Friday Farming: NPR; In 'This Blessed Earth,' The Outdated Romance Of The Family Farm

Distressing indeed.

In 'This Blessed Earth,' The Outdated Romance Of The Family Farm

The Big Picture: 4th Nebraska National Guard, September 14, 1917.

 Sanitary Company.

Company K.

The Big Picture: Company G, Fourth Nebraska National Guard. August 26, 1917.

The Big Picture: Co. C, Sixth Nebraska Infantry, August 21, 1917.

Wyoming's most prolific inventor

This is a semi automatic rifle designed by John Pedersen, Wyoming's most prolific inventor.  This rifle competed with others early on for the replacement for the M1903 Springfield. That ultimately went to John Garand's design.

More patents are held by Pedersen than any other Wyomingite.  Born in Grand Island Nebraska, the family moved to Jackson Hole when he was a child and he designed most of his designs from there.  Pedersen continued to use the family ranch as his home base for most of his life, although he traveled extensively and did live in other localities from time to time.  At the time of his death he was living in Massachusetts, near Springfield Armory, and perhaps because he was working for the United States government.

His most famous design, although not his most successful one by any means in terms of manufacture and use, was the Pedersen Device, a device which allowed for the 1903 Springfield to host what was basically a semi automatic action.  Manufactured in numbers during World War One, they were never actually issued and were discarded after the war.  His design for a pump action shotgun, however, lives on today ironically as the Browning BPS.  His Model 51 pistol was manufactured commercially by Remington and was recommended for purchase by the Navy prior to World War One, although it was not officially adopted.  The cartridge design he created following World War One for military trials, the .276 Pedersen, turned out to be far ahead of its time, although the wise intervention of Douglas MacArthur, given budget constrains during the Depression, kept it from being adopted.

While a very successful arms designer, with many important patents to his name, a great deal of his personal story is lost.  He was married and had two children, one of whom was a Marine Corps lieutenant during the Korean War who purchased the famous racehorse Reckless for use in hauling ammunition.  His wife was a published author who wrote on widely varying topics.  The divorced at some point, but it is not known when.  He later remarried late in life to a woman 32 year his junior.

Pedersen would be famous today but for the fact that he was a contemporary of John Browning, the most famous of all American firearms designers.  Browning, for his part, called Pedersen the "greatest firearms designer in the world."

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Post Chapel. Prisoner of War Camp. Ft. Robinson Nebraska

Churches of the West: Post Chapel. Prisoner of War Camp. Ft. Robinson Nebraska

This is the second time I've posted a photo of a bare remnant of a church, but in this case, it's a much more recent structure. This is where the Post Chapel for the Prisoner of War Camp at Ft. Robinson Nebraska once was.  None of the original structures of the POW camp remain, and most is grass prairie, but where the chapel was is now this small stand of bushes.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Christ the King Catholic Church, Gering Nebraska

Churches of the West: Christ the King Catholic Church, Gering Nebraska:

I did a very poor job of photographing this church, as I failed to really investigate the full architecture at the time. What is visible in this photo is the 1996 addition to the 1958 church. The spire for the 1958 church is visible.  Had I paid more attention at the time, I would have photographed that portion of the church.

Anyhow, this Catholic Church in Gering Nebraska is an interesting example of a church having been substantially added to.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: First Christian Church, Sidney Nebraska

Churches of the West: First Christian Church, Sidney Nebraska:

This is the First Christian Church in Sidney Nebraska.  Other than that, I don't know anything about this church.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Sidney Nebraska

Churches of the West: St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Sidney Nebraska:

This is St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Sidney, Nebraska.  It's a striking church that was built in 1913, although I wonder if part of the structure may have been added on to much more recently.  If so, the architects did an amazing job of keeping later construction consistent with the original design of the church.

Lex Anteinternet: The Big Picture: Rail and Stock Yards, Omaha Nebraska in 1916

Lex Anteinternet: The Big Picture: Rail and Stock Yards, Omaha Nebraska in 1916

We've run this one before, in 2013, but we're repeating it on the centennial of its publication.

Note the boxcar with a beer brand on it's side.  I can't make out the brand.

Corporate farming. Why?

Nebraska prohibits corporate farming in its constitution:

XII-8.

