From: Extropian Agro Forestry Ventures Inc. (megao@sk.sympatico.ca)
Date: Sat Jun 15 2002 - 23:32:13 MDT
Subject:
Re: POLITICS: Agriculture subsidies- A farmer's view
Date:
Sat, 15 Jun 2002 22:42:18 -0500
From:
"Extropian Agro Forestry Ventures Inc."
<megao@sk.sympatico.ca>
Organization:
EAV Inc.
To:
extropians@extropy.org
References:
1
View from a Canadian farmer
What powers subsidies worlwide are 2 things.
1--Governments want to make sure there is a constant oversupply of basis
commodities so that the
non producers all the way from merchants, brokers, processors,... have a
low priced pie to play
poker with.
About 2 months ago I got a call from Hills Capital Management in San
Francisco.
They wanted to offer me the chance to buy options which would be "into
the money" if there was a
drought in 2002 and a market shortage of wheat. They were very sure
this would happen. They
went on to say they were backed by Archer Daniels Midland one of the
world's 3 biggest grain
companies. ADM is also into everything else from corn syrup, ethanol,
processing, finished food
products and about anything you can make with ag raw materials. Anyway
these guys in SF said
ADM told them this was a sure bet to make money. ADM also hedges the
buy sell of grains as well.
So if ag is subsidized there is lots of cheap raw material and everybody
makes lots of profit. Too
high a price and the farmer might slack off and not go to the max to
produce. Farmers might then be
left holding all the money and direct its use.
The policy makers have long ago decided that that is not to be allowed.
So that leads to #2
Subsidies are created as a public policy tool to manage ag producers
(farmers)
We in Canada also have subsidies but our government controls a portion
of the marketing. They
have found that they can control their famers with a fraction of the
cost that the USA Govt spends.
They throw out just enough to bait the producers to keep producing .
Our USA neighbour North Dakota is a leader in this region for backing
farmers as business clusters
to process and take a more diversified position.
We could have a huge debate on this whole issue.
My view is to ignore the fray and create value in ways the state might
keep its nose out... at least for
the near fuure.
I am clipping the text of an article I did for a paper over on the other
(eastern) side of Canada. Just
to show that this is a bit more complicated than many might believe.
Organic Agroforestry Entrepreneurship in Canada's Palliser Triangle
The Palliser Triangle is the non-forested area of Southern Saskatchewan
and adjoining parts of
Alberta and Manitoba, which was grassland before the 20th century. The
pioneer farmers and
ranchers converted much of these lands to wheat, small grains, and
oilseeds cultivation over the last
hundred years. In the last two decades, more and more land is being
turned back to tame pasture
and specialty oilseeds and pulses. Mono-cropping is the standard
practice.
In Western Canada, it is commonly accepted that large equipment with
technological innovations
such as Global Positioning Satellite equipment will optimize
agricultural inputs. Physical and internet
marketing of raw products is balanced by trading futures and options.
Investment of off-farm income
is used to build a farm. If history and other sectors of agriculture
are any indication of the future of
Western Canadian agriculture, individual owned and operated family farms
are going the way of the
wood grain elevators and branch rail lines.
Fortunately, there is some desire to move beyond this crude form of
industrialization of agriculture, to
a kinder, gentler more consumer-driven form of farming. I feel that the
task at hand is to empower
small and medium sized nutraceutical food/ingredient producers and
processors not to go the way of
the poultry factory mega-farm model. Improved quality of life for the
customer should directly
translate to improved economic and social benefits to the
farmer/processors. The agroforestry and
organic farming communities best exemplify this concept. These farms
use knowledge as intensively
as their factory farm neighbours use chemicals.
The agricultural practice known as agroforestry combines large numbers
of trees harvested for fruit,
nuts, medicine, lumber and crafts managed in harmony with livestock and
wildlife. Other
agroforestry crops include mushrooms, medicinal crops, annual field
crops and perennial grasses and
legumes. The intensity and diversity of an agroforestry operation is
limited by the farmer's creativity
in establishing markets for new products. As well, the arid, windswept
landscape limits production
and crop choices. However, a good agroforester plans for the day when
the size of his operation
creates its own microclimate, just as a rainforest does. In other parts
of the world this has been
proven to be possible.
