest worker program, By Edie Johnson Pine Island — Local farmers took time from their busy planting schedule recently to meet with U.S. Rep. John Hall to learn about the Farm Bill just passed by Congress. Just like in the old days, farmers gathered at the Pine Island Firehouse to hear the news. Leaning on their Silverados and refurbished Firebirds, they bantered about the issues while waiting for Hall’s arrival. But upstairs in the firehouse meeting room, decorated with many flags and colorful badges of honor, the talk was anything but old-fashioned. Today’s savvy farmers, who could pass for biochemists or legislators themselves, wanted to know what was being done on their behalf down in the Capital. They want a realistic guest worker program — 75 percent of their workers are migrant laborers. They want to pressure Detroit to develop biofuels for farm machinery. They want better crop insurance programs, and a leveled playing field, so that NAFTA regulations stop giving excessive trucking and fuel subsidy advantages to Canadians and farmers in other parts of the world. They also want to tackle climate changes that threaten the very existence of farms. Hall had done his homework, and his early career as an entertainer served him well in engaging the group. “I’m still learning,” he joked. “Remember, I’m just a guitar player.” Hall was co-founder and songwriter of the band Orleans, best known for its songs like “Love Takes Time,” “Dancin’ in the Moonlight” and “Still the One.” They played with Janis Joplin, Seals and Crofts and Bonnie Raitt, among performers. But even in the 1970s, Hall was an activist, pressing against nuclear energy and co-founding the organization Musicians for Safe Energy. The good news, Hall reported to farmers, is that the Farm Bill finally passed the House of Representatives. The Senate takes up its version of the farm bill in the fall. “This bill will set the course of this nation’s agricultural policy for the next five years,” he said. He further explained that most of today’s farm policies were created back during the New Deal of the 1930s, and are far too outdated to address current problems and advanced technology. The bill passed, with 19 Republicans joining 212 Democrats in favor. Hall suggested this foretells it will probably pass in the Senate as well. “This bill sets aside new conservation lands of 32.9 million acres, and has put aside an additional 300 million acres of farm and ranchland,” he said. Of most concern to local farmers is their workers. “We don’t have a lot of time to work this out,” a farmer said. Hall agreed, saying he supports a stand-alone guest worker program. That’s what most of their workers are asking for, the farmers said. “This is not amnesty,” Hall said. “I am not recommending that, and I don’t know anyone who is, but this is what you hear on the talk shows.” One of the farmers added, “If someone wants to become a U.S. citizen, God bless them, but most of our workers don’t. They just want to be a guest worker and be able to go home for a vacation.” Hall said those who want a guest worker program should become more vocal “because the opposition is plenty vocal on this.” While Hall reported a significant increase in most appropriations, the farmers said they do not expect these increases to cover their spiraling fuel and animal feed costs. Ethanol, made from corn, has changed the whole dynamic, the farmers said. While the demand for corn, both for fuel and wood pellets, is good for farmers, they said, it comes right back to them in increased feed costs and fuel for their arsenal of farm machinery. The solution, they said, is to push Detroit to make farm machinery that does not require gasoline or ethanol. Add climate change to their usual rollercoaster of insecurities and — well, farming was never easy, they said. Of all the issues covered, perhaps the most sensitive were climate change and trade regulations. “Something is wrong when Canadians can ship onions to Orange County and sell them cheaper than we can,” a farmer said. They worried that something is wrong “when we have to worry about all these toxic elements coming into the country from China and elsewhere because we cannot sustain ourselves.” About climate change, they wondered if all these “man-made floods,” hurricanes, fires, and draughts continue, agriculture will be the first to go — and then what will we do? Hall described his work on several select subcommittees, including Energy Independence, the Rural Working Group, Wetlands and Aquifers, and the Corps of Engineers. When the Delaware Valley Corps of Engineers was on track to receive zero appropriations, his committee was able to increase their funding by millions. He described himself as the proud owner of an American-made Mercury hybrid and hopes that before long Americans will bite the bullet and adopt sustainable energy. “With the new lithium battery packs, these hybrids could go 60 miles per hour,” he said. If these cars were plugged in at two cents and hour, with solar and wind returning this energy to the grid, we would not need any more power plants.” The farmers said that, as only 1 percent of the nation’s population, they shoulder quite a burden, having to feed the other 99 percent. They said most of the population understands their situation. Hall agreed, saying that better education of city folk about agriculture may be one solution. “Most of them don’t know where their food comes from or where their waste goes,” he said. “If we can’t control our energy costs, it puts a negative emphasis on everything else we do.” A lively discussion ensued when Debra Corr of Goshen, a prominent equine hunter-jumper, pressed for the easing of slaughter regulations. “If horsemen are not allowed to send old and crippled horses to slaughter, there will be a glut of horses, and many will starve,” she said. She added that there is the associated issue of humane transportation. Hall disagreed, saying he would revisit the issue but that his gut feeling was that “many horses are pets and are treated like part of the family. I have no problem with euthanasia of horses. I have a problem with treating a horse like a piece of protein to send down the pike.” Those who disagree are concerned that, as soon as shipping horses to be processed for food is allowed, there is a much greater incentive to slaughter, where condition of the horse may be questionable. Further discussion addressed the general problem of slaughterhouses, which are becoming rare, and how this adds to the problem of obtaining locally processed food. Hall is pressing for bills that would label foods and goods that are American made. A group is currently promoting labels that announce “Proudly Made in New York.”