This past July, we paid a visit to Rigoni Farms in Pavilion. Steve Rigoni was a dairy farmer his whole life, and his father and his father's father before him. Not long ago, however, Steve made the switch to cash crops and began experimenting with alternative sources of energy. When we visited him in July, Steve showed us the tank in which he planned to burn switchgrass to heat the air to dry his corn crop—bushels of dried switchgrass would replace propane as the fuel source. He told us about how he manufactured the device and a little about his reasons. Please, be sure to go back and watch that video.

Well, we got a message from Steve last week asking us to come back out and see his invention in action. Long story short: it's a success. There are some things that need to be tweaked, as there are always things that need tweaking. But all in all, it works great. We put together another video to show you the burner and hear a little bit more from Steve about how it works. You can check that out below.

Before you watch it, however, let me say one thing. This video does not quite capture the marvel that I felt—and that I would hope some of you would feel—when I saw up close what Steve had built. This burner was made by hand, by Steve from whatever he could find to piece it together. He welded, he fanagled, he improvised. He manufactured a heat exchanger out of metal sheets and pipes. It's a thing of beauty, really. And that's before you consider that he now grows his own fuel and saves some 1,000 gallons of propane per day, every time he uses the dryer.

On a few instances this morning and afternoon, I looked out the window of our Main Street office and spied an "Oversize Load" getting hauled through the city, heading east on Route 5. About an hour ago, I was in my car and spotted another such load. This time, I chased the sucker down, whipped out my camera and got a photo—and please forgive the quality: it was taken from inside my car while I was driving, er, stopped at a traffic light.

Now why would anybody take a photograph of some big... uhh, something... traveling down the street on the back of a hundred-foot flatbed? Well, mostly because I couldn't for the life of me guess what that something was. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm often intrigued by the unknown, especially when it's that large and in my face and unabashedly downtown.

Here's a shot:

This was taken near the intersection of Route 5 and Route 33 as the object in question was headed east toward the town of Stafford. What do you think it is? It looked like it could have been some part of a high-tech flying machine. Or maybe some billionaire mad scientist is constructing an underground lair.

From the Batavia Muckdogs:

Today, Red Wings Management, LLC announced that Travis Sick and Casey Freeman will accept new positions as general managers of the NY-Penn League champion Batavia Muckdogs’ front office.  Mr. Sick and Mr. Freeman were both instrumental in running the operation throughout the 2008 season.

Freeman, 31, joined the Muckdogs in May as the Director of Food and Beverage.  In that capacity, he was responsible for the significant upgrade to the food service operation at Dwyer Stadium.  Freeman’s background is in food and facility management.  He studied Hotel Resort Management at Finger Lakes Community College and earned a B.S. in Sport Studies at St. John Fisher College.  He performed an internship with the Red Wings organization in 2003.  Freeman will become the General Manager of Stadium Operations, effective November 11th.

Sick, 23, spent the 2008 season as Director of Ticket Operations for the Muckdogs, after joining the team in April.  Travis was born in Wayland, New York and attended Wayland-Cohocton Central School. He graduated from St. John Fisher College with a B.S. in both Sport Management and Business Management.  Travis was an intern with the Rochester Red Wings organization in 2007, working in the Group Sales and Promotions departments. He will become the General Manager of Baseball Operations November 11th.

In their new capacities, both gentlemen will sell group tickets and advertising, with Sick’s additional focus being on marketing, public relations and baseball matters , and Freeman’s on concessions, merchandise, website and stadium management.

“I am excited about the opportunity that we’ve been given,” said Travis Sick.  “We’re both very eager to get out there and start doing the job we know we can do for this franchise.  We’ve spent a season getting to know Batavia and its people, and I am confident we will do a job that will make the community proud.   This is a great time to be with an organization - coming off a championship season.  I can’t imagine it being any better.”

Casey Freeman added “We’ve learned a lot this past year, and will continue to learn.  But this is a job that we are both well prepared for and looking forward to.  We understand that there will be challenges in turning this into a high functioning franchise, but we like the enthusiasm we see in this town. I just returned from a New York Penn League meeting, and my goal is to bring this franchise up to the level of some of the other successful franchises in our league.  The other teams are very supportive of our efforts and they promise they will do all they can to share insight into their success. With that and the support of the Red Wings, we certainly have a great start.”

