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USDA offers up new seed money for small farmers

by f45 Posted on January 16, 2013

USDA offers up new seed money for small farmers

By Susie Cagle

Make your hydroponic backyard organic kale dreams come true, now with help from the federal government. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Agriculture finalized a microloan program to assist veterans, minority growers, and small-time farmers who might otherwise have to rely on credit cards to get their farms up and running.

The microloans, up to $35,000 each, will be majorly helpful in an industry where loans are usually for much bigger sums, and involve much bigger stacks of paperwork. More microloans could mean more microfarms, and more diverse ones on the whole, and super-low interest rates (currently 1.25 percent) could certainly cut down on farmers’ debt load. From the Associated Press:

Over the last three years, there has been a 60 percent increase in local growers who sell directly to consumers or farmers markets, Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack said…

The loan can cover the costs of renting land, buying seed and equipment, and other expenses. One goal is to create more opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment in the farming industry, Vilsack said. Another goal is to provide beginners a chance to build credit, so that they can eventually qualify for higher-value loans and expand.

“It’s about making sure that we have diversity within agriculture, that we have a good blend of large production facilities, medium-sized operations and smaller operations,” Vilsack
said. “It will help bolster the local and regional food system movement that is taking place.”

Some small-time farmers were optimistic, but is $35,000 too micro of a loan to do much good?

That would be a good question for economists who don’t have a beef with their local farmers market. Iowa State University economist and local food researcher David Swenson is particularly grumpy about the USDA’s goals. “This is a policy area where community affection and political affection for the idea of local foods has gotten itself way out in front of the economics,” he said. Goddamn that community affection. David Swenson must be hanging out with Glenn Beck lately.

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‘Sustainable communities’ give Glenn Beck nightmares

by donseoo Posted on January 16, 2013

‘Sustainable communities’ give Glenn Beck nightmares

By Susie Cagle

High-speed rail! Resilient cities! Cap-and-trade! Common good!

Quick: Is this a list of upcoming Grist posts or Glenn Beck’s worst nightmare? Both, probably.

Beck is currently stirring up fear/promoting his new Agenda 21 novel, which imagines a future where only one young couple can save America from a violent and tyrannical government that promotes things like social justice and greenways, the horror.

Beck’s book is fiction, but his profound fear of Agenda 21 is very, very real. In his book promotion, Beck is hoping to inspire more of that fear, I guess, with efforts like this one to collect “key words and phrases that are often used at the local level when discussing Agenda 21 related initiatives” (as illustrated above).

Sure, “good business sense,” “scenic views,” and “lifelong learning” might be the stuff of your dreams, but they’re the stuff of Beck’s nightmares. Which itself is the stuff of my dreams. Aw, don’t cry, Glenn Beck! It’s all gonna be OK. “Sanctuary.” “Restoration.” “Prosperity.” Haha just kidding, please keep crying.

Here’s the trailer for Agenda 21:

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California’s nutty farmland values are spiking

by f45 Posted on January 15, 2013

California’s nutty farmland values are spiking

By Susie Cagle

Over the past few years, farmland values have ballooned nationwide. In California, that rise has not only changed the economics of Central Valley farming, but the crops themselves.

A weak dollar has pushed up demand for exports of California’s goods to Asia, especially almonds, pistachios, and walnuts. In 2011, almonds beat out California’s iconic grapes as the state’s second top commodity, at $3.9 billion a year. Nut-growing farmland value has grown 15 to 20 percent over the last two years, and it’s still consistently selling for 10-20 percent above asking price.

In the economically troubled Central Valley, this is the kind of market that makes short-sighted investors drool and long-view economists wince. From the Associated Press:

Investors both foreign and domestic have taken notice, buying up farmland and driving up agricultural land values in a region with some of the highest residential foreclosure rates.

California’s almond industry, which grows about 80 percent of the global almond supply and 100 percent of the domestic supply, saw the most dramatic growth powered by strong demand from new money-spending middle classes in India and China. The growth has prompted a rush for almond-growing land and pushed almond land values through the roof …

Revenues for almonds and walnuts increased by 30 percent between 2010 and 2011, and revenues for grapes rose by 20 percent, according to the USDA. California’s agricultural exports during that time grew by more than $3 billion …

In Fresno County, almond land was valued at up to $18,000 per acre in 2012, and pistachio land at up to $25,000 per acre. That’s higher than citrus, grape, or tree fruit land — and much higher than the $7,200 average per acre farm real estate value in California last year, according to the USDA.

This farm boom is happening at the same time that California state is trying to figure out how to snag all the farmland it needs to turn into high-speed train tracks. The more lucrative the farming and the more expensive the land, the dirtier the fight over high-speed rail is likely to get. If California ends up using its power of eminent domain on these fancy farms, things could get truly nutty.

