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Mother Jones Article Promotes Corporate Agribusiness Astroturfing
How can Mother Jones, "a bimonthly magazine of investigative journalism that exposes the evils of the corporate world, the government, and the mainstream media," promote the corporate agribusiness "Astroturf" view of California water?
Photo: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks on April 17, 2009 at the so-called "Rally for Water," a rally organized by the Latino Water Coalition, an "Astroturf" organization set up by corporate agribusiness interests to promote the peripheral canal, more dams and the gutting of fish protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Photo: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks on April 17, 2009 at the so-called "Rally for Water," a rally organized by the Latino Water Coalition, an "Astroturf" organization set up by corporate agribusiness interests to promote the peripheral canal, more dams and the gutting of fish protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Mother Jones Article Promotes Corporate Agribusiness Astroturfing
by Dan Bacher
A poorly researched article on California water, the "New Dust Bowl," appeared in the November-December edition of Mother Jones magazine, a publication supposedly known for its investigative reporting. The "New Dust Bowl" sounds just like a headline from the Sean Hannity Show or Fox "News" - and the article (http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/new-dust-bowl) reads like a propaganda piece for growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
"On the west side of the valley, which is often last in line for deliveries from federal water projects, farmers are selling prized almond trees for firewood, fields are reverting to weed, and farmworkers who once fled droughts in Mexico are overwhelming food banks," claims the author, Josh Harkinson. "In short, the valley is becoming what an earlier generation of refugees thought they'd escaped: an ecological catastrophe in the middle of a social and economic one—a 21st century Dust Bowl."
In falsely portraying the west side as "a 21st century Dust Bowl," Harkinson sounds here like a speech writer for one of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's rants for a rally of the Latino Water Coalition, an "Astroturf" organization set up by the Governor and San Joaquin Valley growers to put a "human face" on corporate agribusiness in order to promote the construction of a peripheral canal and more dams and to strip protections for Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other fish species under the Endangered Species Act. “Astroturfing” is an English-language euphemism referring to political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but designed to mask its origins to create the impression of being spontaneous, popular ‘grassroots’ behavior.
How can Mother Jones, "a bimonthly magazine of investigative journalism that exposes the evils of the corporate world, the government, and the mainstream media," according to its website, push the agenda of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, corporate agribusiness and right wing astroturfers and not quote anybody from the Delta or fishing communities? And what about Delta farmers and farmworkers that are threatened by water exports to agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley?
This piece makes much of the corporate media reporting on the water issue, which leaves much to be desired, look "fair and balanced" in comparison. Mother Jones, the magazine's namesake, would be spinning in her grave if she saw how Harkinson accepted the agribusiness spin on California water politics and the lies of an Astroturf group such as the Latino Water Coalition as virtual gospel truth.
"In the 1930s, Okies saw California's Central Valley as a Garden of Eden. Now it's dying of thirst," claims Harkinson.
However, Lloyd Carter, who has written about California water issues for 40 years, points out Harkinson's contention that the San Joaquin Valley is a "dust bowl" and is "dying of thirst" has no basis in fact.
"There are four million acres of land in production in the San Joaquin Valley," said Carter. "The drought has idled 500,000, or one-eighth of the land. The Valley is hardly a dust bowl."
Harkinson uses dubious data in making his point about massive unemployment "caused" by the drought. "The drought is expected to dry up a billion dollars in income and 35,000 jobs, adding to a statewide unemployment rate that recently hit 11.9 percent—the highest since the eve of World War II," Harkinson states.
In contrast to the high figures that Harkinson cites, Jeffrey Michael, University of the Pacific economist, estimates that the San Joaquin Valley has lost 8,500 jobs from reduced water exports in 2009. "Roughly 2,000 of these are attributable to the endangered Delta smelt and the rest to the natural drought," said Michael (http://forecast.pacific.edu/water-jobs/Pacific-BFC-Water-Jobs.pdf).
Harkinson mentions nothing about the 23,000 people in the fishing industry now unemployed, according to economic data compiled by the American Sportfishing Association, because of the collapse of salmon spurred by massive water exports of Delta water to subsidized agribusiness and southern California.
I am surprised by the author's statement, in response to criticism of his article, that "What remains (of Westlands Water District ) is some of the most productive farmland in the world. Or was, before its water ran out."
Actually, the drainage impaired land in the Westlands Water District is among the least efficient and least productive on the planet. These rich corporate growers receive subsidized water to grow subsidized crops on land that should have never been irrigated because of the selenium and heavy metals that fill the soil. The drainage problems associated with land that should have never been irrigated have never been effectively addressed by the state or federal governments.
