Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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them - the type of people they buddy up to, but they are controlling that
real well. They got dogs sniffing the cars out there, and the prisoners have to
tell themwho is visiting and they do a background test. The sheriff will stop
them right there if they have a warrant against them.” Allen cracks a grin.
“Yeah, they caught a few like that.”Naioma raises an eyebrow. “If you've got
a warrant for your arrest, why would you go visit someone in jail?”
Then the conversation returns to agriculture, as is often the case with
this family. Naioma says, “The prison here has made a big demand for little
ranchettes or farmettes, whatever you want to call them. They want forty
acres and a house.”Cliff describes land prices: “I keep thinking it's gonna go
down with reduced commodity prices, but it is staying right about $400 an
acre. Allen agrees. “Yep, $400 to $410.” Naioma: “That little house out there
along the road was my aunt's, and she just sold that last week to someone
at the prison. That seems to be the only people buying any acreage.” Times
are tough for conventional farmers.
Naioma reminisces, “Life on the farm is different from the next gener-
ation and ours. I got to be at home, and Cindy [Allen's wife] has to work
because they need her health insurance benefits. What is it now, is it 60
percent of farm men have off-farm jobs now? And for women it is more
like 80 percent. I haven't seen the numbers for a while. Last I saw it, it was
staggering. Years ago, I knew how many women were working off-farm, but
I was surprised to see all of the men.” She knows the issues well and has
clearly thought about the decline of U.S. agriculture. She sees the effects of
agribusiness in her region. “It's terrible concentration. Vertical integration
- Cargill bought one-fourth of Colorado's grain elevators. They have train
cars, mills, seed. They control exports. They do black-balling: 'Use our type
of seed, not that other one.' ” Farmers don't have much power within this
system unless they seek other options as the Bensons have. Naioma says that
the only way to slow this dreadful trend is “by not being held hostage in a
wheat-fallow rotation. Increase diversity! Maybe go organic.”
At the same time, Naioma's opinions on environmentalists were clearly
guarded. “There are too many radicals. What is the goal? Do they want
continued production or to eliminate U.S. agricultural production so we
need imports? We need a balance. Then they are helpful! In the eastern
United States, the topsoil loss and groundwater contamination had to stop,
but it wasn't their livelihood that was threatened.” At the same time, she
hopes that agriculturalists are also environmentalists. “Well, the majority
are. Full-time farmers have to focus on future generations in heart and
mind until bankers push them the other way!”
Economic woes are often joined with climatic hazards on the dry plains.
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