Haven't I been seeing this on TV since the 1960's?  The solution is to move away from the water folks.

This situation is certainly no worse than the slew of beachfront property owners that rebuild every 10 years or so.  Federal Flood Insurance is just another entitlement.

It would be interesting to know just how much of this land is owned by Con Agra or ADM.

pALEPHx wrote:

On the other hand, one of the PIRGs or another cause-y type group probably has plenty of them, if you can dig one up.

I put that question to such an outfit based in Lincoln, NB in the pre-net, early 80s and the answer I got was, and I quote from memory, "Who the fuck knows?"

Still, it's probably less than you think. My best guess is the majority of crop acreage is held by investment funds and the urban affluent who often pool their resources to buy selected properties.

Baywolfe wrote:

No buyout, no payoff, just goodbye.

And we can probably thank the current regime for an expansion of the concept of eminent domain.

sigmoid freud wrote:

I keep waiting for comment from the same types who said Katrina was god's punishment of all those sinners in N'Awlins.

Patience. All in good time.

sigmoid freud wrote:

I keep waiting for comment from the same types who said Katrina was god's punishment of all those sinners in N'Awlins.

Good old Jon Stewart.  Last week he reported on the flurry of gay unions taking place in California, then segued to the floods in the Midwest, suggesting that perhaps God's aim was off.

pALEPHx wrote:

opsec wrote:

It would be interesting to know just how much of this land is owned by Con Agra or ADM.

Funny, the same curiosity struck me about a week ago. A glancing dip into Google assures me that any such research would have to be done the "old-fashioned way," i.e. through exhaustive property deed searches and cross-referencing. F'rinstance, just a few of the results implied there are dozens, if not hundreds, of subsidiary names, co-owned lands, and similarly obfuscating records to prevent anything as simple as "give me a map of Con Agra land in Iowa." On the other hand, one of the PIRGs or another cause-y type group probably has plenty of them, if you can dig one up.

I married into an Iowa farming family.  If their pattern holds true for the majority, then the farms are mostly family-owned, family-farmed, but the produce is bought most likely by Con-Agra or ADM.

whiskytangofoxtrot wrote:

I married into an Iowa farming family.  If their pattern holds true for the majority, then the farms are mostly family-owned, family-farmed, but the produce is bought most likely by Con-Agra or ADM.

I watched at least a third of Iowa's family farms get swallowed up from Des Moines when wrote for the farm trade press in the mid 80s. Your wife's family was smarter and luckier than most.

Last edited by choad (2008-06-22 02:52:34)

Johnny_Rotten wrote:

whiskytangofoxtrot wrote:

I married into an Iowa farming family.  If their pattern holds true for the majority, then the farms are mostly family-owned, family-farmed, but the produce is bought most likely by Con-Agra or ADM.

I do not know a lot about how it is structured these days, but it seems to be that rather then actually taking the risk and farming it would be much smarter to own the only means of buying and distributing up all the product, own the seeds farmers are required to buy, and possibly own or finance the land so as to lease it back to the farmer. Heck in a bad year you would might make more on the increasing price then when King Harvest comes to town.

Exactly.

Baywolfe wrote:

Haven't I been seeing this on TV since the 1960's?  The solution is to move away from the water folks.

You do realize that water is a requirement for crops, right?   Or did you think it was a coincidence that so much farmland surrounds the river?

tojo2000 wrote:

Baywolfe wrote:

Haven't I been seeing this on TV since the 1960's?  The solution is to move away from the water folks.

You do realize that water is a requirement for crops, right?   Or did you think it was a coincidence that so much farmland surrounds the river?

Never been to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or Iowa, have you?  It's the Mississippi, not the Nile and this is 2008 not 1608.

The most radical thing you can do...food-wise...is to stop eating so much god-damned fucking meat. We all know it's an enormous burden on teh environ-mint. We all know it, I won't gas on (pun intended). Here's the Wiki (and the Wiki has deeper citations), in case you're stupid enough to dispute me. What you may not realize, because most of you are American, is that most cultures eat FAR less meat than you do, and make much nicer food.

I'm not advocating vegetarianism, because every once in a while I just gotsta eat some spicy chicken wings with my 4th pitcher of Kilkenny (or Guiness, or whatever's on special), and yes, I still love a fat trout and I probably eat more salmon than the average B.C. Indian. But I am telling you damned Yankees that my trips to the States have convinced me that YOU BIG FAT CHRONICALLY CONSTIPATED AMERICANS EAT FAR TOO MUCH GOD-DAMNED FUCKING MEAT.