"The smelt are a key food for salmon, which is why their preservation is more than a simple question of man vs nature," Josh Harkinson stated.
In reality, the smelt aren't a "key food" for salmon now, nor have they ever been. The Delta smelt is an indicator species that shows the health of the estuary, but are not found in the ocean where the salmon feed after migrating down the river as juveniles. (After I pointed this out on a post on the Mother Jones website, Harkinson did correct his mistake).
The only bit of truth I find in the article is where Harkinson says, "Cesar Chavez knew the power of a good march," Schwarzenegger declares, not mentioning that the United Farm Workers, which Chavez founded, boycotted the march, calling it a front for anti-union growers."
The next time Harkinson writes an article on California water, he should interview people like myself, Lloyd Carter, Bill Jennings of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla from Restore the Delta, Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federations of Fishermen's Associations and Mark Franco or Caleen Sisk-Franco of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe who know what's really going on in the Central Valley and in California water politics. It would also be a great idea for him to interview Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farmworkers Union (UFW), or a representative of another farmworker organization before he subjects Mother Jones readers to the disinformation contained in his article.
Harkinson should write a follow-up article where he includes quotes and data from these sources about the agribusiness campaign to falsely portray the battle to save California fisheries and Delta/northern California farms as one of "fish versus people" when it is really one of people versus corporate agribusiness. Rather than taking the Astroturf information at face value as he has done, the writer should look at the real story behind what's going on in the Central Valley and the Delta.
For a larger perspective on this issue, read Lloyd Carter's impeccably researched law review article at:
http://www.ggu.edu/lawlibrary/environmental_law_journal/eljvol3/attachment/Carter.pdf. To learn about how Westlands farmworkers are being manipulated by the big growers and labor contractors, read "The P-R Firm from Hell," http://lloydgcarter.com/content/090629251_the-pr-firm-from-hell.
by Dan Bacher
A poorly researched article on California water, the "New Dust Bowl," appeared in the November-December edition of Mother Jones magazine, a publication supposedly known for its investigative reporting. The "New Dust Bowl" sounds just like a headline from the Sean Hannity Show or Fox "News" - and the article (http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/new-dust-bowl) reads like a propaganda piece for growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.
"On the west side of the valley, which is often last in line for deliveries from federal water projects, farmers are selling prized almond trees for firewood, fields are reverting to weed, and farmworkers who once fled droughts in Mexico are overwhelming food banks," claims the author, Josh Harkinson. "In short, the valley is becoming what an earlier generation of refugees thought they'd escaped: an ecological catastrophe in the middle of a social and economic one—a 21st century Dust Bowl."
In falsely portraying the west side as "a 21st century Dust Bowl," Harkinson sounds here like a speech writer for one of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's rants for a rally of the Latino Water Coalition, an "Astroturf" organization set up by the Governor and San Joaquin Valley growers to put a "human face" on corporate agribusiness in order to promote the construction of a peripheral canal and more dams and to strip protections for Central Valley salmon, Delta smelt and other fish species under the Endangered Species Act. “Astroturfing” is an English-language euphemism referring to political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but designed to mask its origins to create the impression of being spontaneous, popular ‘grassroots’ behavior.
How can Mother Jones, "a bimonthly magazine of investigative journalism that exposes the evils of the corporate world, the government, and the mainstream media," according to its website, push the agenda of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, corporate agribusiness and right wing astroturfers and not quote anybody from the Delta or fishing communities? And what about Delta farmers and farmworkers that are threatened by water exports to agribusiness on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley?
This piece makes much of the corporate media reporting on the water issue, which leaves much to be desired, look "fair and balanced" in comparison. Mother Jones, the magazine's namesake, would be spinning in her grave if she saw how Harkinson accepted the agribusiness spin on California water politics and the lies of an Astroturf group such as the Latino Water Coalition as virtual gospel truth.
"In the 1930s, Okies saw California's Central Valley as a Garden of Eden. Now it's dying of thirst," claims Harkinson.
However, Lloyd Carter, who has written about California water issues for 40 years, points out Harkinson's contention that the San Joaquin Valley is a "dust bowl" and is "dying of thirst" has no basis in fact.
"There are four million acres of land in production in the San Joaquin Valley," said Carter. "The drought has idled 500,000, or one-eighth of the land. The Valley is hardly a dust bowl."
Harkinson uses dubious data in making his point about massive unemployment "caused" by the drought. "The drought is expected to dry up a billion dollars in income and 35,000 jobs, adding to a statewide unemployment rate that recently hit 11.9 percent—the highest since the eve of World War II," Harkinson states.
