The first reading from Genesis describes land as a gift, as a covenant of trust with God's people. Land is a gift, it is the foundation of the life of a people, and it is a sacred inheritance, which brings with it a new awareness of responsibility, symbolizing a deep connection between God, people and the land. Prosperity and quality in rural life can be seen as part of this covenant relationship, which includes justice as inherent to the bond.

The second reading, from the letter of Paul to the Philippians, states that our citizenship is in heaven, while our feet are on the ground. We stand firm in the Lord, we are grounded in a firm hope, a conviction that there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things.

The Gospel describes a peak experience: Peter, James and John went up the mountain to pray. There Moses and Elijah appeared to them in glory, with Jesus. The experience is described as a combination of sleep, silence and awe. This is a peak experience, a mountaintop experience, and a realization of a deep hope achieved after a long struggle and some difficulty. Sometimes a lonely pursuit gives way to a vision of hope, at last what we hear and part of what we know from our own life experiences, is achieved. There are peaks and valleys in life, we all know, as we seek a just price for our hard labor in order to maintain our families and communities in a quality of life, we know that it is all not achieved at once.

But from time to time there is a realization that the hope is real and the dream is realizable. These are the lessons that we hear about today in the readings: our land is a gift, our citizenship is in heaven while our feet are on the ground, and that the hope that we carry from time to time is achieved, after some struggle we have the notion that our dreams are not fruitless, the experience of the mountain top gives the life in the valley meaning.

Sometimes it does feel that we are all by ourselves with the best research, the best evidence, the best jurisprudence, and the law on our side--and we wonder where are those responsible for these laws, for enforcement of anti-trust? For the Packers and Stockyard Acts?, for the United States Constitution? Where are those who have sworn oaths to uphold the laws of the land? And, by upholding such laws are responsible for upholding this democracy? Where are those who belong on the side of everyday people? The USDA? The Justice Department? The Packers and Stockyard Administration? The Secretary of Agriculture? The Attorney General? It seems too often that they are on the wrong side, opposing what is just and right, moral, good---even holy!

There is lots of room for discouragement, but from time to time there comes success, victories, experiences that confirm us in our conviction of the rightness of our cause….that our quest for justice, for a fair price, for profitability and a quality of rural life is the right quest. When we have a vision that we are in the right place, like Peter, James, John, Jesus, Moses, Elijah…we have a sense of community, of unity, of authenticity, of belonging together…we are a community of conviction, here in the Farmers Union, sometimes we sense that we are alone, in up hill struggles by ourselves, and then we are tempted to discouragement. But we can be confirmed in our rightness from time to time, a judge, a jury, tells us that we've got it right! And that makes us feel Sure. Confident. We're on the right path!

In 1996 I met Rolf Christen, a Farmers Union member, in Green City, Missouri. He was a farmer surrounded on his farm by Premium Standard Farms' mega-hog operation (now owned by Continental Grain). He and his family found it impossible to go out onto their porch to enjoy the outside of their farmhouse because of the stench. He decided to give up his farm. Rolf met with his family and made his announcement. His daughter, then ten, said: "Dad, you've never been a quitter. Now we're giving up?" Rolf thought about it on the spot and answered that he'd try and save the family farm. He gathered a group of farmers with him, filed suit under the provisions of the Clean Water Act, and after a long uphill struggle, got word on April 30th, 1999 that a Saint Louis Circuit Court jury awarded $5.2 million in actual damages to the 52 rural citizens subjected to odors, flies, and waste spills from Continental Grain's sprawling northern Missouri hog operations. The jury of eight women and four men found Continental Grain responsible for a "continuing public nuisance." The lawsuit was one of the first in the nation where farmers and rural residents have held a corporate giant accountable for its degradation of property values, the loss of profitability in farming, and the degradation of the rural quality of life.

None of this would have happened had not Rolf Christen's daughter spoken up and said to her dad, "You've never been a quitter." This realization of success, this mountain top experience came from the tapping into the inner depths and resources, Rolf's courage and his social resources, his neighbors, and his legal resources, the Clean Water Act, to bring about a landmark change.

