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June 15, 2011
· Analysis: Immigration rules destroying US farms
· Making money on a small farm, crops optional
· Ag tours showcase Native American culture
· Unlocking the secrets of plant flowering
· Nanoagriculture: An unknown frontier
Analysis: Immigration rules destroying US farms
(The
Christian Science Monitor)
Other states may follow in
And despite President Obama’s lofty rhetoric on thoughtful
immigration reform in
This latest enforcement-only legislation – mandatory
E-Verify – will probably pass the House and other state legislatures this year.
Already,
The central economic question for US legislators: Should our country continue to produce fruits and vegetables? If so, our representatives need to protect experienced farmworkers who are already here and ensure that growers can hire immigrant laborers to do the seasonal farm-work that Americans don’t want to do.
The problem with enforcement-only
Since Mr. Obama took office, however, policy has not moved in that direction. Under his authority, workplace audits continue to grow. Audits avoid the cruelty of the raids undertaken by the Bush administration, but growers and farmers know them as “silent raids.” Immigrants live in constant fear, while growers worry their labor supply will disappear.
The truth is that, until Congress offers existing workers a legal path to remain and employers a legal means to hire them, increasing enforcement creates more problems than it solves.
ANOTHER VIEW: A bold plan to solve
So what’s the problem with auditing, verifying workers’ legal documentation, and ramping up enforcement?
First, enforcement-only policies carry a high human cost. Already, the record number of deportations and detentions under Obama (roughly 400,000 annually) separate families and decimate communities.
Second, particularly in labor-intensive agriculture, enforcement-only policies have a dire economic impact.
The fear is palpable
Far from the southwest border, enhanced enforcement has
growers and their workers cowering. During a recent visit to upstate
Immigrants’ fear is palpable. Many leave home as
infrequently as possible after hearing of undocumented workers detained in
stakeouts outside Wal-Marts, check cashers, and even
churches. As one undocumented worker told me, “I’m always afraid, and I never
leave the farm.” In
Growers are scared, too, and many no longer speak on-the-record. One vegetable producer, who requested anonymity, explained why: “Every time a farmer’s in the news, it seems like there’s a silent raid at their farm.”
This silence is remarkable given that growers might
otherwise be shouting at the costly interruption. A 2011 Farm Credit East
report indicates that, in
Broader economic impact
Should these farms fail, it’s not just immigrant workers or
farm owners who would suffer. Their tax payments and social security
contributions would dwindle. And, because on-farm jobs (mostly held by
unauthorized immigrants) support off-farm jobs like shipping, packing, and
processing (mostly held by
Growers fearful of losing experienced workers have few
options. They can either sell their land – likely to grain producers who employ
far fewer people – or transition away from labor-intensive crops. One upstate
Either selling land or shifting crops means fewer farm jobs and reduced domestic fruit and vegetable production. This makes no sense at a time when unemployment tops our country’s economic concerns, government is calling for more fruit and vegetables on our plates, and consumers are clamoring for local produce.
Shortage of labor
The aforementioned vegetable farmer, who has already shifted land to grain production, stated simply: “If E-verify were made mandatory, a For Sale sign would go up outside.” Like many other growers nationwide, her repeated efforts to hire US citizens for seasonal picking have failed; were she subject to E-Verify, she has no idea where to get enough work-authorized employees to sustain her business.
Stephen Colbert learned the same lesson when he took up the United Farm Workers’ “Take Our Jobs” challenge by working for a day on a New York farm – the union’s national effort to place US citizens in seasonal farm labor last year attracted only nine citizens or legal residents, most or whom quit soon after beginning work.
Growers would accept increased workplace enforcement if they could count on having enough authorized workers. But, they argue, the existing guest-worker program, H-2A, is rife with red tape producing costly delays. H-2A only accounts for roughly three percent of this country’s hired farm laborers, while undocumented immigrants constitute between half and three-quarters of the total. Growers thus call for an expanded, streamlined guest worker program.
But as farmworker advocates countered at a recent House hearing on H-2A, guest worker programs have been riddled with exploitation – including wage theft, discrimination, physical and sexual abuse, and blacklisting workers who complain about conditions. A 2007 Southern Poverty Law Center report on guest worker programs was tellingly titled, “Close to Slavery.”
A way to meet needs of growers, workers, and economy
Still, the growers’ and farmworkers’ positions are not irreconcilable. In fact, their advocates have been joined at the hip in lobbying efforts since 2003, when they forged a bipartisan compromise bill, which garnered a remarkable 63 Senate co-sponsors, called AgJobs (The Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act). AgJobs would expand H-2A, improve worker protections, and offer legalization for farmworkers already here.
In 2011, the tea-flavored House of Representatives has taken AgJobs off the table and rendered radioactive any legislation including a path to citizenship. But conservative legislators should reconsider. Growers advocating a balanced approach to immigration reform are often conservatives themselves, who side with Republicans on most issues, but feel alienated by the party’s immigration approach.
