You can't get much more grassroots than food production. And, given the rise in popularity of farmers' markets, CSAs, local food, community/urban/rooftop gardens, and home food production, one would presume that supporting sustainable farming would be the cornerstone of a good campaign to revitalize rural America and slow climate change.

But no. Because the old guard of rural America are perceived to be Bible-thumping, gun-toting, die-hard conservatives. And while it's true that some farmers are more than a little set in their ways, the historical and frugal roots of sustainable agriculture can make adopting it more palatable than the quasi-elitist, "gourmet" food movement many perceive organic to be.

No candidate will win without getting the support of rural America. So maybe plans for rural development should focus less on "biofuel refineries" and more on helping farmers make a decent living producing food for our nation. Not to mention support for new farmers just starting out. And I'm not talking about high-interest bank loans and tax breaks for purchasing $500,000 combines.

Let's be honest about where our food comes from and be sensible about where American agriculture is headed. In other words, lets think like the old farmers do. Maybe then we can get some grassroots change started outside of America's urban centers.

Like most politicians, they probably do think rural Americans hang out in the offices of DC lobbyists,that Monsanto and Cargill actually have the best interests of farmers at heart and that making ethanol out of corn somehow makes sense. They have no idea what we do, how many hours we work or that in most ways, we are just like  the rest of working America, not doing so well. Green collar, or blue collar we don't hang out in DC, we don't have insurance, it is a struggle to pay our bills and we have limited budgets, we can't keep borrowing from China to pay our bills.

We want to keep farming and it would be nice if we could make a decent living. We want people to be able to afford good healthy locally grown food, but not because it is cheap, because they make a fair living as well. We don't want to tell other nations what to grow, we don't want to exploit them either.

Senators Clinton and Obama need to understand that our failing food system, food riots around the world, and low farm profits in a time of record food costs can all be attributed to the steady increase in the profits of corporations like Monsanto, Cargill, Wal-Mart and Tyson. These are the corporations who sell the pesticides, the GM seed, the fertilizer, those who buy the grain and the cattle, then process it and sell the food. These same corporations the candidates so quickly snuggle up to for campaign financing, are the folks who need to be reigned in rather than given free reign over rural America.

If they want rural votes, if they want urban votes, they should wise up, stop listening to the lobbyists, the Farm Bureau, the US Chamber of Commerce and the likes of Monsanto. We don't want ethanol, we don't want food from China and we don't want subsidy payments. We want fair prices, fair wages, single payer health care, good schools and peace.  

Senator Obama has a paragraph in his rural policy plan focused solely on Farm to School and how to get local healthy fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, and whole grains into our school food systems while supporting the smaller farmers that need the direct market. I agree that all the candidates could use their platforms to raise awareness of getting our food system back on track. We need to create the opportunities for them...invite them to speak at Bus Boys & Poets in DC about food justice, a barn in rural Indiana about milk prices, and for dinner at an organic farm.  I know they get loads of invitations, but the more they receive from "green" collar jobs, the more they will listen.

And thanks, Jim, for comments...I always love reading your thoughts!

Senator Obama has a paragraph in his rural policy plan focused solely on Farm to School and how to get local healthy fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, and whole grains into our school food systems while supporting the smaller farmers that need the direct market. I agree that all the candidates could use their platforms to raise awareness of getting our food system back on track. We need to create the opportunities for them...invite them to speak at Bus Boys & Poets in DC about food justice, a barn in rural Indiana about milk prices, and for dinner at an organic farm.  I know they get loads of invitations, but the more they receive from "green" collar jobs, the more they will listen.

And thanks, Jim, for your comments...I always love reading your thoughts!