[Vision2020] Farming/ was Sen Schroeder

[Donovan Arnold]

Garrett,

You are confusing to me. If you want to produce jobs that don't use water, growing crops that use lots of water instead of very little seems like it will have an opposite effect. 

If you believe we have a limited water supply, then the farms you are talking about will also be unsustainable. 

 It makes more economical sense to grow the crops here that are easy to grow, sell them on the market, and then buy at the supermarket the crops we cannot grow cheaply or that would consume our limited supply of water. 

I disagree that retail stores don't produce wealth. Retail stores are distribution centers. Distribution is a necessary step in the production and use of all services and goods. Retail stores not only allows people to find the goods and services they need, so they don't have to go to all the different states and China to get what they need, but it also eliminates waste by determining how many of an item is needed. This way we don't send too many pairs of jeans to Lewiston and not enough shoes to Moscow. 

Second, these retail stores provide services that others need to run their businesses. Any hunting guide needs outdoor supplies. A restaurant needs food, plates, and other services. Businesses need paper, notebooks, and office supplies. All of these things are provided by retail services. 

You ask what we don't have in Moscow. We actually have very little in terms of what is actually possible to have. And what we do have is limited in quantity and the price is higher as well. The fewer of an item you have, the more it costs, and the more it costs the less wealth you have to buy what you need.

Can you find these items in Moscow, Garrett?

A 2001 Viper 
A inflatable bath pillow for $1 or less
A brand-new 42 inch 1080p Flatscreen television for under $650?
A Loon Lake by Scotty Coffee Cup
A 2 liter Diet Mountain Dew bottle for less than a $1?
How about a Spiderman reversible jacket with four pocket on the outside and one on the inside and a hoody?

I bet you cannot find those in Moscow, but can find in many of cities.

You also have to look at diversity. Your suggestion, that we all be farmers, is great if you are capable or good at farming. But there would be an awful lot of wasted talent if the only thing you had available was farming. Diversity of jobs is good. A diverse economy is good. 

Best Regards,

Donovan



--- On Wed, 2/18/09, Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at verizon.net> wrote:
From: Garrett Clevenger <garrettmc at verizon.net>
Subject: [Vision2020] Farming/ was Sen Schroeder
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 5:38 PM

I should have been clearer about the type of farming I'm advocating.
Obviously the Palouse, which has some of the most fertile soil in the world, has
a lot of large farms, which mostly grow wheat that is mostly exported to join
the unsustainable global economy. They don't need to irrigate because there
is enough precipitation to grow these dry-land crops. One person can farm
100's of acres in this type of farming.

On our farm, we grew about 35 crops last summer on a quarter of an acre. This
food was consumed locally. Many other crops could be grown here, mostly
dependent on irrigation. These are higher value crops than the larger farmers
grow, and it is labor intensive farming.

We will double in size next summer and I will hire a worker to help. It's a
lot of work, but very rewarding.

If we had $100 million to invest, we'd build greenhouses, and plant
orchards, vineyards, berries and hops, among the other veggies we now grow, all
of which would be consumed in the region. We wouldn't need a miracle crop,
only access to water.

If we had the 200 acres Hawkins will gobble up, we'd be able to grow a lot
more food and provide a lot of jobs which actually creates wealth, rather than
redistributing it as retail and service does.

Hawkins is a national drain since more than likely most of the goods sold
won't be made in the US. The money spent at Hawkins may fund some jobs, but
a significant portion of that money will be shipped overseas to invest in other
countries. That is short-sighted.

The only miracle I see needed in this conversation is one that will dig us out
of the hole our fragmenting economy and ecosystems are leading us into. You can
keep dumping trillions of dollars to rescue the economy and  keep wasting
precious limited resources to build your mega-mall, but that is no guarantee our
grandchildren will be better off. It seems we're actually leaving more of a
mess our insatiable lifestyle is creating for them to clean up, which is
completely selfish and irresponsible.

I'm curious, what goods will Hawkins offer that you can't find
elsewhere in Moscow? What will you buy at this mega-mall that is so crucial to
your well-being? Is that really worth the large footprint this mega-mall will
create?

Garrett Clevenger

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