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Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

by u60uurf Posted on January 11, 2013

Fixing a broken gas tax could fix broken roads

By Susie Cagle

Too many people are driving too many dang efficient cars in the Pacific Northwest lately, and Washington and Oregon have had enough. Between those efficient cars and a population that’s just generally driving less, gas tax intake has fallen nationwide, meaning less money for road maintenance and repairs that all cars (and bikes!) need. Now some states are looking at new ways to make up the difference.

deborahfitchett

Starting next month, Washington will begin taxing electric vehicle owners $100 per year, though with about 1,600 electric cars in the state, that’s not likely to fill those empty coffers. In Oregon, lawmakers are considering a proposal to tax through a flat fee like Washington or by taxing drivers of fuel-efficient cars based on the number of miles they drive. (A new report to the Washington state legislature says a mileage tax there would be “feasible.”)

Some say that taxing based on vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, will be the gas tax of the future not just for West Coast hippies, but for everyone. From CNBC:

Either way, what’s happening in the Pacific Northwest is raising a number of questions. The primary one being: Is it only a matter of time until anybody owning a car or truck is paying a special tax based on how much they drive their car?

Supporters of VMT or per mile taxes point out that electric car and even hybrid car owners are paying nothing or very little to help maintain state roads.

Take a look at the Washington electric vehicle tax and compare it to the state’s current gas tax of 37 cents per gallon. If somebody drives an internal combustion car that gets 30 MPG and they average 12,500 miles driven each year, they’ll pay about $154 a year in state gas tax. By comparison, electric car owners will be paying less at just $100 per year.

On the flip side, critics of VMT or per mile taxes say it’s hypocritical of state governments to promote electrical vehicle ownership and then turn around and tax those who are the “early adopters”.

It might be nice if states provided other incentives for more efficient vehicles, but that’s not really the spirit of the gas tax. If its goal were penalizing and shaming us over fossil fuels, I could understand this annoyance, but it’s not! It’s how we fund our roads. Not that we couldn’t use some shaming, but we could really use some investment in crumbling infrastructure. This is how taxes work! (USA! USA!) We all use the roads, so let’s please all pitch in to fill the potholes. You can still do that while feeling righteously smug, Volt drivers.

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GMO labeling initiative gets rolling in Washington state

by olikellopas Posted on January 4, 2013

GMO labeling initiative gets rolling in Washington state

By Susie Cagle

Label It Yourself

A ballot measure that would have required labels on all genetically modified frankenfoods failed in California this past fall, but 2013 is a new year with new hope and a new roiling labeling movement, this time in Washington state.

Supporters of a GMO-labeling ballot measure have collected far more signatures than necessary, and if they’re certified, the proposal will hit the state legislature in the upcoming session and then likely be on the ballot in November. The movement’s colorful spokesperson is spreading the word, as The Seattle Times reports:

“Here we go, Round 2,” said the Washington initiative’s sponsor, Chris McManus, who owns a small advertising firm in Tacoma. “They got us the first time in Cali, but we’re stitched up, greased up and ready to go.”

McManus told the Spokane Spokesman-Review that the measure is not a scare tactic.

“A little bit more information never hurt anybody about the foods they eat.”

But opposition is beginning to coalesce. Farm industry representatives call the proposal an attempt to scare people away from food sources that have no known health risks. If the initiative wasn’t about scaring people, asked Heather Hansen of Washington Friends of Farms and Forests, why did supporters deliver their petitions in an old ambulance?

Because that’s awesome! I bet it doesn’t get great mileage, but sirens, wheee!

If anything is deserving of sirens, it’s the frankenfish that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently deemed safe, which would be labeled under such an initiative but likely not otherwise.

The initiative would require special labels on any raw or processed food sold in Washington with any genetically modified ingredients. That would include fruits and vegetables, processed foods and even some seafood like genetically modified salmon, McManus said …

Opponents said that would create big problems for farmers and food processors, who would have to put different labels on the same products if they’re sold in Washington and in other states.

It seems like threatening those of us who don’t live in Washington with unlabeled monster salmon is a real scare tactic. Get ready with those stickers, folks!

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A new year, a new Keystone XL blockade

by hanhuogekennog Posted on January 3, 2013

A new year, a new Keystone XL blockade

By Susie Cagle

Late Wednesday night, the Keystone XL blockaders launched a new tree-sit in Diboli, Texas, coinciding with kickoff of a direct-action training camp.

Last month, TransCanada, which is constructing the southern leg of Keystone XL, got around an 85-day treetop blockade by rerouting the pipeline. With this new tree-sit, located 150 miles south of the old one, “blockaders have found a location around which the pipe cannot easily be rerouted,” activists said in a statement.

A number of protesters on the ground have been arrested so far today, but the two activists in the trees are still untouched, and there have not (yet) been reports of police using force against anyone. In the past, police have put blockade activists in choke holds, dragged them on the ground, and pepper-sprayed them into compliance.

Blockaders say this latest action is being done in solidarity with Idle No More, an ongoing movement of Canada’s First Nations peoples who have, among other battles, been fighting against tar-sands pipelines on their native land. “Rising up to defend our homes against corporate exploitation is our best and only hope to preserve life on this planet,” Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson Ron Seifert said in a statement. “We must normalize and embrace direct, organized resistance to the death machine of industrial extraction and stand with those like Idle No More who take extraordinary risk to defend their families and livelihoods.”

