General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump Agriculture Secretary: No guarantee small farms will survive
President Donald Trumps agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, said Tuesday during a stop in Wisconsin that its getting harder for farmers to get by ... In America, the big get bigger and the small go out, Perdue said. I dont think in America ... we have a guaranteed income or guaranteed profitability.
Perdues visit comes as Wisconsin dairy farmers are wrestling with a host of problems,
including declining milk prices, rising suicide rates, the transition from family farms to large corporate farms with thousands of animals, and Trumps international trade wars.
Wisconsin, which touts itself as Americas Dairyland on its license plates, has lost 551 dairy farms in 2019
after losing 638 in 2018
and 465 in 2017,
according to data from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Jerry Volenec, a fifth generation Wisconsin dairy farmer with 330 cows, left the Perdue event feeling discouraged about his future. What I heard today from the secretary of agriculture is theres no place for me, Volenec told reporters.
Perdue held a town hall meeting with farmers to kick off the farm expo. The former Georgia governor tried to charm the crowd with his southern accent and jokes about getting swiped in the face by a cows tail.
https://www.apnews.com/5045af6cf4a24626aad0e406a965f86e
alwaysinasnit
(5,066 posts)Response to left-of-center2012 (Original post)
exboyfil This message was self-deleted by its author.
33taw
(2,443 posts)Who try to help small farmers and organic farmers. Dont judge him.
exboyfil
(17,863 posts)Sorry.
I live in rural WI and much of the farming community frustrates me. They mostly support Trump, but there are some farmers that are very opposed to trump. I would like to see the national Dems visit this area a few times to combat Trump.
dem4decades
(11,296 posts)They should be happy to help Trump thin the herd so to speak.
Bleacher Creature
(11,257 posts)I hate to be harsh, but I'm pretty sure that the small farmer demographic voted overwhelmingly for Trump.
wasupaloopa
(4,516 posts)tubes.
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)And it strips away ability/interest in learning/facing facts and reality.
Mike 03
(16,616 posts)It's really easy to be casual and matter-of-fact about somebody else's personal catastrophe. I think he got his feelings hurt a month or two ago when a bunch of farmers refused to allow him to use them in a photo op (maybe in Iowa?).
Purdue is ignorance personified.
EDIT: Keep alienating those former Trump voters!
Tanuki
(14,918 posts)did to the SNAP (food stamp) program. They are driving people to hopelessness and suicide.
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/01/707681965/more-than-750-000-could-lose-food-stamps-under-trump-administration-proposal
"Three-quarters of a million people would likely lose their food stamps later this year under a new proposal by the Trump administration. The goal is to encourage able-bodied adults to go to work and get off government aid. But opponents predict people would go hungry instead, if the rule goes into effect.
.....
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the administration thinks these people should be able to get jobs, especially now that the nation's unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in years.
"We believe the purpose of our welfare system should help people to become independent rather than permanent dependency," he recently told the House Agriculture Committee. "We think we are helping people to, again, move into the dignity of work and the respect of providing for their families."
....(more)
Newest Reality
(12,712 posts)Another malignant, combative, Trump appointment. He is rationalizing the losses rather than looking out for the smaller members of the agricultural community. Too bad for them because, capitalism.
Well, that could be called voting yourself into an expedited bankruptcy, so keep on following the GOPs trail of breadcrumbs like that, but pay no attention to how the game they play works and where it leads, you proud Republicans! Now, let's see, who can you blame? Do the Republican Shuffle and come up with something ridiculous as you pack up and leave the farm.
Oligarchs win again! Democracy takes a another, big hit thanks to ambitious, self-centered, low-information voters who see something of themselves in their captors and cooperate in their screwing by identifying with people who would easily toss them in a combine, given the chance.
33taw
(2,443 posts)We need to show up.
IADEMO2004
(5,555 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Dairy in 1962,the hand writing was right in front of us. Everyone was expanding their operations thinking there would never be a end to the Birth Rate and there would be bazillions of Kids to drink all that milk. BTW,the Banks at the time were lending money like Halloween treats. Five years later,my hunch was right,that was the start of the Dairy Industry decline. Remember it takes three to five years for Farmers to expand their herds via reproductive means.
With each passing year,and with herd sizes doubling each five years,well,it is simple economics. To much production,to little consumption. Way to many operators are just trading dollars.
Grins
(7,217 posts)...theres no place for me. - Jerry Volenec.
Well, you shoulda' voted Democratic, Jerry. The party that gives a damn about farmers, their families, their health care, their schools, their retirement.
Name one thing in those categories that Republicans have done for farmers. Just one.
Andy823
(11,495 posts)Help the corporate big company farmers get all the "cheap" land when the little guy goes under!
Kaleva
(36,307 posts)oasis
(49,389 posts)A: "A whine cellar". ha ha ha
That's a "joke"Sonny Perdue thought was funny when he told it to an audience not to long ago.
Jeffersons Ghost
(15,235 posts)ooky
(8,924 posts)But you were concerned about "border security".
Fools.