Agricultural Issues

 

Issue #1:  Farm and Ranch Financial Distress  

Open Heart-- Where people are hurting

Low commodity prices, increased operating expenses, and weather related disasters have all had a devastating impact on the ability of Kansas farm and ranch families to sustain their operations. Prices have been so low that government subsidy payments often account for nearly all of their net farm/ranch income.  Some are facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. Many are faced with negotiating a restructure of their debt and operation to stay in business. Some are liquidating their operation voluntarily to keep from going deeper into a hole. Others are faced with cutting family living expenses that many other families take for granted, i.e. health insurance. The stress on farm families in dealing with the possible loss of their farm, their way of life, and the generational ties many of them have to their land, is extremely high. Exacerbating that stress is the fact that they are often  isolated from their communities because they are very independent and don’t want others to know about their problems. The percentage of people living below poverty levels in agricultural counties is significantly greater than in metropolitan counties. Population continues to decline in agricultural counties. 
 

Open Mind-- Where to learn

1) Read “U.S. Agriculture and Rural Communities in Crisis”, Resolution 14 from The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000 at pages 96-108.

2) Read “Affirming the Basic Worth of Rural People”, and “The Church’s Response to Changing Rural Issues” Resolutions 167 and 169 from The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000 at pages 418-421.

3) Read paragraph “162 N) Rural Life” from the “Social Principles” found in either the Book of Discipline or the Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000.

4) Read “Farm Crisis & Mental Health”, an article in the publication called “Party-Line” (Vol. No. 7, Winter, 1999, Special Issue) put out by the National Association for Rural Mental Health. You can find the article on NARMH’s website at http://www.narmh.org/pages/farmfram.html

5) Read “A Time to Act: A Report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms,” January, 1998. (Website: http://usda.gov/oce/smallfarm/commission.htm)

6) Read “Trampled Dreams: The Neglected Economy of the Rural Great Plains”, Copyright 2000, Center For Rural Affairs, PO Box 406, Walthill, Nebraska, 68067. Available through CFRA’s website at: http://www.cfra.org/resources/publications.htm.
  

Open Doors-- What your church can do

1) Sponsor a workshop or forum to link up folks with helpful resources, to understand the issues better, and to learn how you can best minister to the individuals involved.

2) Develop a covenant relationship between rural and urban churches to foster dialogue.

3) Learn to know farm families living in your town and worshiping in your church.

4) Join the Kansas Rural Life Fellowship active in both Kansas East and Kansas West.

5) Make ag producers aware of the help available from the Kansas Agricultural Mediation Service (KAMS).   Under Section “V. A Call for Change: What needs to be done?” of Resolution 14 of the Book of Resolutions mentioned above, Subsection G encourages state governments to “Develop systems of mediation to resolve conflicts between borrower and lender”. Kansas has such a program sponsored through K-State Research and Extension and funded through a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. KAMS provides a mediator, at no cost to the producer, to facilitate a discussion with the producer’s creditors to try to work out a restructure of the debt. To help producers prepare for mediation KAMS provides low-cost legal assistance to advise a client about that person’s legal rights and options, as well as farm financial counseling through the Kansas State University Farm Analyst Program. KAMS’s toll free phone number is  1-800-321-3276. (Website: http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_kams/)

6) Make ag producers aware of the Kansas Rural Family Helpline (Helpline). The Helpline is sponsored by the Kansas State University College of Human Ecology and funded through grants from the Office of Rural Health Policy and the Bureau of Primary Health Care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kansas is one of seven states in the program Sowing Seeds of Hope: Responding to the Mental Health Needs of Farm Families. It provides free confidential assistance and referrals, especially for psychological and family needs of ag producers. Their toll free number is 1-866-327-6578 (Website: http://www.ksu.edu/farmksu).

 

Issue #2: Agricultural Policy--The Farm Bill and World Trade 

Open Heart-- Where people are hurting

The United States Congress is in the process of formulating legislation, commonly known as the Farm Bill, that will determine government programs and policies with respect to agriculture for the next five to ten years. At the same time, the World Trade Organization is formulating an agenda from which further rounds of international trade talks on agricultural trade will be based. Each of these actions will ultimately effect how farmers and ranchers will be able to conduct their operations and whether or not they will be able to survive financially. Government payments to support agricultural producers in times of low prices and disaster have become a significant element of their net farm income. World markets to sell their products have also become key to the producer to receiving a fair price for commodities. The Kansas legislature is also attempting to help by enacting laws: to enhance producers’ ability to compete on a level playing field with large corporations contracting for the producer’s commodities; to provide low interest production loans to those farmers in need; to provide funding for programs to “add value” to Kansas farm products; and to improve funding for programs promoting sustainable agricultural practices for family farms.  

Open Mind-- Where to learn

1) Read “U.S. Agriculture and Rural Communities in Crisis”, Resolution 14 from The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000 at pages 96-108, specifically pages 103-107 which outlines the United Methodist Church’s positions on issues that are usually addressed by federal and state legislators and administrators when enacting/ implementing agricultural legislation and policy.