Corporation acquiring an interest in real estate used for farming or ranching or engaging in farming or ranching; restrictions; Secretary of State, Attorney General; duties; Legislature; powers.

That Article XII of the Constitution of the State of Nebraska be amended by adding a new section numbered 8 and subsections as numbered, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Constitution.

Sec. 8(1) No corporation or syndicate shall acquire, or otherwise obtain an interest, whether legal, beneficial, or otherwise, in any title to real estate used for farming or ranching in this state, or engage in farming or ranching.

Corporation shall mean any corporation organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country or any partnership of which such corporation is a partner.

Farming or ranching shall mean (i) the cultivation of land for the production of agricultural crops, fruit, or other horticultural products, or (ii) the ownership, keeping or feeding of animals for the production of livestock or livestock products.

Syndicate shall mean any limited partnership organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country, other than limited partnerships in which the partners are members of a family, or a trust created for the benefit of a member of that family, related to one another within the fourth degree of kindred according to the rules of civil law, or their spouses, at least one of whom is a person residing on or actively engaged in the day to day labor and management of the farm or ranch, and none of whom are nonresident aliens. This shall not include general partnerships.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(A) A family farm or ranch corporation. Family farm or ranch corporation shall mean a corporation engaged in farming or ranching or the ownership of agricultural land, in which the majority of the voting stock is held by members of a family, or a trust created for the benefit of a member of that family, related to one another within the fourth degree of kindred according to the rules of civil law, or their spouses, at least one of whom is a person residing on or actively engaged in the day to day labor and management of the farm or ranch and none of whose stockholders are non-resident aliens and none of whose stockholders are corporations or partnerships, unless all of the stockholders or partners of such entities are persons related within the fourth degree of kindred to the majority of stockholders in the family farm corporation.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(B) Non-profit corporations.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(C) Nebraska Indian tribal corporations.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(D) Agricultural land, which, as of the effective date of this Act, is being farmed or ranched, or which is owned or leased, or in which there is a legal or beneficial interest in title directly or indirectly owned, acquired, or obtained by a corporation or syndicate, so long as such land or other interest in title shall be held in continuous ownership or under continuous lease by the same such corporation or syndicate, and including such additional ownership or leasehold as is reasonably necessary to meet the requirements of pollution control regulations. For the purposes of this exemption, land purchased on a contract signed as of the effective date of this amendment, shall be considered as owned on the effective date of this amendment.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(E) A farm or ranch operated for research or experimental purposes, if any commercial sales from such farm or ranch are only incidental to the research or experimental objectives of the corporation or syndicate.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(F) Agricultural land operated by a corporation for the purpose of raising poultry.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(G) Land leased by alfalfa processors for the production of alfalfa.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(H) Agricultural land operated for the purpose of growing seed, nursery plants, or sod.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(I) Mineral rights on agricultural land.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(J) Agricultural land acquired or leased by a corporation or syndicate for immediate or potential use for nonfarming or nonranching purposes. A corporation or syndicate may hold such agricultural land in such acreage as may be necessary to its nonfarm or nonranch business operation, but pending the development of such agricultural land for nonfarm or nonranch purposes, not to exceed a period of five years, such land may not be used for farming or ranching except under lease to a family farm or ranch corporation or a non-syndicate and non-corporate farm or ranch.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(K) Agricultural lands or livestock acquired by a corporation or syndicate by process of law in the collection of debts, or by any procedures for the enforcement of a lien, encumbrance, or claim thereon, whether created by mortgage or otherwise. Any lands so acquired shall be disposed of within a period of five years and shall not be used for farming or ranching prior to being disposed of, except under a lease to a family farm or ranch corporation or a non-syndicate and non-corporate farm or ranch.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(L) A bona fide encumbrance taken for purposes of security.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(M) Custom spraying, fertilizing, or harvesting.

These restrictions shall not apply to:

(N) Livestock futures contracts, livestock purchased for slaughter, or livestock purchased and resold within two weeks.

If a family farm corporation, which has qualified under all the requirements of a family farm or ranch corporation, ceases to meet the defined criteria, it shall have fifty years, if the ownership of the majority of the stock of such corporation continues to be held by persons related to one another within the fourth degree of kindred or their spouses, and their landholdings are not increased, to either re-qualify as a family farm corporation or dissolve and return to personal ownership.