Elected officials need to find a solution that works for
growers, farmworkers, and the economy. Otherwise, instead of ushering in a
bountiful harvest, summer will come to stand for lost possibility on
Daniel Altschuler is a Copeland Fellow at
Making money on a small farm, crops optional
(The New
York Times) SANTA MARGARITA,
But increasingly farmers are eking more money out of the land in ways beyond the traditional route of planting crops and raising livestock. Some have opened bed-and-breakfasts, often known as farm stays, that draw guests eager to get a taste of rural living. Others operate corn mazes — now jazzed up with modern fillips like maps on cellphones — that often turn into seasonal amusements, with rope courses and zip lines. Ranchers open their land to hunters or bring in guests to ride horses, dude ranch style.
Known as agritourism, such activities are becoming an important economic boost for many farmers.
Early each morning, Jim Maguire milks the sheep and goats
and feeds the pigs on his small dairy farm here before heading off to his day
job as a public defender in
But in recent years, Ms. Maguire has added some new chores: changing linens and serving food to the guests who stay at Rinconada Dairy’s two bed-and-breakfast units, one in a private wing of the farmhouse and the other in a remodeled corner of a barn. Money from the paying guests is now enough to pay for the animals’ feed, one of the farm’s biggest expenditures.
“The whole idea is to get the farm in a productive state so that it carries itself, so that it pays its own way,” Mr. Maguire said early on a recent morning as he watched sheep file onto the raised stainless steel platform of an automatic milking machine. “The farm stay is an important economic portion of that.”
The United States Department of Agriculture predicts that this year the average farm household will get only about 13 percent of its income from farm sources. Agritourism is appealing because it increases the family’s income from the farm, potentially reducing the need for off-farm jobs.
The U.S.D.A.’s census of agriculture, which is conducted every five years, estimated that 23,000 farms offered agritourism activities in 2007, bringing in an average of $24,300 each in additional income. The number of farms taking part fell from the previous census, in 2002, but at that time the average agritourism income per farm was just $7,200.
The agritourism movement is fueled by city dwellers who want to understand where their food comes from or who feel an urge to embrace the country life.
Scottie Jones, who raises sheep and runs a farm stay in
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms acts as an online
clearinghouse for people who want to trade labor for lodging on a farm, with
stays ranging from days to months. Ryan Goldsmith, who manages the group’s
branch in the
Even the corn maze, a staple of rural tourism for decades, is becoming more popular.
Brett Herbst, the owner of The
Maize, a
“It’s virtually impossible to make a living just off traditional farming on a small farm,” said Mr. Herbst. “This really provides an opportunity to keep the land, keep a family farm existent, even amongst urbanization, and allows someone to depend less on an outside job for their income.”
Still, there are hurdles. For example, many farmers complained about insurance costs, which rise with the number of farm visitors.
For years, Christine Cole has charged for tours of her farm,
in
At the end of April, her insurance carrier dropped her, although she said she had made no major claims. She began looking for new insurance, she said, but was repeatedly turned down. She said insurers seemed unwilling to cover the broad range of activities on her farm. Finally, she found a policy that cost her almost $9,000 a year, about triple the cost of her previous coverage.
“That is more than 10 percent of my income,” Ms. Cole said. “I broke down and cried.”
Some states have acted to make it easier for farmers. Next
month, a new law will go into effect in
Although many farmers said they enjoyed the city-country interaction at the heart of agritourism, it takes a particular type to pull it off.
“If you’re not a people person, forget it,” said Vince Gizdich, who runs Gizdich Ranch,
in
Bonnie Swank, of
“People look at what we’re doing and they say, ‘We could do that and make a lot of money,’” she said. “It’s not that easy.”
Kim A. Rogers understands the hard work. For seven years,
she and her husband ran a farm and orchard in
Finally she had an epiphany: farming was exhausting work and the bed-and-breakfast was providing an increasing portion of their income. So last year she and her husband pulled up their 700 fruit trees and became full-time innkeepers, with a cottage and a bungalow that rent for $150 to $285 a night.
They still have a few sheep, hens and a large vegetable garden — enough to maintain the farm feel.
“A lot of people just want that rural farm experience,” she said.
Ag tours showcase Native American culture
BACAVI, Ariz. (AP) — The small plots below the curve of a steep gravel road seem an unlikely place to grow crops, as does the sandy slope near a busy freeway and the cliff side of a tribal village.
Hopis know that these places aren't the most accessible, but it's here where the staples of traditional food — corn, squash and beans — flourish with what little water reaches the usually dry land.
It's a farming technique that has been practiced for centuries as part of a belief that a prosperous life comes through hard work.
Micah Loma'omvaya shares those
stories on a tour he leads to the Hopi mesas that rise above the northern
The tours have fed the desire of visitors to learn about one
of the oldest indigenous tribes in
Cliff Quotsaquahu, a research assistant in the tribe's Office of Community Planning and Economic Development, said there are a lot of discussions on the Hopi reservation about "ideas of how we can capitalize on the things we have, and tourism is one of them."
Standing amid shrubs called saltbushes that Hopis use in stews, Loma'omvaya points to a coal seam running through a rugged canyon in the distance. The tribal government is largely dependent on coal revenues that make up the majority of its non-federal budget.
