In the spirit of reasonable debate, I'd ask how exactly you think the government is keeping the farm gate price of commodities low. There are no price controls, and in fact I'd point to the ethanol boondoggle as one among many programs created out of whole cloth as a means of funneling taxpayer dollars directly into ag's pockets. Add in the new crop insurance scam, where you can pay a premium to guarantee revenue with exactly none of the finances transparent or accessible to the funding taxpayer, and I'd say that exactly the opposite of what you are saying is what's actually happening.
As to the water lawsuit, what I've read says that they sampled water at the tile discharges into the river for two years to establish their data set. Given that the tiles serve agriculture exclusively (or so nearly so as to be exclusively) it seems a reasonable conclusion that the nitrate is coming from the tiles. Further, they tried to negotiate directly with the drainage districts for two months before filing suit, and the districts would not give an inch. They, and the commodity groups, insist that the only path forward is with the voluntary program that the state of Iowa created. Farmers, indeed anyone, can always do what's voluntary, so the fact that less than 2% of Iowa's arable cropland is in cover crops and buffers tells me that what they're volunteering to do is what they've always done, which is how they got to a lawsuit in the first place. The waterworks had to discharge their nitrates back into the river under the terms of their permit from the EPA, which seems stupid to me too, but at least they aren't putting them out the tap.
As to the child labor deal, ag has fought tooth and nail against any kind of workplace safety, wage and hour laws, and environmental regulations for as long as I've been alive, and I don't expect that to stop. I live just north of a place where two boys died in a grain bin a few years back, and ag's response to that has left a sour taste in my mouth that's not ever going away.
Finally, and I mean this sincerely, if you want a job where a wage is guaranteed, go on and get one. I know from reading, enjoying, and being impressed by your posts that any number of businesses would be glad to have you and benefit from your presence. The fact is that you don't want a job, you want a business, and part of being in business is that you don't have any guarantees, whether you own a gas station, a hardware store, a construction company, or yes, a farm.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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