Activists Threaten Food Supply

Ruling Imperils Sugar Production


By BILL TOMSON

Wall Street Journal

U.S. sugar production will be cut by about 20% if farmers are banned from planting genetically modified beets next year, according to data prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of a court case over whether to continue allowing the practice.

Genetically modified beets have come to account for 95% of the U.S. sugar-beet crop in the five years since they were approved by the Agriculture Department. But in August, a judge threw out the USDA's initial approval for the use of genetically modified seeds, saying it hadn't done enough research into the environmental impact. The department says the studies the judge required will take about two years.

That triggered concerns there wouldn't be enough traditional sugar-beet seeds for next spring's planting season, as many seed producers had switched to genetically modified varieties. It takes about two years to produce seeds.

Sugar beets, from which sugar is processed, will account for about 60% of domestic U.S. production this year.

If farmers can't plant genetically modified seeds next spring, a shortage of traditional seeds would likely cut 1.6 million tons from next year's sugar-beet crop, according to a declaration by the USDA prepared by Daniel Colacicco, director of the department's dairy and sweetener analysis group. The government has forecast next year's crop at 8.1 million tons.    Read More

This falls in line with the typical “shoot first, ask questions later” approach by anti-ag groups in their efforts to force agriculture to change without looking at the consequences.  Many of these groups have a similar philosophy to roll ag back 100 years in it’s technology use.  What they don’t realize is that these types of things reduce our ability to grow food at the exact time we need to be increasing our output.  All of these efforts come from people that live very comfortably and don’t worry about being able to afford food.  Those that live on a budget or don’t know where their next meal is coming from would certainly disagree with these elitist attacks on our food production system. 

El Paso Creates Endowment Supporting Grazing

New endowment aims to protect public-lands grazing


By Drovers news source
Wednesday, August 11, 2010



After many long conversations between representatives of the Public Lands Council (PLC), the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and Ruby Pipeline, an agreement has been reached, in principle, which seeks to ensure that the nearly 100-year relationship between the livestock industry and El Paso Corp. continues far into the future. While details of the agreement are still being finalized, it establishes a significant endowment with the mission to “protect, enhance and preserve the public lands grazing industry.” The concept was formally adopted earlier today after a unanimous vote by the board of directors of the Public Lands Council, whose board members represent 13 western states, NCBA, the American Sheep Industry Association, and the Association of National Grasslands.

“While we are concerned about the potential impacts of Ruby’s recent settlement agreement with the Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Association, we are satisfied that this endowment provides us a tool with which to mitigate many of our concerns,” said Skye Krebs, president of the Public Lands Council. “As the organization which has represented public lands ranchers in the West for over four decades, we are confident that our industry will benefit from this endowment for many years to come.”

The $15 million endowment, $7.5 million to be contributed later this year and $750,000 to be added into the endowment annually for the following 10 years, will be governed by one representative from the PLC and one representative from El Paso Corp. While the principal amount will not be used, the endowment’s earnings will go toward meeting PLC’s mission to serve the public lands livestock industry. Specific projects may include scientific research, education, range monitoring, fire restoration, media, and community outreach for the benefit of the public lands grazing industry. It is important to note that funds from the endowment will not be used for litigation.    Read More


It’s fantastic to see El Paso Corporation realize the importance of agriculture and public lands grazing. You will remember that they donated over $20 million to a couple of radical environmental groups that were going to use the money to force ranchers off their land. When the news broke about this, many of us in ag contacted El Paso to voice our disappointment in their decision. Like many other corporations that we’ve seen mistakenly give money to radical anti-ag groups, they’ve seemingly realized their error. So I say thank you to El Paso for taking the time to study this issue more closely and supporting hard working ranching families who rely on public lands to help feed this nation.

Whackos Prefer Fish over Food & Families in CA

Radical environmentalism threatens Fresno area agriculture, shut down water supply
November 16, 6:33 AM Fresno Public Policy Examiner Jeff Crow


California's agriculture industry is facing a potential meltdown due to radicalized environmentalists who have made it clear a three inch fish is to take precedent over people.

What the environmentalists (especially the "whackos" in the movement) are doing could actually end up backfiring in their faces. It's estimated that over 24 Million California residents in 3 major areas (Silicon Valley, Central Valley/Fresno and Los Angeles) will be "shut off" from our state's water system and on top of that, we're only getting 10% of the water allotment for Agriculture, which means were going to export far less food to other states and countries, which will then cost jobs at Supermarkets, Trucking and other ancillary businesses that rely upon this water and Fresno/Clovis CA's Ag goods which rely upon this water.

But hey, what does millions of job losses factor on the overall health of the economy. This point was brought up to some extent in a recent interview I did with the Former Mayor/Current City Councilman of the City of Clovis, CA.

