Kalistani Major History

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Ag Minister Boris Donaldson expresses interest in working with Yingdala and Keymon
Agricultural development of Odufaray said to be on the top of his list
Kaliburg, Ananto
September 1, 4759


Agriculture Minister Boris Donaldson speaks before ARGUE representatives at National Conference

At the First Annual conference of the All Republican Growers' Unions of Enskal (Kalistan), Agriculture Minister Boris Donaldson gave the keynote speech.  In his discussion, he stressed Republican goals for recreating the National Food Bank, which not only guaranteed healthy food for all Kalistani citizens entirely free of cost, but also served for hundreds of years to underwrite the farm prices of the Republic, protecting this strategic resource from the wild swings of the business cycle which tends to more dramatically affect commodities with inelastic demand like food worse than other sectors.  Minister Donaldson stated that the goal was to rebuild Kalistani agriculture from the ground up, replacing the extremely volatile model which led to rapidly decreasing prices and land consolidation under corporate farms that was ushered in with Liberal Government more than 100 years ago.

"We've gotta do something to protect the farmer," Donaldson said, "and to guarantee food to the Citizen.  There is a symbiotic relationship between the People and that sector which produces their food, and the Republic can play a large role in this."

Many of the Farmers unions, who have taken a more liberal stance toward land ownership and farm prices than the Socialist Party has traditionally taken asked the Minister during the Conference questions like "Will you all be confiscating our lands?"  and "How can you stabilize prices when many farmers themselves have an individual interest in cutting their neighbors' throats and underselling their product to ensure that they get something instead of letting it all rot?"  The Agriculture minister, himself a lifelong member of the Suldanor Growers' Syndicate answered, "You have to weigh your probability here.  When I was a farmer, some years I would make a lot, and some years I would make nothing.  I more frequently made nothing, and even with the years I did well, I barely broke even.  I discovered that after 20 years, all my profits were going to some bank to pay loans to cover what I had to take.  I know some of you here:  Your stories are similar.

"What the Republican Government will be proposing is first and foremost, Individual and co-op holdings will be protected from Corporations.  You will be able to afford to operate your farm without worry about some corporation buying your loans and forcing you off your lands.  Secondly, we want to institute price stability through the elimination of competition.  What we are thinking of is one large co-op, a single buyer of your product.  Everyone will receive the same thing.  You won't have to make all your own deals anymore.  You will sell to a single buyer, who will guarantee that your receive a fair price, above market for your production. That single buyer will handle the distribution of your product.  You just have it ready when we show up, and we will take it off your hands, cash on the barrel.

"Most importantly, it is true:  Some of you won't be able to get really rich one year at the expense of your neighbors.  But with the Republican plan, you forgo the highs AND the lows.  I know some of you went hungry during the glut a few years back.  You remember that.  How can you forget it, right?  When you couldn't sell your crops at any price, because there was simply too much and nobody was buying.  Surrounded by food and many of you had to watch a whole season's worth of work go up in flames.  With the Republic as the single buyer, that's over.  Guaranteed."

The Agriculture Minister discussed plans with various Growing Syndicates to begin conversion to crops preferred by ODEN.  "We are including hemp under that rubric.  The Dahriel Syndicate is already stepping up hemp and cannabis production this year, but we will need much more in that way, along with coca, rye, and more specialized crops.  Current drug policy favors naturally grown crops, and consumers, both domestic and foreign, are already expressing interest in these cash crops."

One major initiative the Ag Minister also mentioned was potential partnerships with Yingdala and Keymon to introduce new crops into Kalistan's more marginal growing regions.  "We still have good quality infrastructure in Suldanor, and most of that has been oriented toward industrial production.  Why not use a lot of that marginal land, which couldn't support traditional cereal production, or wine, to move Suldanor's ag sector away from a sugar monoculture, and start producing things like Pineapples, rubber, bananas, rice, and other tropical fruits and vegetables?  Keymon has already expressed some interest in working with our government to bring pineapple to Kalistan, and Yingdala has also expressed great interest in assisting in development as well.  I would like to see agricultural counterparts from those countries as well as others visit Kalistan to expand our vital sector."

When all was said and done, the Minister left a favorable impression on delegates to the Conference, even some of the more hardened liberal ones, who were particularly impressed by the notion of price supports and protection against consolidation.  The All Republican Growers' Unions of Enskal represents more than 20 local syndicates and Co-ops, as well as more than 1,000 independent farmers in Kalistan, and was formed two years ago by a union between the very influential Dahriel Growers' Syndicate and the Springfield General Co-op in Odufaray.  Other unions soon joined and At-Large membership was opened to individual farmers last year.  The Government has not yet advanced a plan for the New Food Bank, and the Ag Minister was at the conference to gain input from the ARGUE.