“We are very pleased to be able to retain these two fine young baseball executives within our organization”, stated Naomi Silver, Chairman of the Board of Red Wings Management and the Rochester Red Wings, its parent company.  “They did an outstanding job for us this past season and we are confident that they will be effective in their respective areas of responsibility.  These are two individuals who have a good working knowledge of how a baseball organization should run, and they each have a genuine interest in providing the fans and sponsors of Muckdogs baseball with a quality experience.  They will do what is necessary to grow this franchise.”

Both men will continue to work closely with Red Wings’ General Manager, Dan Mason.  “I see real talent in these two gentlemen.  They both know that it takes a lot of heart and a lot of hard work to make an organization a success.  They have skills and a work ethic that is critical to our line of work, and they love their jobs.  I think they both have very bright futures, and I am very pleased to be able to keep them both on our staff”, said Mason.

The Muckdogs front office will be launching a significant sales initiative this month in anticipation of a very positive public response following the capture of the New York Penn League Championship.  Mr. Mason stated “An organization can wait years for the kind of success we had on the field in our first year running this team.  The fan response has been really great.  It is an exciting time in this franchise’s history, and that of this community.  To have gone from the team almost disappearing to being the best in the League is incredible. Experience tells us that the year following a championship is always a big year and Travis and Casey are ready for that job.”

You can now count the Daily News among those of us trying to get information from officials at Victorian Manor, where construction ground to a halt earlier this year amid rumors that the Main Street senior living complex would soon close down altogether. Any attempt to find out what was going on has been met with stalwart silence on the part of Marcia Noonan, the complex manager, and it turns out we weren't the only ones getting stonewalled.

Reporter Joanne Beck called up the complex on Monday and got nowhere. Nevertheless, she put together an interesting piece that mostly rehashes what was reported on The Batavian nearly a month ago by our diligent and undaunted readers. She did, however, have some other information that we have not yet seen that helps paint a bit more of a detailed picture.

A resident, who asked not to be identified, has also said the site's emergency system has not been working since this summer. The system involves pull cords in each resident's bed and bath rooms. It was touted as part of the security for an apartment that costs some $2,000 a month plus utilities.

The Batavian also received an anonymous tip on this same topic, but since we were unable to verify the individual's identity, we were unable to publish what was alleged.

Most of Beck's article, as mentioned, is made up of information that Kelly Hansen has been posting on The Batavian over the past three weeks. So, rather than report what we already reported, we will direct you to that earlier post.

Beck raises one point that is particularly confusing and possibly incorrect. She reports that KDA Construction Inc., a subsidiary of Sunwest Management, "filed a mechanic's lien for nearly $164,000 against Victorian Manor for lack of payment." Why would KDA, which is owned by Sunwest, file a lien against Victorian Manor, which is also owned by Sunwest? Wouldn't that amount to the company filing a lien against itself?

Our own research at the Genesee County Clerk's Office found that KDA Construction and Victorian Manor were both named as debtors in the mechanic's lien filed on September 17 by On It Inc., a Rochester-based company that claims $163,480.62 in unpaid labor and material costs. We telephoned On It earler today to see if we could get some more details. Unfortunately, the phone rang indefinitely. No answer. No voice mail. In the notice of the lien filed by On it, the labor and material costs were related to the installation of "HVAC equipment, duct work and piping."

Further, KDA Construction is named as a debtor in a dozen other liens filed over the past three months, totalling more than $1.54 million. The first, for $194,032, was filed on August 29; the most recent, for $22,382, was filed on October 29. In most of those, Batavia Senior Living LLC, the legal name for Victorian Manor, is also named as a debtor. Callea Electric Inc. is named as the creditor in the lien for $339,783.45—the most costly—filed on September 15.