In a small town in Iowa, Bode, a family farm couple, Clarence and Caroline Bormann (aged 78) and the late Leonard and Cecilia McGuire (aged 70) had been life long farmers, former row crop and livestock producers. They are neighbors. They began action in 1994 to prevent the designation of a neighboring farm as an "agricultural area" with special protection from nuisance suits. The neighboring farm constructed a lagoon hog-set up to be run jointly with Land O'Lakes. They were quite concerned about the potential close proximity to their farmsteads of a large swine confinement facility with attendant open formed manure storage basin to be built close by. They were concerned about their health, their property, and the environment.

Meetings were had and discussions held, construction went on despite them. In the end, the facility operators refused to make even minor changes to the construction or operation of the facility to limit or reduce its potential impact on the neighbors or the surrounding environment. Rather, the facility operators and others sought statutory protection from claims of nuisance, having the land designated as an "Agricultural Area" by the County Board of Supervisors. After two applications, more than three public hearings, and two district court rulings, the Board of Supervisors approved the "Agricultural Area". The neighbors appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court. In a strongly worded opinion, the Iowa Supreme Court agreed with the farmers, the McGuires and the Bormanns, that the approval of the "Agricultural Area" violated the Constitutional prohibition against the taking of private property without payment of just compensation. The Supreme Court declared the nuisance protection portion of Iowa law to be "flagrantly unconstitutional."

About ten years ago, Lee Pickett of Alabama, and a number of other ranchers started a legal suit against IBP charging that it manipulated prices unfairly with captive supply cattle contrary to the rules of the Packers and Stockyard Act of 1921. After a period of struggle and search, the case was filed in 1996 against IBP. The named plaintiffs are Lee Pickett (AL), Mike Callicrate (KS), Chris Abbot (NE), Robert Rothwell (NE), Johnny Smith (SD), and Pat Goggins (MT). They represent a class of approximately 30,000 cattlemen who sold to IBP exclusively on the cash market from 1994 to 2002. Tyson purchased IBP in 2002, and thus the case is now entitled Picket v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. The case finally was decided by a unanimous jury verdict with the $1.3 billion verdict against IBP being decided on February 17, 2004. Although this is not the end of the line for this case, a number of cattlemen can take solace in a moment of reverie on a mountain top whose climb has been lengthy in a search for profitability in ranching and a quality in their rural way of life.

In Pennsylvania, a family of dairy farmers, Joe and Brenda Cochran, felt that the dairy check off did not serve their interests. They filed suit to stop the mandatory payments to the dairy check off program. On March 5, 2004, In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit has ruled the dairy check-off unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The challenge was brought to the court by Pennsylvania farmers Joe and Brenda Cochran, who argued the check-off violated their freedom of speech by forcing them to pay for advertising with which they did not agree.

The check-off requires all dairy farmers to contribute 15 cents/hundredweight to a fund that pays for advertisements promoting the dairy industry. This generic advertising has been responsible for such successful campaigns as ‘Got Milk’ and ‘Ahhhh, The Power of Cheese,’ but it hinges on the general principle that all products in the category are essentially equal. The Cochrans--who emphasize sustainable milk production on their 150-cow dairy farm in Westfield, Pa., and do not use recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH)--contend that they are not. They feel their methods yield a superior product while protecting the environment, and that they should be able to market it accordingly. After suffering several setbacks on their way to this victory, the Cochran's and their large Catholic family has won a moment of victory in their search for justice and for a quality of rural life.

Sometimes, it does feel like we are out there all by ourselves, with the best research, the best evidence, the best jurisprudence, and the law on our side. And it seems that those who should be standing with us, as citizens of heaven, with our feet on the ground, with the proper moral and spiritual vision, are on the other side. It is good, from time to time, to have a vision of justice, morality, and authentic values reinforced. The Farmers Union can be proud that it has such people on the front lines, struggling every day, people like John Hanson in Nebraska, fighting to keep the anti-corporate farming laws in place, against many strong odds. People like Bob Mailander, of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, working to create new co-operatives and to bring both profitability and a quality of rural life to people in that region of the country. Leaders such as Russ Kramer, President of the Missouri Farmers Union, bringing together a coalition with a new vitality, putting value-added operations in place for the improvement of farmers' incomes and an improved quality of life for rural Missourians.

