>Date: Wed, 05 May 1999 14:10:16 +0000
>From: randyhampshire <hmpshrfm@gte.net>
>Hi all, just a few thoughts upon my return from the national town
>meeting in detroit...
>I was shocked and dismayed to see the lack of farmer input in this "town
>hall meeting". I believe that Randy and I were the "only" farmers there
>representing their own farms and personal ideas about the threat of
>urban sprawl to American agriculture. There were few workshops that
>even slightly pertained to farmers. At every opportunity (and they were
>few) we pointed out this lack of representation from the farming
>community, apparently no one else noticed, or cared?
>Whoever organized this meeting did a poor job of covering the bases.
>Maybe they thought that Dow and Monsanto represent us farmers? Urban
>people are pretty selfish if they don't even recognize the effects their
>migration has on farmers and their ability to farm.
>Once upon a time, farmers earned incomes relatively equivalent to their
>neighbors in town. We have lost that in America. If farmers can't get
>parity prices, how can they hope to be able to compete in the bidding
>price wars for farmland (or are they just developmentally-challenged
>lots)?
>Maybe I'm just a backward farm-girl, because after all, they did call it
>a townhall meeting, NOT a town and country hall meeting!
>shirley
>
>
>
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>
Michelle Miller
Pesticide Use and Risk Reduction Project
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin - Madison
U.S. Mail: 146 Agriculture Hall 608.262.7135
Campus: 1535 Observatory Drive 608.262.5200
Madison, WI 53706 fax 265.3020
www.wisc.edu/cias/ mmmille6@facstaff.wisc.edu
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