July, 2020
Lincoln – To all my good rural neighbors in Nebraska and elsewhere, let me share some thoughts on the choices coming up in the November elections.
I write this from my standpoint as the first president of the Rock Creek Ranchers 4-H Club, back in the 1950s, a Lancaster County club that has now lasted seven decades but which might not survive much longer unless times change for the better in rural America. Sentiment aside, however, this is written not out of nostalgia, but out of clear-eyed realism.
It goes without saying that Donald Trump has been a disaster for American agriculture, so I would be supporting almost anyone in his stead this November. Trump, by throwing taxpayer money at farmers to try to buy their votes, has attempted to turn proud farmers into hypocrites about beliefs they used to hold dear: trade-not-aid, soil conservation, robust food chains, diversified farming, science in the public interest.
We are lucky not to have just "anyone" as a Trump alternative, but actually a decent person who knows the importance of rural America, Joe Biden. (4-H taught us decency as well as farming.) I've looked in detail at the Biden plan for rural America. There's much to like.
Let me distill a few essential points from his plan into thoughts to keep in mind as you talk to other neighbors and decide how to cast your vote. Biden's rural plan fits nicely into his overall theme of "Build Back Better."
• Topsoil as an infrastructure priority. Any conversation about agriculture must start with soil health as a national security issue. Some experts say America has only about 60 harvests left in its topsoil, given current depletion rates. Many experts say restoring carbon to our topsoil is among the best ways to combat climate change. I believe the experts. The Biden plan would invest heavily in programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), which I and many farmers know works well, from personal experience. Trump's record is to cut and eliminate conservation programs and not to acknowledge topsoil loss or climate change. So Build Back Better Topsoil.
• Agriculture research and extension. The Biden plan would invest heavily in the research agriculture needs right now to meet challenges inconceivable only a few years ago. Our crops may be losing nutritional value, a sobering development. Simultaneously, new advances in microbiome research offer exciting new possibilities to treat diseases like diabetes and obesity, scourges of 21st century American life and factors in coronavirus co-morbidity. I have talked personally to leading researchers on both of these fronts and know that this work is essential. Likewise, transferring new knowledge (especially about healthy food) to consumers through the Extension Service needs to be revitalized, which could be done under the Biden plan. (Yes, including through 4-H clubs.) The Trump administration's record, on the contrary, is one of hobbling two important USDA agencies, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service, by relocating them and then joking about it. So Build Back Better Ag Research.
• Restoration of a robust food chain. The breakdown of America's food chain during the pandemic, when dairy farmers had to dump milk and hog farmers had to kill their pigs because monopoly-run slaughterhouses shut down, illustrates the need to develop much stronger local and regional markets for our food production and distribution. This is one of the keystones of the Biden plan, and a source of significant job creation. The Trump administration's record is one of ruining hard-won foreign markets by making America's farmers fight causes like Chinese infringement of intellectual property rights, which realistically can only be fought by multilateral international agreements. So Build Back Better Local and Regional Markets and create the jobs that go with them.
• Broadband for rural America. Put yourself in the position of a farmer who needs better broadband access for his or her crop production; of a rural family that needs better broadband for their children's remote learning, especially during pandemic shut-downs; of a rural medical clinic that needs good broadband for patient tele-medicine visits. Rural America cannot thrive without hugely improved broadband. If there is any hope to re-populate rather than de-populate rural America, broadband will be instrumental. That is an essential feature of the Biden plan. So Build Back Better Broadband and re-populate rural America.
This is not a normal election year. Some say that the country is hopelessly divided along partisan political lines as never before, but I don't see it that way. This is an election not about party, but about decency, fundamental values, and the future of rural America.
Take it from a Rock Creek Rancher.