Accorrding to to him, its the base industry for Fresno/Clovis and that "we need to think of the dollars and cents that are in this situation" while Mario Santoyo of the California Latino Water Coalition, who I talked to also, said "if California's agricultural breadbasket in the Central Valley continues to abide by a Federal Judge's ruling, it will only be a matter of time before the price of ag goods will skyrocket, we'll probably have to further import and thus enrich a Communist China which has taken entire sectors of the US economy or the nation will become such a starving country that we will literally be storming the White House and forcing the Washington DC politicians to vastly reform the ESA, or Endangered Species Act." Read More

It really does boil down to priorities in dealing with our water supply. Is a tiny fish more important than the families that live in those communities? Well to some animal rights activists, I’m sure the answer is yes. However, the fact of the matter is that our food supply and the families that grow it and eat it should carry some weight in these discussions. Food does not magically appear. It takes water to make it happen.

ELF/ALF Members Considered Terrorists

Domestic crimes may be considered ‘terrorist’ acts
by David Ziemer
November 12, 2009
Wisconsin Law Journal

Radical environmentalists may not see themselves as terrorists, but asked whether a terrorism enhancement applies to their sentences for destroying government property, the Seventh Circuit found the issue clear cut.

On Nov. 9, the court affirmed application of U.S.S.G. 3A1.4 to members of the Earth Liberation Front who destroyed several research projects at a U.S. Forest Service facility in Rhinelander.

In 2000, the defendants, Katherine Christianson and Bryan Rivera, and two others entered the facility and damaged or destroyed more than 500 trees that were part of a genetic engineering experiment, either by cutting them down or girdling them. (“Girdling” consists of removing a strip of bark from around a tree’s entire circumstance, causing eventual death.)

Christianson and Rivera were implicated in 2007, when one of the other conspirators was arrested for the attempted bombing of the Michigan Tech University campus.

Before addressing the merits, Judge Manion cautioned, “ELF and its members are not to be confused with the typical environmental protestor denouncing and peacefully demonstrating against such things as nuclear power, strip coal mining, cutting old-growth timber, offshore drilling, damming wild rivers, and so on.”

Instead, Manion observed, “ELF’s members take their activism to unconscionable levels: since ELF’s inception in 1987, its members have been responsible for bombings, arson, vandalism, and a host of other crimes. In fact, between 2000 and 2005, 43 of the 57 reported terrorist attacks committed on American soil were done by ELF members or their sister organization, the Animal Liberation Front. ELF’s terror attacks have caused over fifty million dollars in damage to public and private property.” Read More

If you are going to use violence, property destruction or threaten a person’s life in the name of your environmental or animal rights cause, you are going to be labeled a terrorist and dealt with accordingly. There terrorists are finding that out and hopefully others in their groups will realize this isn’t a game.

Hopi Tribe Tells Sierra Club To Take A Hike

Hopi Tribal Council Bans Environmental Groups
Navajo-Hopi Observer, News Report, Staff reports,
Posted: Sep 30, 2009

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - The Hopi Tribe has a message for the Sierra Club and other environmental groups: Keep out!

That is the response of the Hopi Tribal Council on Monday to what it says has been continuous concerted attacks from local and national environmental groups "bent on advancing their interests and agenda at the expense of the Hopi Tribe and its sovereign interest."

The council wants the Sierra Club and other environmental groups and on-reservation organizations affiliated with these groups to know they are not welcome on the Hopi Reservation, declaring them persona non grata - no longer favored or welcome.

By a resolution approved 12-0, the council said environmentalists have deprived the tribe "of markets for its coal resources" and coal revenues needed to sustain governmental services, provide jobs for tribal members and safeguard Hopi culture and tradition.

In 2005, environmental groups played a significant role in the shutdown of the Mohave Generating Station, which the Hopi Council contends "deprived the Hopi Tribe of many millions of dollars of annual operating revenues," according to the resolution.

Revenue losses from the Mohave power plant range from an estimated $6.5 million to $8.5 million annually.

The council feels that the economic viability of the Navajo Generating Station - the tribe's only remaining coal customer - is also being threatened, and that environmentalists' actions could lead to "total economic collapse of the tribe."

The Navajo Generating Station provides about $11 million a year in revenue for the tribe.

"The Mohave closure did little more than balance the politically expedient needs of these environmental organizations on the already impoverished backs of the Hopi and Navajo people ... without providing any reasonable means of replacing the tribal revenues lost to the closure," the resolution states. Read More

Consider this an example of what will happen on a national scale if the Sierra Club is successful in passing cap and tax legislation through Congress. It will take away our ability as a nation to utilize these abundant natural resources and leave us with only “blue-sky” replacement options. The Sierra Club should start supporting responsible energy policies that guarantee we have affordable energy available to replace what they are trying to shut down. Their current efforts to take us back to the stone age are a far cry from that.