Jim Gerrish Letter to President Bush
February 25, 2008
President George Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
There comes a time when every American has to finally say enough is enough. As someone who has spent their entire life in farming and ranching, I can no longer stand by and watch the insane path agriculture in this country is headed down. I believe we are moving down a very questionable path and with the strong encouragement of this administration.
The mandated increase in ethanol production is an irresponsible and senseless path to so-called energy independence. The ethanol process is still a net energy loss for the country when all factors are considered. The basic technology of ethanol conversion may be energy positive, but every other aspect of ethanol production costs us. It costs us in direct energy loss, in the soil erosion that is exploding exponentially as more land is planted to corn, it costs the taxpayers through heavy subsidies, and it has raised the cost of nearly every segment of the food sector as corn prices have soared.
A far better way to achieve energy independence is to change the way we farm and ranch. Pasture-based meat and dairy production has been one of the few bright spots in agriculture over the past decade. Turning back to more natural production systems with less reliance on petroleum and more reliance on ecosystem processes makes a world more sense than the rampant, oil driven industrial processes currently endorsed by your administration.
As one example, many farmers and ranchers have been able to consistently finish USDA Choice grade beef entirely on pasture with virtually no petroleum inputs. The profitability per head is far greater than the best years of feeding cattle in the feedlot. Using less oil is the best avenue to energy independence. For the critics who say we could not finish all the beef consumed in this country on pasture, that is totally false. They use straw man tactics for comparisons to feedlots, citing ridiculously low pasture production levels. Rather than plow out CRP for corn production, use it to finish cattle and there would be a tremendous reduction in petroleum consumption, the land would be infinitely healthier, as would the American population if they consumed more natural meat.
I take energy independence very seriously. I take reducing dependency on Middle eastern oil very seriously. Our son in on his third tour of duty in Iraq and I begin to wonder what he is fighting for (LCpl Galen Gerrish, 1st Marine Regiment HQ Co presently serving in Fallujah. Injured in combat in Haditha on his first tour). There seems to be no real consideration by your administration to do anything meaningful for creating a stronger, healthier agriculture in America. I only see my son put in harms way to continue the status quo of excessive oil consumption and the industrialization of agriculture and the shipment of American jobs overseas. This is not the America I believe in. I don’t believe this is the America my father fought for in WWII (Cpl. WJ Gerrish Co. E 338 Inf Reg. 2 bronze stars, Presidential Unit Citation)
Your recent decision to cut almost all of the valuable pasture and rangeland program within USDA comes as a personal affront to me and all the other grass farmers in this country. Pasture-based agriculture has the opportunity to create profitable family farms again. It has been happening all across the US. It has the opportunity to create a far healthier diet for Americans. As more and more research studies are showing. It has the opportunity to improve the environment by protecting the soil, cleansing our water, locking away CO2 from the atmosphere, and supporting a wide diversity of wildlife. As evidenced with nearly every beef producer recognized by NCBA (National Cattleman Beef Association) for environmental stewardship being in a pasture-based system.
Your elimination of the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, loss of other technical support programs through NRCS, closure of the National Pasture Lab in Pennsylvania, and the rest of the list of programs supporting pasture-based agriculture is particularly disturbing in light of the blind pursuit of ethanol and continued subsidies. Grass farmers don’t need subsidies, but other farmers and ranchers deserve the educational and technical assistance opportunities these programs have provided to show them a better way.
I’ve lived through the Earl Butz, fence row to fence row era. I’ve lived through the farm crisis of the 80's. I’ve watched the ever increasing consolidation of inputs and markets by multi-national corporations. I have never written to the President, my Senators, or congressman. Now I have finally had enough and you will be hearing from me until I see meaningful change in this country’s agricultural priorities. The course you are steering for farming and ranching in this country is dead wrong.
Respectfully,
Jim Gerrish, US Citizen and Grass Farmer
2222 Pahsimeroi Road May ID 83253