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-------- Original Message -------- 


Subject: 

NY Times Editorial on Secretary of Ag Race


Date: 

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:52:55 -0500

New York Times Editorial

A Farm Race in Iowa 

Published: October 10, 2006

There is a governor's race going on in Iowa - Culver vs. Nussle, a tossup -
but the race to watch is the one for secretary of agriculture. Both
candidates support ethanol production, and who wouldn't when ethanol has
given Iowa the lowest fuel prices in the nation? But otherwise they are
about as different as it is possible to be and still be an Iowan for
agriculture. Bill Northey, a Republican, farms corn and soybeans and has
been endorsed by the Farm Bureau. His Democratic opponent is Denise O'Brien,
who raises poultry, apples and strawberries. She and her husband farm
organically, and her campaign vehicle is a green biodiesel school bus. 

The candidates capture a real split in the farm world - in Iowa and the
nation as a whole. Mr. Northey proudly represents the industrial vision of
farming that has turned Iowa into the land of the two-crop, corn-soybean
rotation, a place where the chance to produce corn-based ethanol looks like
diversity. Ms. O'Brien has been unfairly accused of belonging to "fringe"
groups, and she is clearly not the Farm Bureau candidate. "Organic" is
anathema to the Farm Bureau. But she is a reminder that Iowa would be better
off with greater agricultural diversity, stronger communities and a greater
emphasis on the health of its natural resources. 

The sharpest difference between these two candidates concerns the ability of
counties and towns to restrict the siting of feedlots and farm operations
that concentrate huge numbers of animals. Mr. Northey believes in a single
set of regulations across all of Iowa's 99 counties. Ms. O'Brien argues that
factory farms should be regulated by the state but that communities should
be able to voice their concerns too. After all, they are the ones who have
to live downwind. 





 


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