Beck also spoke with a former employee of Victorian Manor who said that while she was employed there, "she was shorted money in her paycheck a number of times and had a couple of company checks bounce for insufficient funds." Ouch! Beck continues:

An investigation by the state Labor Department involved at least two employees who had complained about getting paychecks that did not include all the hours they had worked and about bouncing checks. Noonan had told Labor Standards Investigator Mary Confer that "she was aware checks had bounced" because management firm Sunwest Management had changed banks. However, the time period for bounced checks was from December 2006 to at least until April 2007, records state.

The Batavian called and left another message for Marcia Noonan earlier today. We have not yet received a call back. If we do, you can be sure we will let you know.

Batavia's City Council approved the acceptance of a $90,000 grant to be used for the purchase of a new ambulance by the city's emergency crew, according to the Daily News. At that same meeting, the council approved another grant for $23,980 that will be used for "record management." City Attorney George Van Nest told the group that a lawsuit against the city has been dismissed. A construction worker was suing the city after being injured while on duty. "There was no trial," said Van Nest.

In other news, a brief blurb in the local section claims that Oakfield-Alabama School Principal Scott Read is "not at work due to personal issues." No one knows if or when Read will return, according to Susan Conrad, who spoke with Superintendent Chris Todd.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Click here to download the agenda for the upcoming Bethany Town Board meeting.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY -- THANK-YOU ALL VETERANS

Charges are pending for a Batavia man who was ejected from his vehicle after he collided with a tree early this morning, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Brett T. Patterson, 20, of 8778 Alexander Road, was waiting for admittance into the emergency room at Strong Memorial Hopsital this morning. Deputies said that Patterson failed to negotiate a curve on Route 98 in the town of Batavia, then veered off the road, struck a Sunoco station pipeline marker, before the vehicle overturned and struck a tree. A passenger in the vehicle was not injured. Patterson was ejected.

Andrew W. Taylor, 21, of Albion, was charged with criminal impersonation and resisting arrest early this morning, city police said. Taylor is accused of giving police a false name in the midst of an investigation. Police then discovered an outstanding warrant issued for Taylor's arrest. Taylor allegedly attempted to flee and resisted arrest, struggling with the officers. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bail.

As a result of the same investigation, Nicholas G. Mcadoo, 20, of Knowlesville, was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana. Police allegedly found Mcadoo in possession of a stun gun, a gravity knife and marijuana. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail.

Norman D. Ball, 62, of Le Roy, was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday evening, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Ball was picked up by deputies following an investigation into a minor motor vehicle accident in the Kwik Fill gas station parking lot in Le Roy.

Brian P. Calmes, 23, of Pavilion, was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Calmes was located by deputies in the Yellow Goose parking lot on Route 20 in Pavilion following reported complaints of an erratic driver on Route 63.

Bill Kauffman's latest column for The American Conservative magazine is about the annual reading of John Gardner's works at the Pok-A-Dot, or as he spells it, the Pokadot (The Batavian may need to change its stylebook).

The piece is titled Gardening at Night (registration required for PDF version).

Our literary-culinary venue is the Pokadot, Gardner’s favorite diner, the unselfconsciously funky eatery at the epicenter of the Italian-Polish southside. (Gardner, a Welsh Presbyterian, frequently teased his people for their anti-Italian-Catholic prejudices while sharing them: a neat way to have your tortaand eat it too.)

...

Pokadot readers have included Gardner’s family and friends and people mentioned in his books, but most of us—teachers, a dairy salesman, our independent bookseller, and my wife, daughter, and I—know him only through the stories he wrote and the stories that are told about him still. (My dad, a few years behind him in school, said that Gardner was “weird.”)

A few regulars sit at the counter and sip coffee, bemused by the proceedings —maybe even edified, I like to kid myself.

Darrick Coleman covered this year's reading for The Batavian. His post and video are here.

While on the topic of Bill Kauffman, we recently found a video of a lecture he gave two years ago on Restoring American Regionalism. On the same site is a more recent lecture on Wendell Berry on War and Peace.

 New York State Assemblyman Steve Hawley paid a visit to the Batavia Lions Club Monday night at the weekly meeting at St. Nicks Club to announce a state donation to the City of Batavia.

Hawley helped get a grant passed to help Batavia decorate the city for Christmas, with much of the money going to the lighting on Main St.

