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Show Duhge City Nets WESTERN BEAVER COUNTY SINCE 1991 SERVING MILFORD Sl rents NOVEMBER 4, 1994 Corporate farming; is it agriculture or industry? Is the bottom line result economic development or an attack on rural America? Beaver County Commissioners Chad Johnson and Gary Sullivan traveled to Kansas City, Missouri last weekend to meet with community leaders from ten midwestern states to exchange experiences and ideas about the future of agricultural production. Harold F. Breimyer, University of Missouri Emeritus, — Economist led off the conference with his opinion that, "The food chain is the worst of all places to allow any substantial concentration of economic power. Because food is essential, any such power can be exploitive of both farm producers at one end VOL. IV rale Ki dealt with economic, socio-economic, ecological, health, and political © aspects of concentrated farming. Theme leadership for a workshop, conducted by Jerry Wade, University of Missouri, and Cornelia Flora, Rural Center for Development, was "The new world is a world of creation." The future of economic development is in stressing capabilities, not deficiencies. Quality something WITH them, you create strength," he said. In the Friday evening open forum, participants openly shared that too. But there ain't no jobs.’ We saw with our own eyes that lagoons don't always hold the effluent. When Affrican-Americans, experiences: whites, poor, middle class, Kendall Institute of Thu, Ph.D., and Agricultural ‘same Medicine at - University of Iowa, went one step beyond the requirements of his job last summer, to drive through the heart of North Carolina hog country. Thu and an associate, Professor Paul Durrenberger, Beaver County is moving into the corporate farming theater with the development of Circle Four Farms. Competition with established family hog not how we create jobs." Wade advised leaders that, to production farms, which is of considerable concern in the mid-west, is not an issue in this area. However, communication between Utahns and their mid-west counterparts can be beneficial in monitoring future development. Approximately 175 Kansas, from people Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Carolina, North Iowa, Dakota attended Nebraska, and the South Minnesota conference. create success by getting a fair share in the trade market. He advised volunteers and elected leaders to be creative and - not be limited by the “ought to" philosophy. "People want to be involved in the decision making. If you do something FOR the public. you take something away If You do from them. tell or undue restrictions. On Saturday, in the the story, we should listen," Thu reported. Land Use Planning and Zoning workshop, David Judith Heffernan, Executive Director for Heartland Network of Town and Rural Ministries, Aiken, Columbia, Missouri spoke on the impact workers of migrant in a_ the experiences of residents with a variety of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. "Time and time again we heard familiar stories about the most obvious of problems: the smell from hog facilities disrupting communities. We asked about economic growth, and heard that property values had dropped dramatically causing residents to sue for lowered assessments resulting in lower tax base for the _ county. We asked about jobs in impoverished rural areas, and were taken aback by the chorus of uproarious laughter in response to our question. "Yeah, we heard workers. tural However, their efforts backfired. Company labor recruiters circulated handbills, showing a photograph of the house and advertising free housing, as far south as Panama. Reports from Harrison County, Missouri exposed a proposed 100% tax deduction for a 25-year period as an Professor of Agricultural § Economics (Water & Agricultural Law Specialist) University of Nebraska-Lincoln, referred to the Utah agriculture Her ministry purchased a structure and remodeled it to house beginning IBP development is based on "How we make a living - than dwelling on what you are against." Wade described the local community as an “arena of control" where leaders of the future can unite to University of Iowa, listened at the "Discovering what you are all for is more important rich structure to Murphy "Family" Farms to comply with corporate farming restrictions in Iowa and Missouri. Utah does not have restrictions to protect the small family farmer against corporate entities. Neither aliens or corporate businesses are bothered with reporting requirements community. Housing was. one vital concern addressed. Chairman of the Department of Anthropology _at and of consumers other." by the sale of certificates instead of bonds. Murphy Farms, probably the most unpopular of the corporate giants, changed their name and Or indi Workshops NO. 44 economic development perk for Murphy Farms. Job training programs, netting hundreds of thousands of dollars to corporate producers in Iowa, bypassed the voters because they were funded protection legislation as "a law to severely restrict the counties in zoning agriculture." Senate Bill 227 was introduced by Senator Leonard Blackham at the request of Circle Four Farms representatives. The 1994 Legislative Session passed the Bill. In the "Health Effects". workshop Dr. — Kelley Donham, Institute of Agricultural University of Medicine, lowa, explained that exfoliated gut epithelium has been labeled as hazardous by the World Health Organization. Utah soil and climate differs from Mid-Western conditions. Concerns for groundwater safety and atmospheric conditions vary ~ (continued on page 9) |