Heart of Ag: No Farms, No Food
by Amanda Radke
I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom in this column, but the attacks on farmers, ranchers, landowners and our food supply are numerous.
Our food security is at risk, and it’s not just one glaringly obvious death blow that’s looming – it’s more like death by 1,000 cuts.
It’s the proverbial “frog in the pot of water” scenario, where the heat continues to increase so slowly we don’t notice we are boiling.
Yet, the water is bubbling now, folks, and it’s time to sound the alarms.
Let me share a few examples to highlight both the absurdity and the magnitude of external threats which could ultimately lead to no farms and no food.
At the recent meeting of the World Economic Forum Summit in Davos, Switzerland, a panelist demanded the implementation of a criminal category of “ecocide.” In the discussion, she described farming, fishing and energy production as the mass murder and torture of trees and rivers.
In France, farmers are protesting by spraying liquid manure on government buildings, in an attempt to press the government to loosen regulations and protect them from cheap imports and rising costs.
In the Netherlands, the government has declared a war on livestock producers, setting a metric to halve emissions of nitrogen from cattle, hogs and chickens. They are pushing for a voluntary strategy of buying farms, which is essentially playing out as a seizure and forfeiture of family-owned lands and livestock operations.
In Ireland, farmers are being pressured to cull up to 200,000 cows to meet climate change metrics.
And, the United Nations is expected to release a plan at the COP28 climate summit, urging the U.S. to reduce their meat consumption to fight climate change.
This is just the tip of the iceberg in the global attacks on farmers and ranchers, specifically livestock producers.
Now let’s look closer to home.
Everyone scoffed at Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) when she proposed the Green New Deal and suggested we eliminate “cow farts.”
However, fast forward just a few years later and enough money has been thrown at the situation that every conservative Republican and every agricultural association and organization are spouting climate change, net zero, sustainability and other buzz words to meet the arbitrary standards of programs which are simply huge money grabs and have nothing to do with the environment.
As an example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is awarding $3.1 billion for 141 “climate change smart commodity projects,” and readers’ eyes would pop at who is on the list of recipients.
Or how about an out-of-state, foreign-backed pipeline company which has ruthlessly attempted to change laws, condemn land and seize what isn’t theirs in order to cram their project down landowners’ throats?
What’s worse, there are those who claim to love and promote agriculture, who are literally willing to trample on the Constitution and private property rights in order to push this thing to the finish line. Forget the very farmers and ranchers they claim to want to support – they are in the way of progress.
What’s more, the Telegraph recently reported “the carbon footprint of homegrown food is five times greater than those grown conventionally.”
These people literally don’t want people to grow their own food and be self-sufficient.
And somehow, since we have repeated the lie two plus two equals five, there are people who have convinced themselves piping carbon into the ground or reducing methane in cows will save the planet. Or maybe they are just repeating the mantra to avoid the truth of the obvious intention behind projects of this ilk.
This is nothing but a massive infusion of tax payer dollars to enrich the very few and put food on the table of absolutely nobody.
Folks, I’ll say the quiet part out loud. This is a scam. A lie which has spread around the world. It’s a pathway to starvation – one lined in gold, power and greed. It’s the total disregard of our God-given inherent rights. It’s anti-humanity, anti-community, anti-family, anti-agriculture and anti-planetary health.
For those who are reading this and wondering what to do next, the answer is simple – stand in the truth and hold your ground.
Yes, there are people who want to control the land, the food and the people. But landowners, farmers and ranchers are the ultimate beacon of freedom. They are an example of sovereignty, liberty and self-sufficiency. The land under their feet is theirs, so they should be very careful who they allow access to on their property.
Preserving the Constitution and private property rights are critical to the future of food, agriculture and national security. Any politician, company, association, university or talking head in the media who says different just might have a self-serving, underlying agenda.
Amanda Radke is a rancher, author, motivational speaker and podcast host. For more from Radke, visit amandaradke.com.
