Is the family farm really gone?

Last night I was reviewing an Interview of Mike Obermuller claiming he can relate to the farmers in our district because as a boy he lived on a farm over in Wisconsin.   It got me wondering where he really stands on farm issues.  I have my roots in the CD2 farming community around Kenyon, Wanamingo, and Zumbrota.  I spent my summers working on a dairy farm.  I milked cows, loaded hay bales, drove tractor, and shoveled manure but the farm I grew up on doesn’t look anything like that today.   My cousin still operates that farm but I can tell you it is not his father’s Oldsmobile.

I remember when 50 or 60 dairy cows were a large operation.  I wondered if Mike could tell us what size herd it takes to have a viable dairy farm in today’s economy.  Monsanto was still assuring us that DDT was safe.  Farmer’s market was a coop, not an emerging agricultural industry.  GMO was totally off the radar.  In my youth, dairy farming was very labor intensive compared to grain farming or even cattle ranching.  I wondered if Mike could tell us how many people are employed by CD2 dairy farmers today.

Family farms still exist here in CD2 even if they are incorporated which creates some ambiguity in our understanding of the family farm vs. corporate farming.  Our historic image of the “family farm” is actually making a strong re-emergence in CD2 in the form of organic farming and Farmer’s markets.  I am inspired by the growth rate of this very positive development in food production and distribution.  It is so significant that it has come to represent a significant threat to the corporate food production network.  You would think that the republicans would be excited about people working hard to get ahead and pursue the American dream.   They are not.  This is probably the best example of what’s wrong with republican politics in CD2.  They oppose anything that poses any kind of threat to their wealthy corporate constituents.   Those constituents don’t live here in CD2.  John Kline has been representing this district for 12 years now and he still has no understanding of our deep commitment to the land and the communities who preserve that heritage.