In contrast to the high figures that Harkinson cites, Jeffrey Michael, University of the Pacific economist, estimates that the San Joaquin Valley has lost 8,500 jobs from reduced water exports in 2009. "Roughly 2,000 of these are attributable to the endangered Delta smelt and the rest to the natural drought," said Michael (http://forecast.pacific.edu/water-jobs/Pacific-BFC-Water-Jobs.pdf).
Harkinson mentions nothing about the 23,000 people in the fishing industry now unemployed, according to economic data compiled by the American Sportfishing Association, because of the collapse of salmon spurred by massive water exports of Delta water to subsidized agribusiness and southern California.
I am surprised by the author's statement, in response to criticism of his article, that "What remains (of Westlands Water District ) is some of the most productive farmland in the world. Or was, before its water ran out."
Actually, the drainage impaired land in the Westlands Water District is among the least efficient and least productive on the planet. These rich corporate growers receive subsidized water to grow subsidized crops on land that should have never been irrigated because of the selenium and heavy metals that fill the soil. The drainage problems associated with land that should have never been irrigated have never been effectively addressed by the state or federal governments.
"The smelt are a key food for salmon, which is why their preservation is more than a simple question of man vs nature," Josh Harkinson stated.
In reality, the smelt aren't a "key food" for salmon now, nor have they ever been. The Delta smelt is an indicator species that shows the health of the estuary, but are not found in the ocean where the salmon feed after migrating down the river as juveniles. (After I pointed this out on a post on the Mother Jones website, Harkinson did correct his mistake).
The only bit of truth I find in the article is where Harkinson says, "Cesar Chavez knew the power of a good march," Schwarzenegger declares, not mentioning that the United Farm Workers, which Chavez founded, boycotted the march, calling it a front for anti-union growers."
The next time Harkinson writes an article on California water, he should interview people like myself, Lloyd Carter, Bill Jennings of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla from Restore the Delta, Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federations of Fishermen's Associations and Mark Franco or Caleen Sisk-Franco of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe who know what's really going on in the Central Valley and in California water politics. It would also be a great idea for him to interview Arturo Rodriguez, the president of the United Farmworkers Union (UFW), or a representative of another farmworker organization before he subjects Mother Jones readers to the disinformation contained in his article.
Harkinson should write a follow-up article where he includes quotes and data from these sources about the agribusiness campaign to falsely portray the battle to save California fisheries and Delta/northern California farms as one of "fish versus people" when it is really one of people versus corporate agribusiness. Rather than taking the Astroturf information at face value as he has done, the writer should look at the real story behind what's going on in the Central Valley and the Delta.
For a larger perspective on this issue, read Lloyd Carter's impeccably researched law review article at:
http://www.ggu.edu/lawlibrary/environmental_law_journal/eljvol3/attachment/Carter.pdf. To learn about how Westlands farmworkers are being manipulated by the big growers and labor contractors, read "The P-R Firm from Hell," http://lloydgcarter.com/content/090629251_the-pr-firm-from-hell.
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Mother Jones lost its edge shortly after they fired Michael Moore.
media consolidation swallowed that outfit quite some time ago. Dont let it bother you, but do point it out as you continue to do good work! Orwellian, corporatist greenwashing and double speak is the going thing.
Agriculture is endangered by urbanization, erosion, salinization and other forms of pollution. California looses around 122,000 acres of good farmlands every year because city planners will not do what is right for the future.
I remember Bakersfield in the 1950's. Small farms with a diversity of fruits and vegetables; a few larger farms with grain and alfalfa. A good number of local dairy farms. In the sixties the local government began allowing larger urban developments. Prime ag lands went for housing and industrial development forcing farmers onto less productive lands which required more water and energy to develop. Dairy owners were forced out of expanding city boundries. In the 1970's corporate farms had the necessary funding/political power to use larger acreages-small farms dropped out of sight. Not all corporate farms were successful which left only a few huge farms. More land went for real estate development. The population that once thrived on local produce had to acquire food from greater distances at greater costs. This story is painted throughout California.
The carrying capacity of California has long since been exceeded. Municipalities better start coughing up inner city lands for high density gardening instead of appeasing their developer buddies. Mainline media better start talking ecology if survival means anything at all.
I remember Bakersfield in the 1950's. Small farms with a diversity of fruits and vegetables; a few larger farms with grain and alfalfa. A good number of local dairy farms. In the sixties the local government began allowing larger urban developments. Prime ag lands went for housing and industrial development forcing farmers onto less productive lands which required more water and energy to develop. Dairy owners were forced out of expanding city boundries. In the 1970's corporate farms had the necessary funding/political power to use larger acreages-small farms dropped out of sight. Not all corporate farms were successful which left only a few huge farms. More land went for real estate development. The population that once thrived on local produce had to acquire food from greater distances at greater costs. This story is painted throughout California.
