Merlin the magician, legend has it, lodged the sword Excalibur in a stone where it would lie until taken up by the true King of England.  As of August 12, 2008 the United States Department of Justice has laid its hands on its own sword in a stone -- the Packers and Stockyards Act.  If it succeeds in taking up this sword, it will strike a great blow in defense of farmers, ranchers and consumers.

The market has forced Monsanto to abandon Prosilac, a bovine growth hormone used to artificially boost milk production in cows.  First, Monsanto could not convince enough consumers that milk from treated cows was as good as milk from untreated cows. Then, Monsanto could not convince enough governments to outlaw labels that revealed if the milk was from untreated cows. Now, Monsanto has decided sell its division that produces Prosilac. This would have happened long ago, but Monsanto persistently manipulated the market and suppressed information. 

There is a great divide between rural and urban.  Wind energy is the latest issue to expose this gap.  Urban dwellers see wind energy as a solution to high energy prices and a clean alternative to fossil fuels.  Rural folk see wind energy as another thing city folk are going to try to take without paying for.  They are both right, but there is much more to it than that.

The Pickens Plan is a trojan horse, and yesterday, warriors hidden inside came pouring out.  Pickens revealed his plan for the government to grant him the power of eminent domain, government subsidies for power transmission lines, and power to control those lines (as well as water pipelines) from his land in the Texas Panhandle to Dallas/Fort Worth.  The Pickens Plan is being sold as a common sense effort to shift toward wind and solar power, but it includes a bold attempt to gain control over the market for alternative energy sources. 

Today, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals filed an opinion of great importance.  It may, at long last, give farmers protetection from Pilgrim's Pride, Tyson Food, and other meatpackers that dominate the livestock markets.  For decades, farmers have been denied this protection under the Packers and Stockyards Act ("PSA").  The opinion in Wheeler v. Pilgrim's Pride Corp,  Case No. 07-40651 (5th Cir.) may change that.  

Rural Oklahoma today looks much different than it did when I was growing up there in the late 70's and early 80's. Then it was a community of farmers -- small businessmen who knew how to manage the naturally variable process of growing things.  Most of them are gone now and their kids moved away.  The ones who still farm do so in a way that is hardly recognizable.  No one seems to see any future in it, but I see a huge opportunity.    

The U.S. Constitution was written by and for independent farmers who knew how to manage the naturally variable process of growing things.  Industrialization of agriculture replaced most U.S. farmers with low-skill, low-wage laborers and top-down corporate/government management.  Unfortunately, neither the laborers nor the managers know how to farm.  They are unprepared to respond to changes in the climate, energy markets and food markets which have all become very variable.  We need people who are skilled at managing the naturally variable process of growing things.  We need farmers.  And we need them now.