U.S. House Moves to Allow Prescription Imports

If you live near the Canadian border and experience a financial burden from expensive pharmaceuticals, this is great news.

The measure was included in H.R. 3161, which the President already said he would veto on the basis of cost.

The Globe and Mail reports today that the President will veto the bill, which passed by a 237 to 18 vote. The statement from the administration expresses concern over consumer safety.
Curiously, the same bill bans import of meat and poultry grown or processed in China, but according to Reuters:

The White House said China's poultry inspection system "is equivalent to the system in the United States."

One hopes it is at least better than China's toy inspection system or pet food inspection system.

Michigan's own Mike Rogers is quoted in the Globe and Mail piece:

“I understand the intention to lower drug prices to the seniors, that is critically important,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. “What we're doing is throwing open the gates to every [drug] counterfeiter in the world.”

Supporters of the legislation want to provide consumers access to affordable medication. The pharmaceutical industry tried to block the measure.
No surprises really.

UM Study: Organic Farming Can Feed the World

Lookout Monsanto, ADM, Cargill, ConAgra...a new UM study reports that "organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming on the same amount of land—according to new findings which refute the long-standing assumption that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population."

From the press release:

According to lead researcher Ivetta Perfecto,"Corporate interest in agriculture and the way agriculture research has been conducted in land grant institutions, with a lot of influence by the chemical companies and pesticide companies as well as fertilizer companies—all have been playing an important role in convincing the public that you need to have these inputs to produce food."

"Organic farming is important because conventional agriculture—which involves high-yielding plants, mechanized tillage, synthetic fertilizers and biocides—is so detrimental to the environment, Perfecto said. For instance, fertilizer runoff from conventional agriculture is the chief culprit in creating dead zones—low oxygen areas where marine life cannot survive. Proponents of organic farming argue that conventional farming also causes soil erosion, greenhouse gas emission, increased pest resistance and loss of biodiversity."

90,000 Hens Killed in Allegan County

A barn fire Sunday morning killed 90,000 hens and caused $2 million damage in Overisel Township. The fire was contained to one barn on a farm with eight barns and nearly a million chickens. The AP reports that the barn and chickens were insured.

One million chickens. Here is a photo of my grandmother from the 1930s. She kept poultry to provide eggs and meat for her family. Some geese and chickens--countable on two hands, enough during the Great Depression. Each bird was fed and slaughtered by her hand for the sake of her family. The poultry was the insurance.

Today, we are cut off from the truth of food production and the fact of our vulnerability. We are separated from the struggle to provide for ourselves and our obesity proves it. We are "shoppers," "consumers," and "customers"--half of the production/consumption equation, rather than wholly self sufficient persons who understand the power of enough.

Back to the Future: Local Resilience in a Global Economy

Hanging Mountain Farm in Westhampton, Massachusetts presents a case study in clashing global and local economic forces and sensibilities. It is a story of outsourcing, enterprise, niche-making, community, state support for family farms, innovative "green" architecture and landing on your feet. We in Michigan can learn from the experience and perseverance of the Aloisi family in western Massachusetts.

Owned and operated by Nita and Leo Aloisi, Hanging Mountain Farm specializes in maple products and features the Strawbale Cafe, a unique straw bale structure, designed by their daughter, architect Missa Aloisi, and built by friends and family over a three year period.

The Aloisi family's connection to the farm goes back to 1930 when Leo's father began work there. He purchased it in 1947 and Leo acquired it in 1983. According to Leo, the sugaring operation dates back at least to 1917.

In 2002, the family began construction of the cafe while Leo was still employed fulltime in IT with Dow Jones. But late last year, after 16 years with Dow Jones, Leo was "downsized." His job was sent to New Jersey. Other colleagues were "outsourced," their positions being sent to India.

Fortunately, Leo and Nita had been working to diversify their sugaring business to include a cafe. Although they had planned to develop it at a slower pace in retirement, downsizing compressed their timeline. They originally planned to serve pancake breakfasts during sugaring season, but neighbors urged them to remain open year round. Now they serve breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Sunday. This has proven a boon to the farm and created a community gathering place.