In 1999, the business Extropian Agroforestry Ventures (EAV) was formed
by my wife, Arla
Johnson, in Beaubier, Saskatchewan. Since then, other investors have
been brought into the
business. The farm, now owned by EAV, is managed as an organic
agroforestry farm and is divided
into about 140 strips by tree rows. Land between the trees is currently
planted to ordinary field
crops including wheat and hemp. This is a form of agroforestry called
alley cropping.
We planted the first trees in 1989. The original aim was to conserve
soil and trap snow. About
200,000 trees (buffaloberry, chokecherry, caragana, sea-buckthorn, and
oak) have been planted to
date. The trees were chosen for two traits. They could survive
climatic changes produced by
global warming and they can be harvested for medical uses.
The original 110 feet between rows was wide enough to allow all sorts of
machinery to pass
through. It soon became evident that a much narrower spacing was
required to trap enough snow to
sustain both trees and crops. The increase in the crop yields had to
compensate for the 1/2 acre of
land removed by every 1/2 mile of shelterbelts. We had to change over
to smaller machinery, and
deal with the grasshoppers and blister beetles which shelterbelts seemed
to harbour. Crop yields
alone were not enough to justify these costs. We needed to find a
medicinal use for our trees.
My research from 1973-1999 led to the first EAV food bars in early
1999. During 2000-2001, the
name Lifespan was trademarked and the bars themselves changed from a
formula to something that
was economical to manufacture with a flavour that was good enough that
you did not have to be
forced to eat it. The Hemp Breakfast snack bar has a long list of
ingredients including honey, hemp
products, buffaloberry fruit and leaves, and various natural
flavourings. The hemp, flax, buckwheat,
mustard, wild oats, peas, fenugreek, buffaloberry are all grown on the
EAV farm.
The impetus behind this enterprise originally stemmed from a need—the
survival of a farm family.
What sustains the business is the desire from the general population for
nutraceuticals, medicines, and
ethanol fuels. EAV is growing from the money people spend to remain
healthy and fit as they age.
We are pioneering a natural health product industry in which doctors and
alternative health
practitioners work with us on the farm and prescribe made-to-order food
bars. Modern
communication and the internet make this feasible. A person can visit a
doctor today and be
prescribed a bar which we can immediately make and ship.
Our future plans include incorporating livestock into the farm. And,
once the 100,000 trees per 160
acre goal is achieved and the trees are mature, a new agroforestry
ecosystem should permit
additional crop choices ranging from truffles (underground mushrooms),
to medicinal plants. A wind
farm might be established to provide energy for further offshoots of the
enterprise, such as
greenhouses. The current challenge for our farm is to recover the costs
of organic transition. We
have used organic cropping of ordinary crops like wheat, flax and peas
to keep things stable to
date. The truth is also that without investors willing to take big
risks in us we would have never come
this far. Research, product development and processing are all
expensive and the costs can easily
exceed cash on hand.
When we grow any crop, common sense (as well as our bankers) tells us to
sell a contract for
production before we buy the farm and put seed into the ground. Because
agroforestry is a business
measured in decades and not months, it is indeed much more critical to
have all the "ducks in a row"
as well as several fall back plans in place.
I hope others will learn from our experiences and forge ahead. A
prominent British Natural Health
Products Consultancy recently came to Canada. After giving glowing
praises about all the
individuals and companies involved in nutraceuticals in Saskatchewan, he
gave the following advice
which I will now paraphrase: create products and not commodities. Being
highly efficient in only
producing commodities has put your farmers into financial crisis, and
dependency. You have been
given one more chance. Don't blow it.
Morris/Arla Johnson and Partners
Extropian Agro-Forestry Ventures Inc.
Box 33, Road 707 South,
Beaubier , Sask., S0C-0H0
phone and fax 306-447-4944 , e-mail- megao@sk.sympatico.ca
Consumer-driven Access to Natural Health Products
Can Natural Health Products Therapeutic Coops working with small and
medium size private
nutraceutical/food product manufacturers promote Agriculture
sustain-ability and Quality of Rural
Life? I believe the answer can be Yes. If one utilizes diligence to
increase the system extropy of the
consumer to farmer value chain. (Definition:The extent of a system's
intelligence, information, order,
vitality, and capacity for improvement)
Throughout this article, I will try to demonstrate how Extropian
Agroforestry Ventures Inc. is
creating a new model for “Healthful Businesses”. This model tries to
find solutions for long standing
problems so is a work in progress. Comments which might make our model
work better are highly
encouraged...We do not think we have any monopoly on making good ideas
practical and
workable.
