Mrs. Farmer Jenkins, thank you! Transitioning away from regulations and subsidies that favor Big Ag is the best path to reclaim our farms, soils, food, and farmers. We can’t do it overnight, but we MUST do it!
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Excellent! I also think the way the government has mandated the way Chicken’s are kept in the dark, with no Sunlight and in a tight moist space with feces all over needs to end immediately. Any “protocol” the government uses for the animal conditions are unacceptable.
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My opinion would be yes. Over the last 10 years, 5 years there has been an uptick in homesteading/gardening/farming. People are hungry for the ability to learn it all. And the amount of people i have seen step up to teach and encourage all this has been amazing. The more land in Americans hands, the better. Ability to pass down, provide for families and communities, educate others etc. Lots of pros…some cons…we dont want history to repeat itself looking forward and land become so expensive or commercial companies running a majority. A start would be restricting foreigners from owning land and then tightening down on loopholes they can exploit. Exemptions with limits can be given to foreign companies that want to build their products here in the u.s. vs pay tariffs.
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Thanks kkalberer
Well, I suspect you are calling to revise, not eliminate, government protocols for agricultural animals. It is important to transition effectively – many of these chicken farmers are themselves of mandates by large corporations – we don’t want to punish conventional farmers for the sins of Big Ag; we want to reverse regulations and subsidies that have favored big over small; efficient over sound.
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Developers and institutional investors have massive influence regarding zoning and urban growth boundary regulations. Having lived in both CA and OR, I’ve witnessed the destruction of local agricultural areas for CRE development which is now growing in vacancies.
Cities must be penalized for failing to maintain food security for their citizens due to destruction of farmland. That could happen if the federal government no longer gives HUD or FTA subsidies for speculative real estate construction if agricultural areas are destroyed, or cities fail to maintain food reserves for the bulk of their residents.
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Please consider reading and voting for our proposal to protect US jobs from being taken over by Chinese companies. This is happening at an alarming rate over the past 5 years.
By leveraging the internet, the Chinese economic attack has now extended beyond manufacturing to displace entire industry verticals
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Along those lines, give tax breaks to towns and cities that promote and show their citizens are taking over farming in their area. With the ability to do vertical farming in the cities, communities can do their own preparation for emergencies and disasters.
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I recently read an article in the Childrens Health Defense titled “Ain’t Gonna Happen: Government Can’t Fix Our Food And Farms”.
Regulation needs to be wiped away and we need to start over with the notion that the ‘We the People’ are in charge, per the Constitution.
We need to encourage active participation in creating a great country where we all want to live. We all deserve to thrive how we see fit without worry about what’s in our food, water, and air. I think crispr is the worst thing.
This is such a huge issue that has slowly culminated into what we see now. Drastic times call for drastic measures!
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I personally think this is a great idea. Farming is so much more important than people seem to think it is. Same with nutrition and knowing what you’re getting out of your food (or not depending on the product).
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Excellent idea. Zoning is destroying people’s ability to feed themselves and their neighbors. Connecting local food liberties to receipt of federal dollars is a terrific proposition! Thank you!
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Any organic products brought in from outside the US should have to meet the same standards as those grown in the US
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I’m a proud farmer’s wife and I see the day to day operations of our grain farm, the long hours, the uncertainty of having enough $$ to pay for the outrageous expenses, the struggle with plant disease and weed control. I’m also a certified holistic health coach. I’ve had my own health issues with food allergies. I’d like to know what organic farmers do about weed n pest control and plant diseases? If you don’t use chemicals to control these issues, what can be done?
Also, if all the other farms are conventional around your regenerative farm, how do you make it to harvest?
I’d love to see the change over to a regenerative farm for our future farming generations. I just don’t quite know how we get from here to there. We only have row crops, no livestock. Any suggestions are welcome.
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Has your family attended a “Soil Health Acadamy” yet?
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No we haven’t heard of that.
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I’m really glad to have you here to raise these important questions. For decades farmers have been told to get big or get out, and that they must use all the latest technologies, etc. In fact studies show monocultures require far more pesticides. Somehow the world survived before toxic pesticides – it can do so again. But it is less “efficient” – but doesn’t destroy the soil and our kids. Cross-pollination is a real problem, and the laws have generally favored GMOs over organic. (Look at Mexico’s current trade battle.) The issues are complex but surmountable. We can incentivize regenerative practices (including withing “conventional” farming) without throttling any one group of farmers or pitting “organic” producers against larger conventional operations. We must form alliances, not seed divisions… (Get the farming pun? 
)
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Yes! We must work together to help each other make farming great again!! Thank you for your thought provoking response! 
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Regenerative farming is key. Our food needs to be closer to what my great-great grandparents consumed.
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Great idea! In addition to these ideas mentioned here, we should also consider tying home ownership into this issue and encouraging a nationwide backyard farming program as I laid out in this proposal. Regenerative Home Farm Policy to Decentralize Our Food Supply
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Yes, the “victory gardens” must be resurrected! And how about letting people have chickens – fie to zoning regulations that ban them! Our ancestors would be appalled…
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This is incredibly well thought out and well-articulated. Bravo. This is critical for so many reasons but first and foremost is the health of our children and future generations. Supporting returning truth and facts to our educational systems is paramount to make this work. Encouraging children to think for themselves, to get involved, to have no fear of participating actively in their learning will go a long way toward sustaining this type of change.
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