As an “unaffiliated” (non partisan) candidate for U.S. Senate from the state of New York (which is losing its family farmers by the day), I send my support to the farmers of Germany, and all who stand with you, which I have heard is the majority of the German population, even if they have yet to join you in the streets.

I know that just as the December 16th 1773 Boston Tea Party has been belittled to a squabble about taxation without representation,” when much more was at stake, your battle is not merely about loss of subsidies for the high cost of diesel fuel, the low prices you receive for your product, the rampant wolves attacking your sheep, and other supposedly “green” policies, but the issue is all of that and more! it has become clear to you that if the current policies continue, there will be no more farms, and people will starve.

We face the same assault on agriculture here in the United States, and similar hardship with all aspects of the supply lines which deliver food to the people: the roads are in disrepair, if it rains, it floods – as if water management was a secret known only in ancient Egypt – and the cost of feed and supplies has dramatically increased, but what farmers and other producers are paid has not.

When the grocery shelves are empty, it may be too late to address the crisis. No one can snap his or her fingers and produce an acre of wheat or a gallon of milk. Producing food takes months and years of planning and preparation. Furthermore, as of this writing as many as 25,000 people die per day from lack of food. Rather than destroying our food supply and delivery capability, we should be doubling our production!

A New York farmer told me, “On average, farmers are inclined to suffer far more than most would consider sufferable. What has moved these men and women to action, is a consciousness that the source of the policies they are individually confronted with, is an unchecked festering of corruption and rot that expresses the deepest possible level of disrespect for humanity itself. The right of people to produce and to improve humanity's lot for the future. What these farmers are defending is humanity itself. A humanity they experience and express by the joy they take in nourishing others. If this is lost, what of worth remains?”

I agree. That is why I support the protests of the courageous farm leaders of Germany and the world.