wfn.org | Lutherans Address Farm Issues at NCC Mission Board Session

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 2, 2000

LUTHERANS ADDRESS FARM ISSUES AT NCC MISSION BOARD SESSION
00-150-AH*

     BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (ELCA) -- Lutherans were key contributors
to an ecumenical meeting here in April that examined a variety of
agricultural and rural issues.  The Agricultural Mission Board of the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC) met in its
annual study session with the theme "Agriculture, Food Security and
Globalization: The Impact on Rural Sustainability."
     "The rural crisis is again in the media and is again being
addressed by church groups," according to the Rev. Eva Jensen, New York.
"The way the issue is covered in the media does not address the problem
of the concentration of agriculture," she said.  Jensen, a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is director of
agricultural missions for the National Council of Churches of Christ.
     Jensen said she hopes for more careful analysis of the problem,
"analysis that takes into consideration the varied experiences of rural
people and communities and looks for positive alternatives and
strategies."  The event here brought to light some of that variety and
explored options for farmers worldwide.
     The goals of the session were to study the impact of globalization
on local production and access to food, small farm operations, markets
and livelihood; to identify strategies toward sustainable local
production and food security; and to seek ways to bring U.S. churches
and their members into the issue.
     "The industrialization of agriculture is not a solution but part
of the problem, together with trade policies," Jensen said.  "Churches
are extremely concerned. They want to accompany people and communities
in the grief and pain that comes with the loss of a farm, sometimes in
the loss of life through suicide."
     In the opening overview,  "Globalization and the International
Industrial Food System,"  presenters from the Institute for Agricultural
and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, summarized economic and demographic data.
     Steven Suppan, director of research for the institute, said he
respects the work of church study groups, social statements and advocacy
efforts around agricultural policies.  Despite these activities, members
of U.S. congregations reflect Americans' general lack of understanding
of the implications of agricultural policy, he said.  Suppan is a member
of All Saints Lutheran Church, Minnetonka, Minn.
     "The economy of the Bible is fundamentally a rural economy,"
Suppan said.  He pointed to a metaphor from the apostle, Paul: "The
husbandman that laboreth must be the first partaker of the fruits."
This passage is engraved in the portico over the central entrance to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., he said.  According
to Suppan, 20 percent of the U.S. population is somehow involved "in the
work of husbandry, whether you interpret 'husbandman' to mean 'farmer,'
'rancher,' 'farm worker,' 'chicken de-boner' or any of the myriad
workers" involved in food systems.  "The question is, who is receiving
the first fruits of that work?" he said.
     "Farmers need negotiating power," Suppan said.  Farm input costs
increase but farmers do not receive compensation for their products or
come close to their expenses without government subsidies, he said.
     "Taxpayers are underwriting a policy designed to alienate urban
constituents from rural communities and farmers.  The need for subsidies
is presented by the government and agribusiness as a bail-out for
farmers; at the same time they'd have you believe U.S. food is cheaper
than anywhere in the world.  And that policy looks to farmers like a
subsidy to agribusiness," Suppan said.   A study in Wisconsin indicated
that 56 percent of the state's dairy farmers are eligible for food
stamps, he said.
     Five to 6 percent of farm owners possess 80 percent of American
farm land, Suppan said.  Resources for smaller farmers are not
sufficient, he said. "A staff of two at the U.S. Small Farms Commission
represents about 1.8 million farmers," Suppan said.
     "U.S. food policy options sound like science fiction, " Suppan
said.  "Developing countries are encouraged to play the futures market,
the kind of risky speculation normally advised for only the most secure
investors."
     "One thing to think about is building alliances among
organizations, unions and communities of faith to recuperate democracy
from a condition in which you have to pay to play," Suppan said.
     "Farmers cannot survive without a community, and the committed
community accepts the risk with the farmer," said Job Ebenezer, director
for environmental stewardship and hunger education, ELCA Division for
Church in Society, Chicago.
     Participants got a look at sustainable alternatives to large
commodity farming when they visited two farms west of Minneapolis-St.
Paul.  Riverbend Farm at Delano, Minn., is a certified organic farm
operated by Greg and Mary Reynolds.  The Reynolds grow about 50
different vegetables and herbs and sell them to co-ops and restaurants
as well as to a subscription group.  Gary Schmieg owns Sweet Meadow Farm
at Howard Lake, Minn.   His dairy operation is grass-based grazing and
organic.
     Anne Kanten, a farmer from Hawick, Minn., called the Riverbend
effort "impressive."  Greg Reynolds has technical expertise, she said,
"and he is learning as he goes along."  Kanten is a member of Nordland
Lutheran Church, Paynesville, Minn.
     The transition to organic farming "takes  time, patience and deep
pockets," Kanten said.  "For most young farmers that transition is not
easy: they have families to raise, kids to put through college and so
on."  She pointed out that demand for organic vegetables is up among
urban consumers, "who are beginning to care about what they put in their
bodies."
     Schmieg is working on his grandfather's farm.  The family has
never used chemicals or pesticides of any kind.  He milks 40 cows, and
the farm is 360 acres.
     "He has a passion for what he's doing, all without biotechnology
or chemicals," Kanten said.
     "The ground is alive, and I'm not going to poison it," Schmieg
told the group.  He sends his milk to Wisconsin for processing, and on
the market his milk is worth twice the price of regular milk.  "Without
the organic option, my son could never be brought into the operation,"
Schmieg said.
     "His farm shows us another piece of agriculture.  An educated
consumer has increased the demand," Kanten said.  She pointed out that
these farms are relatively close to the urban area. "The Kanten farm is
two hours west, on the plains.  It's a lot harder,"  she said.
     "The focus of this session is organic, sustainable farming; these
farmers prove it can work.  These are the premiere vegetable and dairy
operations," Kanten said.  "The organic world is exciting.  In 1972 our
neighbors said we would fail if we tried to go sustainable; now I see
them failing, and I can turn our operation over to my son," she said.
     In urban areas such as Minneapolis-St. Paul, non-profit agencies
dedicated to making food available to the poor have gone right to the
source making small, specialty farming possible, providing markets,
organizing cooperatives and teaching the essentials of farming.
     Melissa MacKimm of the Minnesota Food Association described the
organization's work as a bridge providing access to food for low-income
people.  "The low-income population has few food choices in the city,"
she said, "and small farmer operations need markets."  MacKimm described
the success of efforts to match "special cultural food interests, such
as black-footed chicken and goat meat," with efforts by members of the
city's immigrant groups to begin farming.
     Perdita Butler explained the work of the Youth Farm and Market
Project, teaching gardening skills to inner-city teens in Minneapolis
and St. Paul.  The project is five years old and has achieved important
partnerships, such as with the city park boards that make possible some
of the garden locations and with a successful restaurant that serves
organic foods.  The young people also learn the value of cooperatives
and staff their own market stand, selling produce grown in the
organization's urban garden plots, she said.

[*Ann E. Hafften is communications coordinator for the ELCA Minneapolis
Area Synod.]

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