Hawley gave a speech about the current state of government in New York State and told a great story about taking some veterans to Washington, D.C. recently for a visit. 

Hawley, a Batavia republican, has served on the Genesee County Legislature in the past and has been an assemblyman for three years.

The first hint of  trouble came in early May, when The Batavian was but a sprout on the Genesee County media landscape.

After initially welcoming The Batavian enthusiastically, we found out that Batavia City Manager Jason Molino told city employees not to cooperate with The Batavian. We could not even get copies of City Council agendas.

We eventually overcame that specific disability, but we've had an ongoing problem with getting answers from Mr. Molino to basic questions related to city governance, and a general lack of full disclosure form the city and its staff when we've sought it.

Two weeks ago, we took our case to the Batavia City Council. The response was, shall we say, tepid.

And we're disappointed.

Here's our position: The Batavian is a legitimate news organization. We may be web-only; our approach to news may be non-traditional; we may be new to the community, but the First Amendment doesn't address any of those issues. It merely enjoins government agencies to respect press freedom.

To us, that means not merely the right to publish as we see fit, but to have free and unfettered access to the government taxpayers support.

For the past several months, we've found that while the city manager will willingly speak with the Daily News and WBTA, he has completely cut out The Batavian as a channel for information to the citizenry on his positions, policies and actions.

He also maintains an inexplicable and unusually tight reign on the tongues of other city staff members.

At first, we hoped for improvement, but with none forthcoming, we began documenting Mr. Molino's failure to respond to interview requests. We documented 13 such instances, including instances where he would later be quoted in other media on the same topic, as well as an instance where Mr. Molino had the new fire chief cancel a video interview with The Batavian.

We've kept quiet about this issue because we were hoping for a friendly resolution to the disagreement over fair access, but since the council meeting two weeks ago, we've been trying to get a lunch appointment with Mr. Molino (The Batavian will pay:  Larry's Steakhouse, any afternoon on 24 hours notice). Mr. Molino has declined the invitation.

Given his lack of willingness to fairly discuss this issue, we've decided it is time to offer readers of The Batavian full disclosure about what has been going on.

As a matter of fairness to readers of The Batavian, we believe we are obligated to keep them informed on any issue that inhibits us from fully and faithfully gathering and disseminating information of public interest. While we regret withholding information about this lack of access until now, we hope readers will understand we did so only because we were seeking to settle this issue amicably long ago, and have persisted in this effort in good faith.

The readers of The Batavian have the same rights as the subscribers of the Daily News and the listeners of WBTA to have a representative of this news organization call upon city officials, ask questions and get answers.  It's a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution.

Clearly, not all city officials agree.

When we first launched The Batavian, we were happy to find in Mr. Molino a welcoming attitude to the expansion of Batavia's media choices. Unfortunately, only days later, he clammed up. In fact, he told all city employees not to cooperate with us in any manner, including denying us access to routine government documents, such as City Council agendas.

Upon further investigation, we learned that City Attorney George Van Nest had told city officials that The Batavian was not "official media" therefore not entitled to any communication from the city.

That was a curious statement for an attorney to make, so I called Mr. Van Nest and confirmed that he did indeed make that statement. I reminded him that under the First Amendment, there is no such thing as "official press."  After much discussion, he agreed to allow the city to release routine government documents to us and promised full and fair access.

We have not gotten it.

After our presentation to the Council two weeks ago, only one council member spoke to the topic of our speech.  The lack of interest by the Council may, frankly, have owed to the degree to which we placed the burden for lack of access on Mr. Molino.  We've since heard that some council members objected to that tone of the presentation, even those who had encouraged us to make a public plea for greater access, not just for The Batavian, but all of the local media (Mr. Molino does not allow any city staff to speak to any media).

The lone council member to speak on the topic was Bill Cox. He made the clearly contradicted statement -- he had in front of him contrary evidence at the time -- that The Batavian was receiving the same access as any other media outlet.

Since we've reached what seems to be an insurmountable impasse, we think it's only fair we bring this subject to the attention of our readers.

