I know I'm late to this party but I have to say, I have been following Dr. Taber on Xwitter for years. She is one smart lady. I LOVE her threads. She can explain anything re: Ag/Economics so that anybody can understand. As soon as she announced she was running, I reposted her campaign page & donated. I've only ever done this for 1 other person running for public office.
If she will promise to make NC take "First in Flight" off their license plates and change it to "First in Pig Farming", I will donate a non-zero amount of Yanqui dinero to her
I don't really comprehend why greenhouse farming isn't a bigger thing. In Niagara County where my mother grew up and my grandparents lived, greenhouses were ubiquitous. My grandparents very close friends ran a pretty decent size farm that was heavily dependent on greenhouse agriculture.
One issue that NC probably suffers from is that tobacco damages the soil in ways that take time to correct.
And finally--potatoes.
Seriously, potato can grow under non-Communist collective in all kinds of soil. In Russia, potato farm You. North Carolina Billy Goat people can make potato as good as Idaho. 😆
My maternal Grampa was a potato sharecropper in NC. The landowner sold out to a big developer. First the land was an amusement park, and now I think it’s part golf course, part ski lodge? I digress. Yes, they can grow taters.
I love Taber’s ideas. I am not moving to NC. Or rather I am not moving back to NC. I lived there for 5 years and voted there for Obama in 2008. My vote and my spouse’s helped Obama squeak through to win the state and its 15 electoral votes. By the time Obama ran for reelection, I had left. And NC had gone for Romney and was doing weird things with bathrooms. Now I live in a blue town in a blue state.
However, if you organize a postcard writing campaign, I will participate.
Absolutely need to develop a non-CA veg-basket of the US. That state is getting hit HARD by climate change, and we are too damn dependent on it for our veggies and fruit. Plus the whole “suck water from from millions of people in every other state in the SW so we can grow almonds which benefit like 15 rich folk” thing is not exactly sustainable…
Please Dr. Sarah Taber get the NCDA to help NC Live create an agriculture database of peer reviewed research journals, USDA research reports, materials created by NC A&T and NC State, and other agriculture institutions to support farmers. I bet there's USDA funding for that project. If not then force the state's congressional delegation to create funding. It would benefit us and the nation.
So Troxler wants to sell tobacco to China and he’s a pro-business hero. But Hunter Biden even breathes in the direction of China and Joe Biden is a commie traitor.
As someone who smokes (I'm trying...) please replace all tobacco crops...soon. Fn foul smelling monkey on my back and I'm trying to stop. Hella difficult (since I cut back on alcohol TOO.)
You're not weak, nicotine is a terribly addictive substance. Back when I quit (almost 25 years ago!) I followed the American Lung Association's freedom from smoking program and it worked. Maybe it'll work for you. I wish you the best, it's totally worth it.
If she's not getting farmers and former clients and everybody else who looks (to thumb-shaped suburban men) like what a farmer looks like to do testimonial ads for her: start. Though she seems pretty smart, so probably she's on that.
That story you referenced seems to show a state AG Dept screwing over the local growers and allowing the larger failed business that caused the mess to basically walk away.
It's absolute insanity. Poultry corporate executives should be rotting in prison. John Oliver did a wonderful episode about the plight of North Carolina chicken farmers, and the corruption of the poultry corporations.
I know Dok couldn't go into depth in everything in this post, but one detail I think bears looking at: The contracts between the processors, and the hog and (especially) chicken farmers, amount to virtual peonage for the latter. The processors make the farmers buy supplies and raise birds at their own expense all under the processor's exacting standards, barely leaving them an income. It's a way to offload all the expenses of raising the birds onto "independent contractors" (sound familiar?) while maintaining a steady supply at prices that guarantee large profits for the processor. And the farmers have to deal with those guys because they're the only game in town.
I hope Sarah Taber can help with that situation in NC. And I REALLY hope the Biden administration will start enforcing antitrust laws and break up some of these abusive meat-processing cartels.