Current Agricultural Trends: In Western Canada it has been accepted
that large equipment
utilizing technological innovations including Global Positioning
Satellite equipment will optimize
agricultural inputs. Physical and internet marketing of raw product is
balanced by trading futures and
options. Investment of off farm income is used to build a farm. Later,
investment of agricultural
profits into large non-agricultural businesses creates a retirement
nest-egg. Control of a larger and
larger land base part owned, part rented or leased is the trend for the
next 20 or so years. If
history and other sectors of agriculture are any indication of the
future of Western Canadian
Agriculture, individual owned and operated family farm businesses are
going the way of the wood
grain elevators and branch rail lines. There is currently some desire to
move beyond this crude form
of industrialization of agriculture to a kinder, gentler more consumer
driven one. The task I feel at
hand is to empower small and medium sized nutraceutical food/ingredient
producers and processors
not to go the way of the ”Tyson Foods” Poultry factory Mega-farm
model. The concept that
improved quality of life for the customer should directly translate to
improved economic and social
benefits to the farmer/processor provider of services is best
exemplified by the Organic farming
community. These farms use knowledge as intensively as their factory
farm neighbors use chemicals.
There is a considerable lag in time between medical discovery of
healthy food chemistry and
when people can conveniently buy and consume these specially selected
foods.
For example, over the last 30 years I can cite 3 specific instances of
drugs of which I have personal
knowledge of , which have not been put to the uses that medical
researchers originally found for
them. In each of these cases company politics and profits as well as
government regulations
prevented access by the North American consumer to safe, cheap
drugs. These drugs are
Dimethyl-sulfoxide, Levamisole and Piracetam. The lesson to learn for
those who desire freedom of
access to Natural Health Products is that history must not be let to
repeat itself.
In Canada , the Natural Health Products (NHP) Directorate, beginning in
2004 will regulate
25-30,000 food and supplement ingredients and products. Foods such as
flax and hemp oil, high
omega-3 eggs, ingredients such as stevia(a natural non-nutritive
sweetener), soy germ isoflavones, as
well as all current food supplements and some over the counter products
will all be considered
NHP’s. If you have a poultry farm that grows, packages and sells omega
3 pork or eggs you will
have no choice but to spend large sums of money to hire personnel,
licence your farm production
facilities, and do things like pave the lane up to your production
site.
The cost to bring a new item directly from the farm to the customer,
even for test purposes will be
completely out reach for small business people and farmers with less
than 2 million dollars of assets
and cash
The pharmaceutical and applied Healthcare industry constantly creates
new miracles. The spin-off
of this is a massive amount of new basic medical knowledge. The rate of
knowledge creation
exceeds the rate of full application of this knowledge to deliver health
products and services. The
cost to acquire health benefits for the consumer is all too often too
high to allow people the full
benefits of all the disease treatments (Example- beta-interferon drugs
for multiple sclerosis) Health
service providers (USA) and Medicare (Canada) ration healthcare
utilizing a science which analyzes
the cost of treatment in comparison with the likelihood that life will
be extended. This mathematical
analysis is called pharmaco-economics. Simply put it determines if it
is cheaper to prevent disease
(set aside degenerative conditions until the very end of life) or wait
until disease symptoms appear
and attempt to treat an already damaged body. In the USA “Medical
Foods” have been proposed
by lawmakers to be eligible for health insurance coverage.
The USA market currently severely restricts hemp products because they
lack formal GRAS status
and also make DEA drug law enforcement (marijuana) more difficult .
Buffaloberry can be sold
currently, but could in the future be challenged to produce data to
support a formal FDA-GRAS
status. Canada has allowed several markets for hemp and cannabis as a
highly-controlled
pharmaceutical/nutraceutical.
So how does the consumer get direct access to NHP’s on their own terms?
OTTAWA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2001- Pg 4913, 4914 Canada Gazette Part
I
These Regulations would place requirements on persons who sell NHPs,
namely manufacturers,
distributors, importers, packagers and labelers. The NHPD considers
that growers, who handle
and/or treat a product in order to preserve the integrity of the raw
material, are not considered
manufacturers. Heath care practitioners (for example, pharmacists,
Aboriginal healers, traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners, herbalists, naturopathic doctors,
etc.) who compound
products at the request of a patient are not included within the
manufacturer definition, and therefore,
the Regulations do not apply to products compounded by these people.