The Secretary of State shall monitor corporate and syndicate agricultural land purchases and corporate and syndicate farming and ranching operations, and notify the Attorney General of any possible violations. If the Attorney General has reason to believe that a corporation or syndicate is violating this amendment, he or she shall commence an action in district court to enjoin any pending illegal land purchase, or livestock operation, or to force divestiture of land held in violation of this amendment. The court shall order any land held in violation of this amendment to be divested within two years. If land so ordered by the court has not been divested within two years, the court shall declare the land escheated to the State of Nebraska.

If the Secretary of State or Attorney General fails to perform his or her duties as directed by this amendment, Nebraska citizens and entities shall have standing in district court to seek enforcement.

The Nebraska Legislature may enact, by general law, further restrictions prohibiting certain agricultural operations that the legislature deems contrary to the intent of this section.

North Dakota prohibits corporate farming by statute: 

10-06.1-02. Farming or ranching by corporations and limited liability companies prohibited.

All corporations and limited liability companies, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, are prohibited from owning or leasing land used for farming or ranching and from engaging in the business of farming or ranching. A corporation or a limited liability company may be a partner in a partnership that is in the business of farming or ranching only if that corporation or limited liability company complies with this chapter.

10-06.1-3. Retention of mineral interests prohibited.

For land and minerals acquired after July 1, 1985, any corporation or limited liability company that acquires mineral interests through foreclosure or in lieu of foreclosure which were not specifically valued at the time the security interest in the minerals was acquired, and which prohibited from owning or leasing land used in farming or ranching, is prohibited from retaining mineral interests in land used for farming or ranching when the corporation or limited liability company divests itself of the land, and the mineral interests must be passed with the surface estate of the land when the corporation or limited liability company divests itself of the land under this chapter.

South Dakota also prohibits its statutorily:

47-9A-1.   Agriculture prohibited as corporate or limited liability company purpose. The Legislature of the State of South Dakota recognizes the importance of the family farm to the economic and moral stability of the state, and the Legislature recognizes that the existence of the family farm is threatened by conglomerates in farming. Therefore, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of this state, and shall be the provision of this chapter, that, notwithstanding the provisions of § 47-1A-301, no foreign or domestic corporation, except as provided herein, shall be formed or licensed under the South Dakota Business Corporation Act for the purpose of owning, leasing, holding or otherwise controlling agricultural land to be used in the business of agriculture.

It is further declared that no foreign or domestic limited liability company, except as provided herein, shall be formed or licensed under the South Dakota Limited Liability Company Act for the purpose of owning, leasing, holding or otherwise controlling agricultural land to be used in the business of agriculture.

So does Kansas:

17-5904. Restrictions; exceptions; penalties. (a) No corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership, other than a family farm corporation, authorized farm corporation, limited liability agricultural company, family farm limited liability agricultural company, limited agricultural partnership, family trust, authorized trust or testamentary trust shall, either directly or indirectly, own, acquire or otherwise obtain or lease any agricultural land in this state. The restrictions provided in this section do not apply to the following:

(1) A bona fide encumbrance taken for purposes of security.

(2) Agricultural land when acquired as a gift, either by grant or devise, by a bona fide educational, religious or charitable nonprofit corporation.

(3)  Agricultural land acquired by a corporation or a limited liability company in such acreage as is necessary for the operation of a nonfarming business. Such land may not be used for farming except under lease to one or more natural persons, a family farm corporation, authorized farm corporation, family trust, authorized trust or testamentary trust. The corporation shall not engage, either directly or indirectly, in the farming operation and shall not receive any financial benefit, other than rent, from the farming operation.

(4)  Agricultural land acquired by a corporation or a limited liability company by process of law in the collection of debts, or pursuant to a contract for deed executed prior to the effective date of this act, or by any procedure for the enforcement of a lien or claim thereon, whether created by mortgage or otherwise, if such corporation divests itself of any such agricultural land within 10 years after such process of law, contract or procedure, except that provisions of K.S.A. 9-1102, and amendments thereto, shall apply to any bank which acquires agricultural land.

(5) A municipal corporation.