2) Read A Time to Act: A Report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms, January, 1998. (Website: http://usda.gov/oce/smallfarm/commission.htm)

3) Learn about the Farm Bill at the following websites:

4) Learn about the World Trade Organization talks on agriculture at the following websites:

Open Doors-- What your church can do

1) The Church has a vital “prophetic role” to play in not only supporting agricultural producers, but also in participating in the debates about agriculture by giving guidance to legislators and other policy makers and assuring “A just, participatory, and sustainable agriculture that would meet basic human needs for food and fiber, regenerate and protect ecosystems, be economically viable, enhance the quality of life for farm families, be supportive of rural communities, be socially just, and be compatible with spiritual teachings that recognize the earth as a common heritage and responsibility.” (Resolution 14 of the Book of Resolutions cited above)

2) Join and support Kansas Ecumenical Ministries in their efforts to support rural and farm life through their Kansas Interfaith Impact and their Rural Concerns Committee. For information on these programs contact Rev. Dr. Joe Hendrixson, Executive Director of KEM, at 5833 SW 29th Street, Topeka, KS 66614-2499, or by E-mail at kemstaff@terraworld.com. Kansas Interfaith Impact organizes rallies to dialogue with legislators and provides a newsletter updating members on legislative happenings.

3) Develop a covenant relationship between rural and urban churches to foster dialogue on legislative issues and how to form a coalition to provide a stronger voice on common concerns.

4) Choose one or several of the “calls for change” listed in Section “V.” of Resolution 14 in the Book of Resolutions and implement an action to address those issues through contact with Federal or State legislators.

 

Issue #3: Concentration in Various Agricultural Industries 

Open Heart-- Where people are hurting

Increasingly, food supply and production is being concentrated in larger and fewer corporations which has tremendous implications for the family farmer in turns of economic justice (receiving a fair return for products and labor), and stewardship of our resources. The ability of large corporations to control price and market hurts the ability of family farmers to compete with those corporations. “The related concept of vertical integration means that more production is done under contract, prices to be paid are established by agreement rather than by the open market, and fewer buyers and sellers of agricultural products exist. In short, industrialized agriculture is leading to a structure where fewer people will farm or ranch and fewer markets will be available. The problem isn't that smaller farmers aren't economically efficient. It's that industrialization leads to closed markets where prices are fixed not by open, competitive bidding, but by negotiated contracts, where producers who don't produce in large volumes are discriminated against in price or other terms of trade. Under these market conditions, many smaller farmers are forced out of business because they have no place to sell their product in a timely manner at a fair price.” (Center for Rural Affairs website--see below) Large agricultural industry also has a large impact on our environment, in terms of odors, waste products, use of scarce resources and possible contamination of water supplies, just by way of example.  

Open Mind-- Where to learn

1) Read paragraph “162 H) Family Farms” from the “Social Principles” found in either the Book of Discipline or the Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000. It discusses the church’s position and responsibility in dealing with issues of concentration in agricultural industries.

2) Read Resolution 191 “Ask the United States Attorney General To Investigate Violations of Sherman Anti-Trust Act in Order to Protect Family Farms” in The Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000 at pages 489-490.

3) Learn about the issues of concentration in agricultural industries at the following websites: Center for Rural Affairs at http://www.cfra.org/resources/market_competition.htm  and http://www.cfra.org/newsletter/corporate_farming_notes.htm; National Farmers Union at http://www.nfu.org/images/heffernan.pdf.

4) A January 1999 report cited in Resolution 191, mentioned above, on the “Concentration of Agricultural Markets” by Heffernan, Gronski, and Hendrickson of the University of Missouri Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, which report can be found on the web at: http://www.greens.org/s-r/gga/heffernan.html. 

Open Doors-- What your church can do

1) Hold a forum at your church where the issues are discussed.

2) Encourage adult Sunday school classes and/or independent adult study groups to study a curriculum entitled “Plenty In The Land: A Church Curriculum on Corporate Agriculture” that was originally developed for the Kansas East Conference Council on Ministries of the United Methodist Church. The materials in the study were intended to be used as an aid to an action/reflection adult education program focusing on the theme of concentration in the food industry.

 

Issue #4: Sustainable Agriculture 

Open Heart-- Where people are hurting

It is the mission statement of the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops (KCSAAC), housed as part of the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, to “Support small family-owned farms in Kansas through research, education, and outreach focused on production, storage, processing, and marketing technologies that will boost small farm profitability, protect natural resources, and enhance rural communities.” Sustainable farming is “Farming for profit, stewardship and community.” Increasingly, agricultural producers and rural communities are finding more of a need to use farming practices that constitute good stewardship in protecting the natural fertility of the soil, reducing chemical input, and conserving energy. Communities have an interest in sustaining population, adding value to the products produced in the area, and protecting their living conditions from contamination by industrial pollutants. Sustainable agriculture is a holistic approach to improve the quality of life for rural communities. 

Open Mind-- Where to learn

1) Read paragraph “162 O) Sustainable Agriculture” from the “Social Principles” found in either the Book of Discipline or the Book of Resolutions of the United Methodist Church for the year 2000.

2) Learn about sustainable agriculture at the following websites:

Open Doors-- What your church can do

1) Develop a covenant relationship between rural and urban churches to foster dialogue on sustainable agricultural  issues and how to form a working partnership to develop sustainable strategies for rural communities.

2) Sponsor a workshop or forum to educate your community, develop strategies, and implement action plans to encourage sustainable agriculture. (Representatives from the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops-- Jana Beckman, Coordinator; as well as the Kansas Rural Center--Dan Nagengast, Executive Director, and Jerry Jost, Heartland Sustainable Ag Network Director, would be excellent speakers for the forum.)

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