EAV conceived of a better way to link customers needs with primary
agricultural production and
this has been called the Natural Health Products Therapeutic Coop
(NHP). The manner in which
NHP members can request specially compounded Natural Health Products
(NHPs) also specifically
exempts these products from mandatory compliance with the NHP
regulations being phased in over
the next 2 years. This is the niche EAV and its NHP Coop occupy.
The members of this coop would also be shareholders. Members would
consult with their regular
medical doctor, alternative health practitioner, herbalist, traditional
Chinese medicine practitioner, or
aboriginal healer to monitor their health and specify individual needs
to be included with their own
personal bar supply. An initial order of base formula bars and
consultation would establish that the
bar was acceptable to all parties. A long supply contract would be
entered into after this. EAV’s
greatest weakness is its small production runs. This becomes its
greatest asset however if its
customers demand compounded variants of a basic proprietary food bar
formula unique to EAV.
Individual health problems or dietary restrictions can be accommodated
and individualized bars
manufactured on demand.
NHP intends to develop a method of gathering health related information
from customers and
analyzing this information to verify the specific health benefits the
base formula and individual custom
formulations provide. This Scientific research can then be published.
After that application for
specific health claims can be made for Lifespan bars.
The end point of the initial Research Permits from Health Canada will be
the collection of sufficient
information to support a GRAS Status application in the USA for both
Hemp products (foliage as
well as oilseed) and buffaloberry shrub products. As well sufficient
data to support product specific
health claims is anticipated. Research papers will also be submitted
to Scientific Journals for
publishing to document discoveries and advances in scientific
knowledge.
One very special benefit of organizing our business in this way is also
that it will exempt it from (allow
voluntary rather than mandatory compliance) of the forthcoming Natural
Health Products
Regulations. For a small, growing business, the cost of immediate,
full-compliance would mean that
none of the founders of EAV would have the academic qualifications to
even work in their own
business. Voluntary compliance would mean that EAV could send employees
out to further their
education and hire them back rather than bringing in new people at the
same time as laying off
current staff.
The business Extropian Agroforestry Ventures (EAV) was formed in 1999
by Arla Johnson,
Beaubier, Saskatchewan initially and brought in other partners
(investors) later on. Prior to 1999
her husband Morris had performed personal research for 25 years in the
area of diet and length of
healthy lifespan. Their farm, between 1999 and 2002, has been absorbed
by EAV. The farm land
now owned by EAV is planted to crops and managed as an organic farm.
The land is divided into
about 140 strips by tree rows. Land between the trees is currently
planted to ordinary field crops.
This is a form of Agroforestry called “Alley Cropping”. The first
trees were planted in 1989.
About 200,000 trees (buffaloberry, chokecherry, caragana, sea-buckthorn,
oak) have been planted
to date. The trees were chosen for 2 traits- the first being that they
could survive any climatic
changes produced by global warming- the second was that they might be
able to be harvested for
medical uses. February 1998, it was decided that the time had come to
make edible products
which contained the medicine of buffaloberry, flax, buckwheat and other
complimentary food
ingredients.
The scientific knowledge acquired between 1973-1999 was converted into
the first EAV food
bars. During 2000-2001, the name Lifespan was trademarked and the bars
themselves changed
from a formula to something that was economical to manufacture with a
flavor that was good enough
that you did not have to be forced to eat it. It was as big a challenge
in 2001 to combine the
ingredients and make them palatable as it had been to create the basic
formula.
The original “powerful, Full-bodied flavor” LIFESPAN XXX-TRA
AR-MOR Hemp
Breakfast snack bar contains: honey, milled hemp seed/flour/oil blend,
buffaloberry
fruit/leaf/bark/stem blend, natural flavorings (vanilla and vinegar),
milled flax seed, cranberry fruit,
cocoa, specially milled soy-germ, milled fenugreek seed, a selected
variety of milled buckwheat
seed, soy lecithin, ginger root, cinnamon bark, spray-dried bovine
colostrum, selected grape tannins,
turmeric, special selected variety of mustard seed, cloves, rosemary
leaf, rice bran, ground sesame
seed, Wild Oat flour, stevia leaf extract.