Yeah, the farmers are on the hook for all the investment in land, barns, utilities, waste management, and their time. The few huge processing plants also break raising chickens (and pigs) down into separate steps, with each farmer only handling one. So even there they are dependent on other contractors of the processor for their stock. You have the breeders laying eggs, another one raising the chicks to a certain size, then another raising them to market size. Then you have separate chains for eggs going to market or fryers going for meat. North Carolina used to do sort of the same with turkeys but that market proved too seasonal even with the brief demand for turkey deep fried turkey legs and the replacement of red meat with ground turkey. But farmers found they were sometimes stuck with too many turkeys and the small profit margin per bird was bankrupting them. With the prevalence of bird viruses, raising chickens is becoming a gamble, but farmers have a million dollars or more in land, barns, and equipment they have to pay for, and that is not really usable for any other farm products. So they are pretty much at the mercy of the producers. Who can just not contract with them if they get too demanding and they are screwed. Because that local processing plant is the only place they can fit into the poultry food chain. There are no other plants nearby, other plants just a little further out already have contracts with their farmers, and driving 200 miles to sell your product is too costly if you can find one to work with you. So they really are locked in to whatever the local processor decides to do.
I know I'm late to this party but I have to say, I have been following Dr. Taber on Xwitter for years. She is one smart lady. I LOVE her threads. She can explain anything re: Ag/Economics so that anybody can understand. As soon as she announced she was running, I reposted her campaign page & donated. I've only ever done this for 1 other person running for public office.
If she will promise to make NC take "First in Flight" off their license plates and change it to "First in Pig Farming", I will donate a non-zero amount of Yanqui dinero to her
I don't really comprehend why greenhouse farming isn't a bigger thing. In Niagara County where my mother grew up and my grandparents lived, greenhouses were ubiquitous. My grandparents very close friends ran a pretty decent size farm that was heavily dependent on greenhouse agriculture.
One issue that NC probably suffers from is that tobacco damages the soil in ways that take time to correct.
And finally--potatoes.
Seriously, potato can grow under non-Communist collective in all kinds of soil. In Russia, potato farm You. North Carolina Billy Goat people can make potato as good as Idaho. 😆
My maternal Grampa was a potato sharecropper in NC. The landowner sold out to a big developer. First the land was an amusement park, and now I think it’s part golf course, part ski lodge? I digress. Yes, they can grow taters.
I love Taber’s ideas. I am not moving to NC. Or rather I am not moving back to NC. I lived there for 5 years and voted there for Obama in 2008. My vote and my spouse’s helped Obama squeak through to win the state and its 15 electoral votes. By the time Obama ran for reelection, I had left. And NC had gone for Romney and was doing weird things with bathrooms. Now I live in a blue town in a blue state.
However, if you organize a postcard writing campaign, I will participate.
Ta, Dok. Sarah Kendall Taber is a gem. My beloved Meccalopolis has family in NC, and he'll make sure they know to vote for her.
Absolutely need to develop a non-CA veg-basket of the US. That state is getting hit HARD by climate change, and we are too damn dependent on it for our veggies and fruit. Plus the whole “suck water from from millions of people in every other state in the SW so we can grow almonds which benefit like 15 rich folk” thing is not exactly sustainable…
Please Dr. Sarah Taber get the NCDA to help NC Live create an agriculture database of peer reviewed research journals, USDA research reports, materials created by NC A&T and NC State, and other agriculture institutions to support farmers. I bet there's USDA funding for that project. If not then force the state's congressional delegation to create funding. It would benefit us and the nation.
So Troxler wants to sell tobacco to China and he’s a pro-business hero. But Hunter Biden even breathes in the direction of China and Joe Biden is a commie traitor.
Gotta love the double standards.
As someone who smokes (I'm trying...) please replace all tobacco crops...soon. Fn foul smelling monkey on my back and I'm trying to stop. Hella difficult (since I cut back on alcohol TOO.)