Thank you. This has been a public service announcement from your svelte neighbour up north who is statistically far less likely to ever need cardiac catheterization than you are.

Addendum: To those of you who are even now whetting your knives, contemplating what is possibly my most incoherent post ever; PISS UP A ROPE. I've been up all night writing tech specs for radiology equipment. Do you know what that does to a guy? DO YOU?!?! No. I didn't think so. Well lemme tell you. It...fucks...you...up.

Last edited by WilberCuntLicker (2008-06-23 09:46:37)

choad wrote:

WilberCuntLicker wrote:

The most radical thing you can do...food-wise...is to stop eating so much god-damned fucking meat. We all know it's an enormous burden on teh environ-mint. We all know it, I won't gas on (pun intended). Here's the Wiki (and the Wiki has deeper citations), in case you're stupid enough to dispute me.

This crowd is a slightly more receptive to the subject than cruel was but I only mounted my high, fattened horse once to preach the same sermon before I surrendered.

Yeah it's pretty sickening having to tell supposedly intelligent people that their piggish habits are a leading cause of misery. Let's leave the fuckers to their flabby asses, hard stools and coronary disease. I laugh when I read from the aforementioned Wiki:

Wiki wrote:

American vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index, lower levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less incidence of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, dementias such as Alzheimer’s Disease and other disorders.

I mean really...what's an American vegetarian? Someone who only eats animals that only eat vegetables?

choad wrote:

Forgive the interruption. I return you now to your medical industrial complex.
You're scaring me, Wilber. No tortures rival tech writing.

For me it's a surreal sort of torture. Faking comfort with physics and math is almost beyond ridiculous. Twice now I have ghost-written works for peer-review journals without really understanding the entirety of the subject matter. On the up-side, it strokes my penis-shaped ego that I can make a go of it - I have no formal science training whatsoever...no wait...I forgot...I DID do a BSc in...what was it you needed again?

Last edited by WilberCuntLicker (2008-06-23 13:00:01)

fnord wrote:

Wilber, Wilber, Wilber.  Why would you want to cause massive chaos by extricating Americans from the clutches of the Medical-Industrial Complex?  What kind of sick twisted radical neo-luddite* are you? You do realize Disease Care is one of the few sectors of our economy that is adding jobs.  If Americans were to exercise, eat properly, and become healthier, our economic downturn could blossom into the Mother Of All Depressions.


*I’m not sure if neo-luddite or anarcho-primitivist is the better way to describe you.

I think I like the sound of anarcho-primitivist, if it's all the same to you.
I tried being a luddite, but the clogs hurt my feet.
As for my exhortations to eat less meat, don't ask me to defend them.
I just take orders from people further up the food chain of command....


Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

pALEPHx wrote:

WilberCuntLicker wrote:

I tried being a luddite, but the clogs hurt my feet.

They used sabots to wreck looms?

Yup. Ever hear of a little thing called sabotage?

George Orr wrote:

WilberCuntLicker wrote:

pALEPHx wrote:

They used sabots to wreck looms?

Yup. Ever hear of a little thing called sabotage?

Jesus, Wilber, way to explain a joke you didn't get yourself.  (Hint:  Luddite and Saboteur do not have the same meaning.) 

You may be the only person in your geographic area who has a working brain, but try to remember that on High-Street you have company.

Well hell.
Just hell.
To be honest, I'm still not getting it.
Must be too subtle for me.
Do I get shame points taken off for having written 2500 words of radiology tech specs last night?
It was mind-numbingly dull, and after I was done I had a shot of tequila and two pipes of kush.
Now I'm lying here with one eye shut and a cramp in my right forearm.
Life has grown old...and sticky.
Let's see...nope...I'm still not getting it.
I'm confused, and the walls are closing in.
Is it Alzheimers? Dementia? Senile satyriasis?
All of the above? I apologize. I swore I'd never break down in public again.
I...need...my...teddy....

WilberCuntLicker wrote:

Do I get shame points taken off for having written 2500 words of radiology tech specs last night?

I don't know from personal experience (thank God) but my guess is yes.

I had a shot of tequila and two pipes of kush.
Now I'm lying here with one eye shut and a cramp in my right forearm.

Drink a bunch of water and lie on your stomach for a while.