Non THC containing food products with Hemp Foliage in addition to
oilseeds(oil & hemp oilseed
cake - flour) can only currently be accessed with a medical marijuana
or research permit from
Health Canada. Health Canada has implemented a medical access program
for high THC cannabis
as well. This program provides 3 levels of access segmented according
to the severity or graveness
of the illnesses for which medical doctors feel they can prescribe
cannabis. This program is not well
suited to all those who may apply. Many may wish to obtain the benefits
of cannabis without THC in
the dosage form of a food bar. Many may wish the benefits of the hemp
cannabinoids without the
“Buzz” of THC.
EAV’s founder, Arla Johnson currently holds a “section 56" Health Canada
medical marijuana
exemption and has enjoyed piloting the use of the hemp foliage
containing XXX-TRA Cannabis bar
which has been specially compounded for her by Morris.
The Lifespan bars go under the basic formula name “XXX-TRA” with custom
formulation
possibilities : - Fenugreek”(for diabetics), Buffaloberry”(for
nutritional support during cancer
therapy), Cannabis”(medical marijuana), Broccoli”(for stress ),
Buckwheat” (for heart patients),
Chlorophyll”(medicinal porphyrins), CLA “conjugated linolenic acid”(for
dieters) , Bison “pemmican
bar”(jerky) to name a few possibilities
Lifespan bars offer carefully selected food items most individuals
would have great inconveniences
buying individually and incorporating in precise quantities into their
daily diet in a stable, palatable
combination.
NHP Customers/Members or their health care advisors will be able to
specify the specific
ingredient options they personally require within limitations including
- personal limits for daily
consumption of individual ingredients, counter-indications between bar
ingredients and customers’s
medications and diet, individual taste preferences. Anticipated
customized formulations- deletion of
colostrum for the lactose intolerant, sweeteners other than honey
(unrefined or pure stevia) for
diabetics, Certified organic ingredients, food allergy related
functional substitutions(different
ingredient with same function).
NHP members will be reliable long term, repeat purchasers of bulk
packaged product. The
distribution chain will include also retail outlets already selling
NHPs as well as existing independent
medical and alternative medical practitioners and herbalists. The
linking of primary production to
pure science , product development and finished product sales is
critical. To do all of this this cost
effectively is the difference between a “good idea” and something that
can survive in the real world.
Ownership of this NHP coop will be a joint venture between EAV and
member-shareholder-investors. The NHP coop will also be the primary
source of secure long term
revenue to expand EAV past the Canadian boundaries into the USA by its
4th year of operation.
EAV costs include R&D, cost or raw product, manufacturing , packaging
and bulk distribution.
NHP Coop costs include customer service, final distribution and
member/shareholder contract setup
costs.
Scientists have documented health benefits of the individual food
ingredients.
The consumption of all the ingredients in a Lifespan bar at one sitting
provides health benefits not
available if they are simply consumed randomly over an extended period
of time. It is now time to
create the kind of proofs the medical establishment needs in order to
recommend that society in
general undertake specific diets to increase healthy lifespan.
Eav currently sells its bars through stores and independent distributors
in western Canada.
EAV will soon begin to solicit outside investment and provide sufficient
shares to investors
commensurate with the risks of this business to underwrite the NHP
creation.
-ground flax seed is used for its heart healthy omega 3 oils , and
antioxidant fibers (lignins).
-hemp seed oil contains antioxidants like olive oil is a source of
omega3 and GLA fats and plant
sterols and stanols for cholesterol management . Certain cancers appear
to be reduced, nerve
tissues healthier and even the calcium in food is absorbed and put into
bone better growth as a result
of a generous consumption of omega 3 type oils.
-Soy germ isoflavones and the accompanying soy germ nutrient package
promote vascular health as
well as reducing osteoporosis especially when combined with omega 3
oils. There is reported to be
a 10 to 10,000 fold increase in the overall antioxidant effects of
certain
phenolic/flavone/anthocyanin/tannin food components when combined with
soy isoflavones.
- buckwheat (specific variety) . Blood vessel health(ACE inhibition),
promotion of muscle growth,
prevention of Type 2 diabetes are among the many functions of its
flavonoids and tannins.
-cranberries are naturally antibacterial, a natural preservative, a
urinary acidifier, as well as (in
combination with certain spice components) oxidative stabilizer of
unsaturated omega 3 oils.
Cranberry contains some of those useful anthocyanin, polyphenol,
flavonoid fytochemicals.