(6)  Agricultural land which is acquired by a trust company or bank in a fiduciary capacity or as a trustee for a nonprofit corporation.

(7)  Agricultural land owned or leased or held under a lease purchase agreement as described in K.S.A. 12-1741, and amendments thereto, by a corporation, corporate partnership, limited corporate partnership or trust on the effective date of this act if: (A) Any such entity owned or leased such agricultural land prior to July 1, 1965, provided such entity shall not own or lease any greater acreage of agricultural land than it owned or leased prior to the effective date of this act unless it is in compliance with the provisions of this act; (B) any such entity was in compliance with the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its repeal by this act, provided such entity shall not own or lease any greater acreage of agricultural land than it owned or leased prior to the effective date of this act unless it is in compliance with the provisions of this act, and absence of evidence in the records of the county where such land is located of a judicial determination that such entity violated the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its repeal shall constitute proof that the provisions of this act do not apply to such agricultural land, and that such entity was in compliance with the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its repeal; or (C) any such entity was not in compliance with the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its repeal by this act, but is in compliance with the provisions of this act by July 1, 1991.

(8)  Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation or a limited liability company for use as a feedlot, a poultry confinement facility or rabbit confinement facility.

(9) Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation for the purpose of the production of timber, forest products, nursery products or sod.

(10) Agricultural land used for bona fide educational research or scientific or experimental farming.

(11)  Agricultural land used for the commercial production and conditioning of seed for sale or resale as seed or for the growing of alfalfa by an alfalfa processing entity if such land is located within 30 miles of such entity's plant site.

(12) Agricultural land owned or leased by a corporate partnership or limited corporate partnership in which the partners associated therein are either natural persons, family farm corporations, authorized farm corporations, limited liability agricultural companies, family trusts, authorized trusts or testamentary trusts.

(13) Any corporation, either domestic or foreign, or any limited liability company, organized for coal mining purposes which engages in farming on any tract of land owned by it which has been strip mined for coal.

(14) Agricultural land owned or leased by a limited partnership prior to the effective date of this act.

(15)  Except as provided by K.S.A. 17-5908, as it existed before the effective date of this act, and K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 17-5909, agricultural land held or leased by a corporation or a limited liability company for use as a swine production facility in any county which, before the effective date of this act, has voted favorably pursuant to K.S.A. 17-5908, as it existed before the effective date of this act, either by county resolution or by the electorate.

(16)  Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership for use as a swine production facility in any county where the voters, after the effective date of this act, have voted pursuant to K.S.A. 17-5908, and amendments thereto, to allow establishment of swine production facilities within the county.

(17) Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership for use as a dairy production facility in any county which has voted favorably pursuant to K.S.A. 17-5907, and amendments thereto, either by county resolution or by the electorate.

(18) Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation or a limited liability company used in a hydroponics setting.

(b)  Production contracts entered into by a corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership and a person engaged in farming for the production of agricultural products shall not be construed to mean the ownership, acquisition, obtainment or lease, either directly or indirectly, of any agricultural land in this state.

(c) Any corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership, other than a family farm corporation, authorized farm corporation, limited liability agricultural company, family farm limited liability agricultural company, limited agricultural partnership, family trust, authorized trust or testamentary trust, violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000 and shall divest itself of any land acquired in violation of this section within one year after judgment is entered in the action. The district courts of this state may prevent and restrain violations of this section through the issuance of an injunction. The attorney general or district or county attorney shall institute suits on behalf of the state to enforce the provisions of this section.

(d)  Civil penalties sued for and recovered by the attorney general shall be paid into the state general fund. Civil penalties sued for and recovered by the county attorney or district attorney shall be paid into the general fund of the county where the proceedings were instigated.

Food for thought for Wyoming?

And now Uranium

In the just can't catch a break department, Cameco, a uranium producer, announced it was laying off 85 employees in Wyoming and Nebraska due to depressed uranium prices.  Prices fell in 2011 due to the Fukushima Daiichi incident in which it was damaged due to a 9.0 scale earthquake in Japan.

Stuff like this shows the weird things that nuclear power, which is incredibly safe, has to contend with.  There aren't any forms of electrical power generation that do not resort in injuries and deaths.  Not to pick on coal, but it's certainly the case that there are a lot more coal mining and coal power plant injuries in a year than there are such incidents from nuclear power plants and Uranium mining.

