| Francis Thicke announced his candidacy for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture on Wednesday, advocating a range of policies that would yield huge economic and environmental benefits: increasing local food networks, promoting perennial crops for biofuels production and preserving soil and water resources, putting a "moratorium on state subsidies and tax incentives for building new corn ethanol plants," providing incentives for "farm-scale wind turbines," and giving county governments zoning authority ("local control") over CAFO siting.
Thicke also stated some facts that are rarely acknowledged in Iowa:
"I think that one of the fundamental problems that is being overlooked is that these markets are no longer competitive markets," he said. "Economists tell us that if more than 40 percent of a market is controlled by four or fewer firms that it begins to act like a monopoly rather than a free market. And, in hog markets, about 65 percent is controlled by four firms. In beef it is about 85 percent that is controlled by four firms. In dairy, one corporation processor controls about 40 percent of all the milk processing. The interesting thing is that while dairy farmers are at record loss levels, that corporation, during the last two quarters, has had record profits."
"Some real trust breaking - like Teddy Roosevelt style trust busting" needs to be done, according to Thicke, in order for the agricultural markets to realign.
A huge number of Iowans will welcome Thicke's perspective, but Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Jeff Boeyink called Thicke an "ultra radical":
"Agriculture is serious business in Iowa, and now is not the time to experiment with the backbone of Iowa's economy," Boeyink said. [...]
Gov. Chet Culver, a fellow Democrat, did not reappoint Thicke to the commissions, prompting Boeyink to say if Thicke was "so far out of the mainstream for even liberal Governor Culver to stomach, then he is certainly too liberal to be entrusted with leading our state's agricultural community."
Incidentally, Culver's decision not to reappoint Thicke to the Environmental Protection Commission had nothing to do with "mainstream" opinion; it was an embarrassing cave to agribusiness.
Thicke responded to Boeyink's name-calling here. Excerpt:
[M]y campaign focuses on increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of Iowa's family farms. Advocating for conserving our soil, water quality, family farms, and rural communities is not radical. To me that fits the definition of a true conservative.
No kidding. Boeyink's probably desperate to change the subject from the September 1 special election in Iowa House district 90, in which Republicans fell short after going all-in with a highly negative campaign.
Thanks to Jill for adding Thicke to the La Vida Locavore ActBlue page. |