We're not looking for a fight.  We could, if we wanted, start posting Jason's phone number and e-mail address every time we had a question and ask readers to get the information needed; or, we could openly encourage city employees to give us anonymous tips on city business; or we could file a lawsuit. 

The first two options would only serve to cause further hard feelings, and a lawsuit, costing taxpayers money, would subvert our goal to do what is best for Batavia.

So we are left with but a third option: To just drop the issue.

We're doing quite well without the city manager's cooperation, and we imagine we will continue to do quite well whether Mr. Molino favors us with a word or two from time to time or not.

We're not here to be the "official" news source of Batavia. We're quite happy to let the Daily News carry the mantle of "paper of record."  We just think it would be nice to get questions answered when we are curious about an issue or event. If Mr. Molino is unwilling to do that, we think in the long run he is causing more harm to the city than he is to The Batavian. If we're right about that, our best course may be just to let well enough alone and trust that eventually, Mr. Molino or his successor, probably many years from now, will find it counter productive to give any media the silent treatment.

I've uploaded two related documents to our position -- a PDF of court cases that support our position, and a letter from the New York Newspaper Publishers' Association specifically encouraging the city to cooperate with The Batavian.

A new electronic book on everybody's favorite Freemason, William Morgan, was recently published by Booklocker.com. The Bright Mason: An American Mystery is by Robert Berry, a freelance journalist.

I'm going to go ahead and assume that most folks know the story of William Morgan and not reiterate that here or quote from the book's site, which gives a teaser-length history of the man and the mystery. Instead, here are the first few lines from the book itself:

William Morgan had a habit of covering his baldhead by pulling hair over from the side with his fingers, especially when he was excited about something. About 5’6”, in his mid-40s, and muscular, Morgan had a barrel chest thickly matted with hair and tuffs of curly gray hair sprouting from his ears. Tattoos on his arms led some to believe he had traveled with pirates in the Caribbean. Much of the time his eyes were swollen; a condition for which he often received treatment while living in Rochester.

You can check out more sample chapters on the book's site if you're interested. As I haven't read any of this book—aside from these few lines here—I won't make any recommendations or condemnations. I'll leave it to you to judge.

Batavia's CIty Manager Jason Molino told the Daily News that the city's public works union has dropped its grievance with the city. That union had taken issue with the city's "use of volunteer's in the place of public works employees." Beck writes:

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed the grievance after the 2007 Summer in the City festival. The group claimed it lost out on overtime work during the summer event.

I can't imagine city taxpayers would ever take the side of the union in this dispute. If the city can save $3,000—the figure cited by Beck—by getting more volunteers to clean up at the festival, why wouldn't they?

As Business Improvement District Manager Don Burkel said: "Our motive has always been that if we can save the city money, then we'll do that. It's a volunteer group. We're doing volunteer things." The BID runs the Summer in the City event.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Andrea L. Manley, 38, of Wymong, was charged with driving while intoxicated early Sunday morning, city police said. Manley allegedly crashed into a fire hydrant near the intersection of Swan and School streets then picked up the broken pieces of her vehicle and drove over to Liberty Street, where she scattered the damaged parts. She then parked her car and phoned police to report that her vehicle was struck while it was parked, police said. Manley was also charged with leaving the scene and falsely reporting.

Courtney A. Hodgins, 19, of 4719 East Road, Batavia, was charged with trespass Sunday afternoon, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Hodgins allegedly entered a building on Batavia Stafford Townline Road after she had been told not to return to the property.

Joshua J. Menz, 22, of Mount Morris, was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property Saturday, deputies said. Menz was stopped by deputies on Route 20 in Darien and found to possess a stolen New York state license plate. He was also ticketed with unlicensed operator and unregistered motor vehicle. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $750 bail.

Katrina Thigpen, 26, of 41 S. Main St., Batavia, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana Friday, deputies said. Thigpen was stopped by deputies for traffic violations and found to possess crack cocaine and marijuana.

Jason M. Perry, 26, of Albion, was charged with a felony count of fugitive from justice Friday, deputies said. Perry was stopped for a traffic violation Route 262 in Byron when deputies discovered that an outstanding warrant had been issued for his arrest out of a county sheriff's office in Pennsylvania. Perry was also ticketed with no front license plate. He was sent to Genesee County Jail without bail, where he will await extradition.