-spices like ginger, cinnamon, cloves and turmeric are all functional
sources of flavonoids and
tannins. As a group they manage blood sugar, reduce inflammation and
reduce DNA mutations.
-Cocoa as of late has been patented for its hair re-growing and cancer
treatment properties which
appear to be directly related to its antioxidant properties.
-Lecithin is a source of functional phospholipids as well as being part
of the glue that helps hold seal ,
bind and blend all the different food components into one.
-rice bran and sesame seed share properties found in both flax and
lecithin but have a different
antioxidant chemistry.
-mustard and radish and cress are crucifers or members of the cabbage
family. Their functional
components glucosinolates and sulforaphane are one key to reducing whole
body cancer risk and
chemical (oxidative) stress.
-bovine colostrum contains a whole chemistry of its own. Your gut
contains nearly the same number
of microbes living within it as you have cells in the rest of your
body. Lo and behold recent
discoveries suggest that gut chemistry profoundly effects ....maybe
going so far as to turn on and off
genes in distant unrelated parts of the body. Colostrum stabilizes
immune function as well as
promoting what is believed to be a stable positive gut ecosystem.
-buffaloberry berry components have been shown to work together with
colostrum in maintaining gut
health as well as being a source of fytochemicals similar to buckwheat
and cranberry.
-hemp seed flour is very high in arginine, an amino acid. In the USA, a
food bar , the “Heartbar”
promoted to treat or prevent heart disease is on the market This bar
has only one functional
ingredient L-arginine.
-Grape tannins, anthocyanins,flavonoids are the “red wine” derived
factors promoted as the “French
heart health diet factor” In this bar they also interact with the soy
isoflavones for added benefits.
Tannins inhibit cancers, treat glaucoma to name but 2 of their
functions.
-Taken together , buffaloberry shrub leaves, branch growing parts and
tree bark has tested as being
able to neutralize nearly 100% of all (ROS) body damaging “free
radicals”. Buffaloberry form the
core feature of EAV’s Agroforestry farming practices which combine
annual and perennial organic
crops in narrow strips with trees
-Fenugreek and Stevia together manage both high and low blood sugar and
promote weight loss
Colin Hales wrote:
Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
> This should really be overturned. It is ridiculous to poor such
> a subsidy on some of the richest agricorps in the world. There
> can be only two purposes: political payback/bribery and
> destroying the economies of many third world nations. So much
> for our claims we are interested in making these countries
> self-sufficient. We sure are lucky in the US that there was no
> country as powerful and "generous" as us around when we were
> getting our start.
<snip>
We have the U.S.A., bastion on free enterprise and free trade creating
the
largest sheltered workshop in history: US Agriculture. Here in .au
Agriculture has been industrially toughened by the continual threat of
extinction in a massively not-flat playing field that the US creates.
They've technology. Amazing soil. Relatively benign weather. They
don't have
to live 100 miles from the nearest corner store .ie. they have a life
as
well (compared to here).
What is so precious about the US Farmer (or some segment thereof) that
it
requires such welfare state privelege? I don't get it.
Or is it just a really really squeaky wheel that gets a lot of oil?
Call me thick, but, as a business person myself, isn't the process of
making
products that you can't sell (this _is_ what subsidy is about, yes?)
an
indication that you need to change something?
Or is there some strategic need to prop it all up that isn't obvious
to me.
[We need our farmers to make unsellable stuff
because..........BTSOOM]
Colin
*bewildered*
spike66 wrote:
> Samantha Atkins wrote:
>
> > This should really be overturned...
>
> I agree with Samantha. (Oh dear. {8^D)
>
> I have a friend who is an organic rice grower in the
> central valley of Taxifornia. He regales me with stories
> about how he cannot use certain fertilizers and pesticides,
> otherwise he would lose his organic subsidy, which is the
> only thing making it profitable. (Hiiighly profitable. The
> list of rules and regs regarding certified organic produce
> is so complicated, any farmer smart enough and diligent
> enough to follow them all makes a handsome reward.
> The profit per acre is far higher in this racket than anything
> else in the agrobusiness.) He lists the absurdities his
> own government perpetuates with the current system.
> Then he cheerfully deposits his subsidy check and
> continues to produce rice this way, since it maximizes
> the profit he can make on this property. He himself agrees
> that this silliness should be ended, but until it does, organic
> rice it is. I cannot find fault in his logic.
>
> spike
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