The carrying capacity of California has long since been exceeded. Municipalities better start coughing up inner city lands for high density gardening instead of appeasing their developer buddies. Mainline media better start talking ecology if survival means anything at all.
Thanks to Dan Bacher for a quality shred of this Mother Jones piece, which deserves to be riddled. The CA valley water issue is hot and Bacher nails it down on agribusiness. That's where the money is and that's where the problems and corruption are, which results directly in the working people getting screwed. That's why UFW boycotted the turf rally. Schwarzenegger has no shortage of ideas and proposals but the dams are certainly a bad call; the scientific data against is overwhelming. Concrete, trucking, and the front end of engineering and bureaucracy are all that would benefit from dam building. Take a look at the Bay Bridge as an example of a large, multi-jurisdictional public project - an embarrasment to American ingenuity and fiscal accountability, and that's putting it lightly.
Mr. Bacher, however, laments the heavy economic impacts associated with water issues on the sportfishing industry and cites 23,000 jobs lost in this sector. The decline of the salmon population in CA is not entirely the fault of agribusiness. To be fair, the salmon sportfishing industry is itself a factor in this decline - overfishing is a reality. As a former sportfisherman myself, I can attest to the hundreds of boats and shore anglers, stacked shoulder to shoulder at locations where salmon are known to run and hold. Out-of-state tour guides are too numerous to count. The shore and water is filled with discarded line and tackle, fish heads and entrails are commonly thrown in the shallows or left in the sand and rocks.
While many anglers are excellent stewards of the land and sea and care deeply for their environment, a large angling element still fancies itself the Davy Crockett of the 21st century and treats the species and surroundings like an amusement park trash can.
Thanks,
Jasn Schwartz
Mr. Bacher, however, laments the heavy economic impacts associated with water issues on the sportfishing industry and cites 23,000 jobs lost in this sector. The decline of the salmon population in CA is not entirely the fault of agribusiness. To be fair, the salmon sportfishing industry is itself a factor in this decline - overfishing is a reality. As a former sportfisherman myself, I can attest to the hundreds of boats and shore anglers, stacked shoulder to shoulder at locations where salmon are known to run and hold. Out-of-state tour guides are too numerous to count. The shore and water is filled with discarded line and tackle, fish heads and entrails are commonly thrown in the shallows or left in the sand and rocks.
While many anglers are excellent stewards of the land and sea and care deeply for their environment, a large angling element still fancies itself the Davy Crockett of the 21st century and treats the species and surroundings like an amusement park trash can.
Thanks,
Jasn Schwartz
For more information:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/2...
From: When Treesitters Heart Lumberjacks
http://motherjones.com/environment/2008/12/when-tree-sitters-heart-lumberjacks
Greenwash
Submitted by Jeff Muskrat (not verified) on Mon Apr. 27, 2009 2:10 PM PDT.
...or all misinformed. Greenwashing MRC is a public disservice. You should be ashamed Mother Jones. MRC still clearcuts(They call it "even-aged management, but it is what it is) MRC still utilizes herbicides(They call it "Rehab", it is essentially "hack and squirt", in which they massacre thousands of acres of Oaks and Madrones by cutting around the base of the cambium of the poor trees and spraying them with herbicides) MRC still cuts massive trees(Old Growth trees that can be spared by MRC must fall into a long list of requirements) MRC still cuts on steep slopes(Where else can you find the big timbers that were spared by past logging methods?) No compromise in defense of Mother Earth, Mother Jones...
http://motherjones.com/environment/2008/12/when-tree-sitters-heart-lumberjacks
Greenwash
Submitted by Jeff Muskrat (not verified) on Mon Apr. 27, 2009 2:10 PM PDT.
...or all misinformed. Greenwashing MRC is a public disservice. You should be ashamed Mother Jones. MRC still clearcuts(They call it "even-aged management, but it is what it is) MRC still utilizes herbicides(They call it "Rehab", it is essentially "hack and squirt", in which they massacre thousands of acres of Oaks and Madrones by cutting around the base of the cambium of the poor trees and spraying them with herbicides) MRC still cuts massive trees(Old Growth trees that can be spared by MRC must fall into a long list of requirements) MRC still cuts on steep slopes(Where else can you find the big timbers that were spared by past logging methods?) No compromise in defense of Mother Earth, Mother Jones...