Daren A. Mott, 37, of Arkport, was charged with driving while intoxicated Saturday night, deputies said. Mott was found by deputies off Broadway Road in Alexander, where he had allegedly driven his vehicle into a farmer's field. He was also ticketed with moving from the lane unsafely.

We were wondering when the Muckdogs would make their appearance in the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of the Twenty-Five Things that Made Genesee County Famous. Well, they've made it. They broke the top ten. They come in at No. 9.

So we all know why we here in Genesee County love the Muckdogs—and we loved them all the more after the brought home the league title this summer. But how do the 'Dawgs make Genesee County famous?

Here's Pat Weissend, director of the Holland Land Office Museum:

Although Batavia is one of the smallest cities in America to have a Minor League franchise, the team consistently ranks near the top of the merchandise sold list. More than 100 Little League and softball teams across the country use Muckdogs as their team name.

Not to mention the world champs:

Many major leaguers began their professional careers in Batavia including World Series champions and current members of the Philadelphia Phillies Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Kyle Kendrick, Ryan Madson and JA Happ. National media outlets visited Batavia in 1998 when Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams played left field for the team. Some of the early Batavia greats were Jack Tighe, Dick Fowler, Manny Sanguillen and Doc Ellis. Clarence (Cito) Gaston led Batavia and the league in homers and runs batted in while playing for the 1966 Trojans. Gaston won two World Series as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1990s.

Congrats, Muckdogs!

OK, now that we're getting near the top of the list, it's time to start making some predictions. Surely, William Morgan will crack the top five. Bill Kauffman has got to be up there, too, as someone who has quite consciously made Genesee County famous with his book: Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette. A controversy over a transgender science teacher at a Batavia city school has to be at least number three.

What do you think? What's your number one?

Be sure to keep your browser tuned to the Holland Land Office Museum in the coming weeks. We could see our number one by the end of the year.

WBTA's Dan Fischer has a caution for morning commuters: Be careful on highway overpasses. Several minor accidents were reported earlier this morning due to ice slicks on overpasses in Genesee County that have not yet been salted. Nasty spots include the Route 19 Thruway bridge in Le Roy and the Route 63 Thruway bridge in the town of Batavia. A few power outages were also reported this morning as a result of the icy conditions. Parts of Bethany and Alexander were off the grid for a little while, but power has since been restored.

In other news, the Batavia City Council will meet tonight at 7:00pm at City Hall.

Of course, we continue to make improvements to The Batavian.

You may have already noticed the weather on the right side of the page.

We've also striped along the top of the page links to an About page, an Advertising page and now a Help/FAQ page.

If you scroll down the left side of the page you'll see a new menu block called "Featured Topics." This will be kind of a free-form place for us to feature topics that seem to have special interest among The Batavian readers.

As a reminder: Help wanted advertisements and classifieds and homes for sale can be posted to The Batavian for FREE -- just the primary links above for more information.

Mark T. Mitchell, writing for First Principles Journal, discusses sustainable farming in an article "The Rediscovery of Agriculture?"

Is there any farm in Genesee County like Polyface Farms in Staunton, Virginia?

Although he sells beef, chickens, eggs, turkeys, pork, and rabbits, Salatin calls himself a grass farmer. That is, he is in the business of raising meat and eggs for sale, but he realizes that the quality of his products, and ultimately the success of his farm, depends on the quality of the grass in his pastures. Unlike the vast majority of meat products in the U.S. today, Salatin’s cows are raised and finished on grass; his chickens are pastured; his hogs are happy, and his turkeys, well, they seem friendly. The Polyface website affirms their belief that the natural world is the model they seek to emulate: “Believing that the Creator’s design is still the best pattern for the biological world, the Salatin family invites like-minded folks to join in the farm’s mission.”