The Aloisis were able to obtain state start-up funding for the building and most recently, Leo attended a business course geared toward small farms and sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Farm Viability Program. Leo said, "It allowed me and others to develop a business plan for where we wanted to go with our individual farms. There were 15 in that class and there were 15 different plans."

A big issue for farmers in Massachusetts is determining a niche product or market in order to sustain viability. Leo described the situation of dairy farmers as a case in point: "Farmers need to become competitve with products from across the country and are doing so with products that are specialized, locally grown or unique to an area. In order to remain competitive, milk producers are selling raw milk and organic raw milk. Organic raw milk is one of the cornerstones of the new dairy market in Massachusetts. It is sold locally on the farm or delivered to customers' homes." Instead of trying to beat Big Ag at its game, small producers are creating something that Big Ag cannot produce--a specialized locally-based product with the added service of home delivery.

I told Leo about the economic difficulties in Michigan and asked him what advice he might have for workers who have been downsized or outsourced. His words were encouraging and action- oriented: "Small business is the backbone of the U.S. economy. The innovations that small businesses create are necessary to the country's economy. Find a niche. Small businesses can find and develop a unique niche more cost-effectively than large businesses can."

As for the challenges of starting a new small business, Leo emphasized the importance of a positive attitude,"The one thing that has always helped us is trying to keep a positive attitude about what is going on. It really helps you keep moving forward. Lots of things happen that can definitely throw a monkey-wrench into what you are doing. And all you can do is just smile at it and keep going forward and try not to let it overwhelm you."

Chin up, Michigan. Get local. Be positive.

And wipe that darn frown off your face. . . .

Art and Ethanol in Blissfield

Blissfield, known for farms and antique shops, is also home to two unlikely neighbors--Flatlanders Art Galleries and Great Lakes Ethanol.

I spoke with Flatlanders owner, Ken Thompson, about his work and his perspective on the Michigan economy. Thompson said he situated his operation in Blissfield because the real estate was so affordable. That was twenty eight years ago.

An artist and entrepreneur, Thompson runs several enterprises out of his Blissfield location. Midwest Sculpture Initiative works to "raise the visibility of Midwest sculptors nationally and internationally, promote cooperation among various art and civic organizations." Flatlanders Sculpture Services can custom fabricate, install and restore large sculptures. And there are the art galleries currently showing works of Jim Cogswell, Kevin Schroeder and Cathie Royer (Feb. 11-April 15).

When I asked Thompson for his thoughts on the Michigan economy, he said he would like to see a more favorable business climate and development of a more diverse range of businesses. He thinks Michigan needs to be more than cars and farms.

Yet, cars and farms are driving the economic development just southwest of the Flatlanders location. Great Lakes Ethanol, operated by Lakota, Iowa-based Midwest Grain Processors, is the second ethanol plant in the state. According the MGP website, the plant will produce 57 million gallons of ethanol annually. The website also states that, "All of the corn for the plant will be purchased in the local area. Demand from an ethanol plant typically increases local corn prices as much as 5 cents per bushel."

If Michigan is to diversify beyond cars and farms, Thompson suggests greater support for arts and artists. As he summarized, "Artists move where property values are cheap; they rejuvenate an area and then the galleries move in. After that come the restaurants. Then real estate values rise, which eventually prices out the artists who move on to other cheap rents." He recommended Richard Florida's work, The Rise of the Creative Class, for further reading on the influence of creatives on community and economic development.

Even though the ethanol plant bodes well for development in the Blissfield area, it still takes more than corn and cars to build a diverse and thriving community.

NUMBERS

107,501
seating capacity of University of Michigan Stadium

source

40,025
total fall 2006 enrollment for University of Michigan
source

13,800
decline in Detroit Public Schools enrollment from fall 2005 to fall 2006
source

3000

number of health care workers crossing from Canada to work in Michigan daily

source

6,600
persons employed in gambling industries in Detroit, Livonia and Dearborn
source

$688,000,000
dollars contributed to education funding in 2006 from the Michigan State Lottery
source

1,213,026
recreation visitors to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 2006
source

1,881,240
Michigan's rural population
source

61.5%
percent of Michigan farms sized 1-99 acres

0.9%
percent of Michigan farms sized 2000 or more acres
source

16.7%
poverty rate in Clare County
source

9 (1%)
persons in poverty in Bingham Farms
source