For more information:
http://humboldtforestdefense.blogspot.com
Thanks Dan, for this great article on Mother Jones. This adds proof to the claims that both neoliberals and neoconservatives in political office and the media realm are working in cohesion with agribusiness corporations to the detriment of the riparian ecosystem and their inhabitants.
From the shenanigans of FOX News anchor Sean Hannity in Fresno with their hired guns to claim "job losses" and other such fallacies to the recent Mother Jones article saying almost the exact same thing, the salmon need many a voice of truth and reason to speak up for them. So far the salmon have Dan Bacher and a few other people speaking up on their behalf, and a whole lot of mainstream media outlets carrying the ball for agribusiness interests.
Would be interesting to discover if the claims of "job losses" from less water through the pumps was really a result of Westlands farmland being retired over time due to selenium contamination? These lands recently retired from selenium contamination once held jobs, though years of over irrigation with transported water is the culprit, NOT the delta smelt! However, corporate interests use their PR arms in the media to concoct scapegoats while covering up their own responsibility in selenium contamination of the soil from decades of over-irrigation..
Small farmers who try to grow crops within their means are suffering because the larger industrial agribusiness corporations of Westlands district are making their fortunes from subsidized water and additional subsidies for petroleum derived fertilizer, pesticides, etc... Small farmers use water more sustainably though do not recieve any subsidies, yet must compete in the same market as their well financed industrial counterparts. This results in industrial agribusiness charging less for their lower quality product while making greater profits, as they do not need to pay for much of their overhead. That same process occurs in third world countries being flooded by cheaply priced subsidized grains from U.S. corporations like Cargill, ADM, ConAgra, etc..., driving the smaller local farmers out of business and off of their land. We can thank free trade agreements like NAFTA, WTO, etc.. for this effect.
In a true "free market" system MINUS any taxpayer subsidies or water subsidies, the Westlands agribusiness corporations would fold even sooner than they have with the eventual selenium contamination. Just not sure who will pay for the problems caused by the peripheral canal once the selenium contamination forces the entire Westlands district out of business, it is only a matter of years. We would have paid for the building of this canal for only a few more years of subsidized profits by Westlands agribusiness. Though this continuation of unsustainable agribusiness may result in the extinction of the salmon from many rivers, nobody from the mainstream neoliberal and neoconservative political factions will grow the cojones to publically refute the myths of agribusiness. Or maybe their pockets are so filled up with bribes from agribusiness that their cojones have no room to grow, let alone breathe??
From the shenanigans of FOX News anchor Sean Hannity in Fresno with their hired guns to claim "job losses" and other such fallacies to the recent Mother Jones article saying almost the exact same thing, the salmon need many a voice of truth and reason to speak up for them. So far the salmon have Dan Bacher and a few other people speaking up on their behalf, and a whole lot of mainstream media outlets carrying the ball for agribusiness interests.
Would be interesting to discover if the claims of "job losses" from less water through the pumps was really a result of Westlands farmland being retired over time due to selenium contamination? These lands recently retired from selenium contamination once held jobs, though years of over irrigation with transported water is the culprit, NOT the delta smelt! However, corporate interests use their PR arms in the media to concoct scapegoats while covering up their own responsibility in selenium contamination of the soil from decades of over-irrigation..
Small farmers who try to grow crops within their means are suffering because the larger industrial agribusiness corporations of Westlands district are making their fortunes from subsidized water and additional subsidies for petroleum derived fertilizer, pesticides, etc... Small farmers use water more sustainably though do not recieve any subsidies, yet must compete in the same market as their well financed industrial counterparts. This results in industrial agribusiness charging less for their lower quality product while making greater profits, as they do not need to pay for much of their overhead. That same process occurs in third world countries being flooded by cheaply priced subsidized grains from U.S. corporations like Cargill, ADM, ConAgra, etc..., driving the smaller local farmers out of business and off of their land. We can thank free trade agreements like NAFTA, WTO, etc.. for this effect.
In a true "free market" system MINUS any taxpayer subsidies or water subsidies, the Westlands agribusiness corporations would fold even sooner than they have with the eventual selenium contamination. Just not sure who will pay for the problems caused by the peripheral canal once the selenium contamination forces the entire Westlands district out of business, it is only a matter of years. We would have paid for the building of this canal for only a few more years of subsidized profits by Westlands agribusiness. Though this continuation of unsustainable agribusiness may result in the extinction of the salmon from many rivers, nobody from the mainstream neoliberal and neoconservative political factions will grow the cojones to publically refute the myths of agribusiness. Or maybe their pockets are so filled up with bribes from agribusiness that their cojones have no room to grow, let alone breathe??
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