A diversity of tactics and an ability to roll with the punches pepper spray are necessary to any movement’s success. The sustained energy around this series of blockades in Texas is notable, especially after the group’s December defeat. As opposition against the Keystone XL pipeline heats up on the ground in 2013, it seems safe to say that it’ll stay strong in the trees, too.

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Fiscal-cliff deal ups tax benefit for transit riders

by johnsmithwindows Posted on January 3, 2013

Fiscal-cliff deal ups tax benefit for transit riders

By Susie Cagle

FISCAL CLIFF TRIGGER WARNING! Obviously there’s a lot to be annoyed about in this deal, but there are a few bright spots that aren’t getting much attention. Renewed tax credits for wind energy are cool, and even more people will benefit from a near-doubling of a tax benefit for transit riders.

The benefit is basically a tiny tax shelter for the dollars you’re spending on public transportation, available if your employer participates in a federal program. On Dec. 31, 2011, that shelter was shrunk from $230 a month to $125, while the benefit for people who drive to work and pay for parking was increased from $230 to $240 — meaning the government was incentivizing people to drive instead of take public transit. Now, thanks to the fiscal-cliff deal, tax benefits for transit takers and car parkers will be equalized — both will get a benefit of up to $240 a month.

From Transportation Nation:

Transit advocates hailed the legislation. “We’ve been pushing for transit equity for months,” said Rob Healy, vice president of the American Public Transportation Association. “From our perspective, we felt it was very, very important that the federal tax code not bias one mode versus another.” He added: “You shouldn’t be making your choices based on a tax code which treats parking better than it does transit.”

This should take a bit of the sting out of new fare hikes going into effect for transit systems (at least if you have a job …). That is, it’ll take the sting out for 2013. Because here’s the bad news, transportation lovers: This is only a one-year extension, set to expire on Dec. 31 unless it’s renewed.

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The $400 million plan to unsink a giant cruise ship

by olikellopas Posted on December 27, 2012

The $400 million plan to unsink a giant cruise ship

By Susie Cagle

Nearly a year after it crashed into a very picturesque rock on the coast of Giglio Island in the Mediterranean, the Costa Concordia cruise ship is still lying on its side in the middle of a marine wildlife preserve. The island’s mayor called the ship “an ecological timebomb,” but while it’s not (currently!) leaking oil into the sea, the Concordia is basically a massive amount of pollution still waiting to happen.

Roberto Vongher

There are only two things to do: Chop it up, sink it, and say sorry, or spend $400 million towing the failed monstrosity away from nature.

The latter it is!

Business Insider calls the plan, “the riskiest, most complicated, and most expensive salvage plan ever undertaken,” and no one is entirely sure it will actually work.

The process consists of stabilizing the ship with massive cables (almost complete); drilling an underwater platform into the sea floor; attaching massive floaties to each side of the ship, tipping it upright, and (hopefully!) towing it away from the protected coastline still mostly intact.

Workers had to take a four-day rock climbing course before beginning the work, which will take months.

The (many) companies undertaking this plan say, “it best fulfills the main objectives of the operation: removal of the wreck in one piece, minimal risk, minimal environmental impact, protection of Giglio’s economy and tourism industry, and maximum safety of the work.”

When the only other option is to sink the ship and walk away, it doesn’t really matter if the salvage plan is serious about preserving the Mediterranean ecosystem or just desperate to salvage the tourist dollars on which Giglio’s economy relies. But just think of all the wonderful things we could do with that $400 million if we weren’t building these big dumb toys and crashing them into islands.

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Lead-bullet ad targets NRA, misses the point

by RubinkJoseph Posted on December 21, 2012

Lead-bullet ad targets NRA, misses the point

By Susie Cagle

Gun violence is America’s lurking health crisis. But not exactly the way the Center for Biological Diversity means in its full-page New York Times ad today.

Click to embiggen.

None of this is untrue! A drop in environmental lead has even been correlated with a (moderate) drop in violent crime — but that is cold comfort for the people who live in poor urban areas that are afflicted by both gun violence and environmental pollution that isn’t born from hunted meat or shooting ranges.

On a day when the National Rifle Association called for armed guards at every school in America, maybe getting rid of the lead in those would-be guards’ bullets shouldn’t necessarily be our first priority?

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U.S. cities are getting denser

by biglermyrta910 Posted on December 20, 2012

U.S. cities are getting denser

By Susie Cagle

The U.S. EPA released a report this week on how our cities are growing. So there’s the first good news: They’re growing! But you knew that already. Other good news: Nearly 75 percent of major metro areas saw a higher proportion of housing being built in already-developed areas (“infill” in planning jargon) from 2005 to 2009 compared to 2000 to 2004. The bad? From sea to shining sea, we still really love to sprawl. Almost all major metro areas continued to grow outward faster than they grew inward.

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