When I think of efforts which challenge the odds, I think of Margaret Bruce, a pastoral minister from Grafton, North Dakota, who in 1998 after farmers had lost over 90 percent net farm income wanted to show hurting farmers and ranchers that people cared. She said, "I can't do much, but I can put on a green ribbon and show that I care." She thought about wearing a green ribbon to show care and concern. As she handed out the ribbons, they were accompanied by a card that said: "We care--in prayer." Margaret felt that she could do one thing, make a green ribbon, cut out a little card, and let others know, one by one, that she cared about what was happening in the loss of profitability in farming and in the lessening quality of rural life. I was visiting North Dakota in October of 1998 to do legislative briefings for the North Dakota Catholic Conference in Bismarck and Fargo. Being given a green ribbon I have worn it ever since.

At the press conference in Des Moines in November of 1998, a conference to which Leland Swensen, the NFU President at the time, was attending, the NCRLC launched its Green Ribbon Campaign. The Green Ribbon Campaign has gone international and ecumenical. Green Ribbons were worn by folks in Sweetgrass, Montana along the Canadian border for a farm unity rally. They were worn in Rural Unity Days around the country when the NFU joined with others to show our joint efforts for justice. 5,000 of them were handed out in Dallas, Texas at the Presbyterian General Assembly in June of 1999. They've been handed out by the tens of thousands by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They've been handed out by Episcopal Churches, Methodists, and other denominations. They've been worn by Congresspersons, Senators; at World Trade Organization meetings, at hearings on anti-trust. 3,000 were worn on the mall on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for the Rally for Rural America. In February, Farmers Union members came with me to Mexico wearing the green ribbon and heard that thousands of green ribbons will be worn in Mexico to protest Nafta and to symbolize solidarity between the U.S. farmers and those in Mexico.

When Margaret Bruce said "I can't do much, but I can wear a green ribbon." She never realized how significant an act that would be in support of farmers' profitability and in support of the quality of rural life. Thousands of green ribbons are being worn around the world. We may have felt alone, we might feel the struggle is up hill. But we do have the support of the faith community. The faith community is standing with farmers and ranchers. I encourage you to wear your green ribbons, to enlist your congregations in the effort to become green ribbon congregations. Ask them to do so, to stand with you, to wear a green ribbon and show solidarity. There is lots of room for discouragement, but from time to time come successes, victories, experiences that confirm us in our conviction in the rightness of our cause.

Our quest for justice, for a fair price, for profitability and a quality of rural life is the right quest. The stories of Rolf Christen, Clarence and Carolyn Bormann, Lee Pickett and his fellow IBP Plaintiffs, Joe and Brenda Cochran, John Hanson, Bob Mailander, Russ Kramer…all these are stories of people willing to struggle. When we have a vision that we are in the right place, like Peter, James, John, Jesus, Moses, Elijah, we have a sense of community, of unity, of authenticity, of conviction, here in the Farmers Union…we are tempted to discouragement, but then we are confirmed in our vision, a judge, a jury, the public…confirm us in our rightness. Like Margaret Bruce may they see their dreams realized, their vision amplified, their efforts and struggles blessed by a vision and opportunity for success. Like Nelson Mandela, after a long period of struggle we may come to believe as he believed.

Nelson Mandela states it beautifully when he reminds us that:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are we not to be?
We are children of God.
Our playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around us.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear; our presence automatically liberates others.


May we believe enough to secure profitability in farming and quality in rural life, may we be willing to struggle as a farmers union to experience that union of community so well represented in the mountain top vision of James, Peter, John, Jesus, Moses and Elijah. May we believe that our efforts, in their moments of peaks and valleys, may keep us firm in our conviction that as we are citizens in heaven, we have our feet on the ground.

Thanks you and God Bless You.