(I'M WEAK.)
You're not weak, nicotine is a terribly addictive substance. Back when I quit (almost 25 years ago!) I followed the American Lung Association's freedom from smoking program and it worked. Maybe it'll work for you. I wish you the best, it's totally worth it.
I must've quit at lest half a dozen times before it finally took. And that required a heart attack! Don't be like NewLarry.
Nah, you're much stronger than you think, or you wouldn't even be trying.
Shared (and tagged) on X (Twitter)
I had completely forgotten that Sarah Taber had written posts for Wonkette. (Thanks for the links, Dok.) Holy shit, she was good, and funny.
Now she's a high-ranking government official. She's living the dream, or the fantasy, of thousands of bloggers and blog commenters.
not yet! she's running for it and she needs our dollars.
If she's not getting farmers and former clients and everybody else who looks (to thumb-shaped suburban men) like what a farmer looks like to do testimonial ads for her: start. Though she seems pretty smart, so probably she's on that.
The meat companies just foamed a bunch of chickens in Arkansas and dumped them in the landfill. Like two months ago. It was crazy.
If elected, what would you do to prevent poultry corporations from foaming a million chickens to death? To help family farmers
That story you referenced seems to show a state AG Dept screwing over the local growers and allowing the larger failed business that caused the mess to basically walk away.
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2024/02/09/feathers-ruffled-over-arkansas-handling-of-mass-chicken-euthanization/
It's absolute insanity. Poultry corporate executives should be rotting in prison. John Oliver did a wonderful episode about the plight of North Carolina chicken farmers, and the corruption of the poultry corporations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9wHzt6gBgI
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰-𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴, 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦.
I know Dok couldn't go into depth in everything in this post, but one detail I think bears looking at: The contracts between the processors, and the hog and (especially) chicken farmers, amount to virtual peonage for the latter. The processors make the farmers buy supplies and raise birds at their own expense all under the processor's exacting standards, barely leaving them an income. It's a way to offload all the expenses of raising the birds onto "independent contractors" (sound familiar?) while maintaining a steady supply at prices that guarantee large profits for the processor. And the farmers have to deal with those guys because they're the only game in town.
I hope Sarah Taber can help with that situation in NC. And I REALLY hope the Biden administration will start enforcing antitrust laws and break up some of these abusive meat-processing cartels.
Diversification would go a long way in helping with that since the farmers won’t be so dependent on a single income stream.
Yeah, the farmers are on the hook for all the investment in land, barns, utilities, waste management, and their time. The few huge processing plants also break raising chickens (and pigs) down into separate steps, with each farmer only handling one. So even there they are dependent on other contractors of the processor for their stock. You have the breeders laying eggs, another one raising the chicks to a certain size, then another raising them to market size. Then you have separate chains for eggs going to market or fryers going for meat. North Carolina used to do sort of the same with turkeys but that market proved too seasonal even with the brief demand for turkey deep fried turkey legs and the replacement of red meat with ground turkey. But farmers found they were sometimes stuck with too many turkeys and the small profit margin per bird was bankrupting them. With the prevalence of bird viruses, raising chickens is becoming a gamble, but farmers have a million dollars or more in land, barns, and equipment they have to pay for, and that is not really usable for any other farm products. So they are pretty much at the mercy of the producers. Who can just not contract with them if they get too demanding and they are screwed. Because that local processing plant is the only place they can fit into the poultry food chain. There are no other plants nearby, other plants just a little further out already have contracts with their farmers, and driving 200 miles to sell your product is too costly if you can find one to work with you. So they really are locked in to whatever the local processor decides to do.
take a shower and have a friend hand you leftover ribs
got the ribs, have a shower, looking for a friend.
what are "leftover ribs" though?
what's a "left one" ?
😂
Did not read or vote yet, but I did part 1 - move here. Will do part 2 - vote - tomorrow. Thanks for shortcutting my research for me. :-)
I’m moving there in two weeks!!! Count me in!!!