Salatin has developed innovated methods of enhancing his grass farm and thereby providing a good place for his animals. For example, his cows are moved to new pasture almost daily, and these docile beasts are anxious to move, for each fresh pasture represents, in the cow’s mind, what Salatin calls “cow ice-cream.” As in nature, once the herbivores (in this instance, cows) have moved to another field, the birds (in this case, chickens) come next. Portable chicken coops make it possible to move the chickens through a recently grazed pasture. The chickens flourish on the cropped grass, and they pick through the cow dung, eating bugs and parasites, and in the process spread the manure over the field, while depositing plenty of their own. The symbiosis of this relationship between cows and chickens replenishes the pastures even as it sustains the animals living there. This is just one example of how the people at Polyface seek to work with the natural world to raise healthy animals while simultaneously sustaining and even improving the land on which they farm.

Mitchell then goes on to talk about the work of economist John E. Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri.

Ikerd admits that his views are not typical of economists, but

[B]eing an economist is no excuse for ignoring ecological and social reality. How can agriculture meet the food and fiber needs of a growing world population if we destroy the natural productivity and regenerative capacity of the land? Economists generally assume that we will find substitutes for anything we use up and will fix any ecological or social problems we create, but these are simply beliefs with no logical, scientific support in fact.

Furthermore, although it is true that, at least in the short term, industrial agriculture can produce an incredible amount of food, there are trade-offs, and we are remiss to ignore what is inevitably sacrificed.

What is the net benefit of an agriculture that meets the physical needs of people but separates families, destroys communities, and diminishes the overall quality of life within society? How can it possibly be good to defile the earth, even if it is profitable to do so? Economists simply don’t consider the social, psychological, or ethical consequences of the things people do to make money. Economics treats such things as social or ecological externalities, which may impose irrational limits or constraints on the legitimate pursuit of wealth.

Mitchell then lists three reasons why centralized farming is bad for the nation.

• Industrialized food doesn't taste as good and isn't as healthy;
• Centralized agriculture is less secure against terrorist attacks;
• Industrial farming is not sustainable.

This is an agricultural community.  I would be interested in two reactions to Mitchell's piece -- is it realistic based on what you know about local farming, and are there any farms in Genesee County implementing sustainable agricultural tactics?

About 80 analysts gathered outside Buffalo yesterday to hear pitches from a number of Western New York companies about the soundness of their investments, according to the D&C.

Among those attending, Graham Corp. The Batavia-based company has seen it's stock slide from a 52-week high of $54.91 to close Friday at $13.90.

Graham, a regular presenter at the conference, has seen its stock fall sharply in recent weeks as oil prices plunged. The company makes vital equipment for the oil refining and petrochemical industries.

"This isn't a Graham problem," said CEO James Lines. "The whole energy sector fell out of favor."

Lines told investors that the long-term prospects of the energy industry are strong, pointing to plans for 17 refineries in China alone.

The blog Ethicurean, a site dedicated to healthy, locally produced food, put together a post about President-Elect Barack Obama's farm and food policies as detailed during his campaign.

Since Genesee County is a rural farming community, it is probably useful to look at some of the key issues raised by Obama in his speeches and policy statements.

Here's the key point of the post:

So what might we expect from an Obama administration when it comes to food policy? Maybe quite a bit. In his plan for rural America, he lays out a number of policy positions that are a departure from the status quo. Obama:

• Supports subsidies as a safety net, but calls for a $250,000 payment limitation and closing of loopholes, so that the program supports family farmers, not corporate agribusiness.
• Supports regulation of CAFOs (factory livestock operations).
• Wants to enforce anti-trust laws that so that smaller farmers can compete against large-scale meatpackers.
• Wants to cap the size of agricultural businesses that can receive government funds for environmental cleanup so that taxpayers don’t subsidize cleanup for large, polluting corporations.
• Supports Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat, a critical issue as we learn how widespread melamine contamination of animal feed is in countries like China.
• Wants to increase support for organic agriculture and local food systems by helping farmers with organic certification/compliance costs.
• Wants to provide incentives to encourage and support new farmers, land conservation, renewable energy on the farm, and microenterprise for farmers and other rural Americans.
• Calls for greater food safety surveillance and communications.
• Plans to encourage local foods in schools.
• Supports providing farmers with incentives that will prevent agricultural runoff.

From his campaign web site, here is Obama's Plan for Rural America.