Half of the work force is unemployed. About 20 percent of tribal members who make a living off selling arts and crafts from their homes or roadside stands don't figure into that statistic, Quotsaquahu said.
The lack of infrastructure on the 1.6 million-acre reservation that's landlocked by the much-larger Navajo Nation means industrial development is nonexistent. An industrial park that the tribe owns off the reservation once churned out underwear and baseball caps but now is vacant. Tribal members have twice rejected gaming.
"Limited access to any economic development centers is an understatement," tribal chairman Le Roy Shingoitewa recently told members of Congress.
Curiosity in the history of the Hopis, who have lived in the region for 2,000 years, gives tribal members like Loma'omvaya an avenue for income.
Tourists see hundreds of petroglyphs, are greeted by farmers at terraced gardens and corn fields and hear about the preservation of ancient seeds crops.
Loma'omvaya, an anthropologist, carries around historic photos with plowing equipment sitting outside stone homes, fruit trees dotting the reservation and high water levels in springs.
He ferries tourists across the reservation in his pickup
truck, playing Native music and pointing out geographical features. These tours
have been ongoing since 1540, he says half-jokingly. That's the year Hopis
directed Spanish conquistadors and their guides to the
The Hopi admittedly want to keep tourism operations small-scale.
"There hasn't been this much accessibility to the Hopi
culture in a long time," said James Surveyor, the marketing and sales
associate at the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites on the reservation. "As
that keeps going, we're going to get more people into Hopi. We don't look at a
future where we want charter bus after charter bus like the
Nearby tribes also have seen the benefits
of tourism. The Hualapai in northwestern
Across the Hopi reservation, newly plowed fields with corn planted deep down await moisture. Part of Hopi belief is that they are stewards of the land. A higher being handed down a bag of seeds, a water gourd and a planting stick along with a promise of a hard and enduring but prosperous life from farming, said Leland Dennis, coordinator of the Natwani Coalition that focuses on preserving the agriculture tradition.
Ceremonies, songs and cultural activities are tied directly to agriculture with prayers for rain and a fertile harvest. Prayer sticks with feathers hang from stones that support terraced gardens, and Hopi art commonly features rain clouds.
"That's the simplest of pleasures that we forget in our commodity-driven society when we want the latest iPod, vehicle and the best shoes," Surveyor said. "That prayer, that ceremony, that belief is all intertwined with farming because farming is what the people are."
Unlocking the secrets of plant flowering
(Swedish
Research Council via EurekaAlert.org) – Researchers at
Only with the cold of winter is the gene shut off, allowing the sugar beet to blossom in its second year. The discovery of this new gene function makes it possible to control when sugar beets bloom. The new findings were recently published in the prestigious journal Science.
Scientists at
"When we studied a gene in the sugar beet that usually stimulates blooming in other plants, we made a very surprising discovery: in the sugar beet evolution has developed a 'sister gene' that has taken on the exact opposite function, namely, to inhibit blossoming. For biennial sugar beets this means that they can't flower in their first year. Once the plants have been exposed to the cold of winter at the end of the first year, the 'gene blockade is lifted,' and the sugar beets can bloom in their second year of life," says Ove Nilsson about the function of the newly discovered flowering gene.
The researchers speculate that the development of the inhibiting sister gene was an important factor in enabling biennial sugar beets to evolve from an annual to a biennial plant. Furthermore, plant researchers in Umeå and Landskrona have shown that it is possible to manipulate the "flowering gene" in such a way as to leave the gene constantly "turned on," that is, to block blooming, and thereby prevent it from being turned off after winter.
"In that way it's possible to fully control the flowering time of the sugar beet. This enables us to develop a so-called 'winter beet,' that is, a sugar beet that can be planted in the autumn and then will continue to grow throughout the following growth season without blossoming," says Thomas Kraft at Syngenta Seeds.
"A winter beet has be a high priority for sugar beet growers, since it is estimated to be able to increase the yield by about 25 percent and at the same time allow a more extended harvesting period. Traditional breeding has failed to produce such a plant. Syngenta Seeds is now going to move on to more in-depth tests of this potential new winter beet."
Nanoagriculture: An unknown frontier
(Labmate Online) – Scientists have warned that there is a considerable knowledge gap on the effects of nanoparticles on food crops.
In an article published by the American Chemical Society 's (ACS) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry scientists from the University of Texas at El Paso and a co- investigator for the NSF/EPA University of California Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, warned that as a new era nanoagriculture is about to start, very little is known about it.
Nanoagriculture is the use of nanotechnology to boost the productivity of plants, primarily for food or fuel.
The scientists compiled and analysied over 100 previous studies into the effects of nanoparticles on edible plants and found that the uptake and build up of these particles varies but warned that it is still unclear if these accumulations could be toxic to humans.
"This literature review has confirmed that knowledge on plant toxicity of [nanomaterials] is at the foundation stage," the scientists state in the article, adding that the emerging field of nanoecotoxicology has begun to review the subject.
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