And uranium offers a means of generating power that's actually really green compared to generating methods that rely on fossil fuels. 

No matter, the weird sort of view that people have of such things has condemned nuclear generation to a seemingly increasingly marginal role.  Just like hydroelectric power, it addresses most of the complaint that people have with other forms of electrical generation, but the opponents of nuclear power can't see past the radioactive glow that haunted the imagination since the Cold War.

So, while it has nothing at all to do with what's plaguing coal, a price decline, like for petroleum oil, is causing layoffs in an industry that once showed great promise in the 1960 and 70s for Wyoming.

Casper Daily Press for April 19, 1916. Mexico, Germany and the early campaign for Henry Ford, yes that Ford, for President

This edition has a note about something we have largely forgotten.

Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motors, was a candidate for the Presidency in 1916.  He ran on the GOP ticket, and he took Nebraska's and Michigan's delegates that year.

That's all he took, but for a time Ford, who was of course a well known businessman (and of course that calls to mind Trump invariably) and an opponent of entry into World War One to such an extent that he opposed military preparation, which was a big ongoing deal at the time, did well in those two states and was a sort of serious contender.

 

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Morrill County Nebraska Courthouse, Bridgeport Nebraska

Courthouses of the West: Morrill County Nebraska Courthouse, Bridgeport Nebraska

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Scottsbluff County Courthouse, Gering Nebraska

Courthouses of the West: Scottsbluff County Courthouse, Gering Nebraska:

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Kimball County Nebraska Courthouse, Kimball Nebras...

Kimball County Nebraska Courthouse, Kimball Nebraska

This is the Kimball County Courthouse in Kimball Nebraska.  This fine looking courthouse was opened in 1928 and was constructed of Carthage stone, with floors of Ozark gray marble and fixtures made of solid walnut.  MKTH Photo.

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Kimball County Nebraska Courthouse, Kimball Nebras...

Courthouses of the West: Kimball County Nebraska Courthouse, Kimball Nebraska:

This is the Kimball County Courthouse in Kimball Nebraska.  This fine looking courthouse was opened in 1928 and was constructed of Carthage stone, with floors of Ozark gray marble and fixtures made of solid walnut.  MKTH Photo.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 18 Updated.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 18:

2014.  Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court seeking to have leave to sue Colorado on a Constitutional basis.regarding Colorado's state legalization of marijuana.  The basis of their argument is that Colorado's action violates the United States Constitution by ignoring the supremacy nature of Federal provisions banning marijuana.

While an interesting argument, my guess is that this will fail, as the Colorado action, while flying in the face of Federal law, does exist in an atmosphere in which the Federal government has ceased enforcing the law itself.

Movies In History: Lonesome Dove

Lonesome Dove

This television mini series, based on the Larry McMurtry novel, which itself was closely based on actual events of frontier era cattleman, set a new standard for clothing accuracy. And as the novel was itself closely based on actual persons and their history, the details in general are remarkably accurate.  Indeed, this movie is to Westerns what Band of Brothers is to war movies, in that it set the bar so high, that nothing that's come after it has been the same compared to those films which came before it.

Based closely on actual early cattle drives out of Texas going north, this gritty film has almost all, if not all, of the material details right, which almost no film prior to it did.  Indeed, this is so much the case that I've actually heard it criticized by the otherwise knowledgeable on some of what it portrays as it stands in such stark contrast to earlier films.  No cattle drive film compares to it.

Even wise, it's pretty good as well, showing the slow nature and remoteness of early drives.

If a person was to criticize it, what could be looked at is that like all McMurtry works, it's somewhat more focused on the unseemly side of things than it needs to be, which is McMurtry's hallmark in some ways.  Having said that, McMurtray isn't afraid to show various peoples and groups in a pretty unvarnished light, which many portrayals are not willing to do.

And the economic nature of the drive, without which it wouldn't make any sense, is largely omitted, a fault common to many western  movies.

Having said that, this film sets the bar for westerns.

The Big Picture: Rail and Stock Yards, Omaha Nebraska in 1916.

Omaha Stockyards, published September 5, 1916.