"Discovering the Spirit" is emblazoned on the license plates of cars from North Dakota. After being here in Fargo less than a week, I can attest to the fact that these folks have ample spirit. Even at 30 below, they're snow-blowing each other's driveways in exchange for homemade cookies, reminiscing about how they saved the town from flooding last summer by sandbagging en masse, and offering strangers rides home in wicked winter weather.
I didn't accept the ride home; even in such a down-to-earth place I remember my childhood lessons. I must admit that I wasn't ecstatic when I heard I would be working in Fargo until April. But, I did some research and quickly learned that it is very similar to my hometown of Kingston, Ontario. It's true; I feel very much at home here. My housemates, Jen and Liz, remind me of my girlfriends from Sydenham High.
My office is in one of the tallest and most historic downtown buildings, the Black Building, built in 1912. It has fantastic mail chutes and frosted class doors with gold numbering. I'm working out of the National Audubon Society's office on the 5th floor. Surrounded by stuffed birds, bird calendars, and replica bird nests, I feel very close to my parents (the ornithologists). Across the street is a yoga studio, outdoors store, and a thrift shop. Perfection!
Giving cows a fair price
My work here is with Food & Water Watch, a DC-based non-profit that is primarily a consumer group. This therefore, technically, isn't an environmental campaign at all. It's interesting for me because I've never worked so closely on issues of agricultural economics, so I'm learning a lot.
The backstory here is that the meat processing industry, like all components of the food industry, has become highly consolidated in the last century. Four big companies now dominate the processing industry, and when it comes to beef, they have a monopoly on the market. These companies both own their own cattle and buy from independent producers (small ranchers etc.). When the price of beef is high, they slaughter their own, which floods the market with the independents' cattle, driving the price down. The big companies then buy cattle from the little guys at this reduced, below-market-value price.
This means that independent ranchers are having difficulty making a living, and America's rural communities are consequently crumbling. I've been told that we have stricter regulation on livestock markets in Canada to prevent this type of monopoly, but I'm afraid I know very little about it.
Here in the U.S., the Livestock Marketing Fairness Bill has been introduced in Congress several times to address these issues and has never gotten out of committee (most bills never do). It's our job to get North Dakota Senators Kent Conrad (D) (also a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee) and John Hoeven (R) to co-sign the bill this year. We don't care if it gets out of committee, we just want it to be introduced so that it serves as a "marker bill" for the 2012 Farm Bill, into which, ideally, its language will be integrated.
Toughening up
My jurisdiction for this campaign is Fargo and Grand Forks, two hours north, while my colleague Bryce has got Bismarck (the capital) and Minot. Although envious of my ten friends partying/working in DC on Powershift, I'm happy to have so much ownership over this campaign and to be working with such kind people. I also think that our campaign's issue and messaging is perfect, and that it's something the community will really rally behind.
I just have to toughen up to stay chipper in this weather. My thermometer says -22C outside right now, or -7F. In Texas or California I didn't have to worry about clearing off my car or shoveling my driveway. Perhaps I'll make some brownies and offer them to the boys with the snowblower next door.
