SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 16, 2021
Sullivan’s Salvos 12/21/21
In this edition:
*Merry Christmas!
*Beatles – Get Back
*Rethinking Agriculture
*ARPA Part 5
*Salvos Salutes Next Week!
*Did You Know?
*Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!
*Beatles – Get Back
If you have the opportunity, tune in to the Disney streaming service for the “Beatles-Get Back” documentary. It is about 8 hours of barely edited video from the Fab Four as they put together what ended up being their final album.
The footage is fascinating for many reasons: it is interesting to see John and Paul interact, still caring deeply for each other yet knowing that their time together is ending.
But really, the thing for me is watching Paul McCartney work. Over the course of three weeks, he just sits down and writes an album’s worth of music, all the while being distracted and interrupted, and unable to get much help from the others. Not to mention the fact that he creates four incredible songs (Two of Us, The Long and Winding Road, Get Back, and Let it Be) in the process.
It is so rare that average people get to see a genuine genius at work. That is on display in this documentary, and it is truly amazing to behold. Watch it if you get the chance!
*Rethinking Agriculture
It is not a popular position to hold in Iowa, but I think we need to reimagine the way we do agriculture. And there are opportunities to act now that would be to the benefit of us all.
For starters, look at the ongoing droughts in the American west. Why divert millions of gallons of water to agriculture in the west when most of those crops could be grown right here? That would allow westerners to respond to the drought, while we use our great soil to produce more actual food.
According to experts at Iowa State, all of the following vegetables thrive in Iowa and could do so at scale: kale, spinach, brussel sprouts, swiss chard, beets, green onions, lettuce, arugula, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peas, beans, and radishes! We can grow just about everything!
My guess is that farmers in the west would hate the idea of ending production. But how much are we willing to spend to keep them in business? They are being heavily subsidized either way. So why use up all the water? It would be cheaper and better for the planet to pay them NOT to grow anything.
Farmers in the Midwest would hate it, too. 1) People dislike change. 2) Farmers would need some new equipment. 3) Growing the crops would be more labor intensive. 4) It would be viewed as Communist.
But, Midwest farmers may NEED to consider something different soon. Because we are quickly moving to electric vehicles. What does that mean for farmers in the Midwest? Well, 33% of all corn goes toward ethanol. That ethanol will not be needed in electric vehicles. The market for a third of our corn could disappear. Shifting that cropland to food production makes a lot of sense.
Or, farmers can get on the solar train! Consider the following stats from Bill Nussey:
If you compare the energy utility of an acre of solar panels to an acre of corn, the acre of solar wins by a landslide.
Each year, one acre of corn produces 551 gallons of ethanol, which is the equivalent of 386 gallons of gas. Using the average miles per gallon of a US automobile, this equates to 9691 miles driven per acre of corn per year.
In Iowa, an acre of solar panels produces 198,870 kilowatt hours each year. A typical EV drives approximately 3.6 miles per kilowatt hour. So, each year, an acre of solar panels produces enough energy for an EV to drive 710,250 miles. This is over 70 times the distance the same acre producing corn could provide.
Unlike ethanol, an acre of solar can power anything attached to the grid. The same Iowa acre, for instance, could also be used to provide 18 average US homes with electricity for the year.
The financial utility of replacing corn with solar also promises huge gains for farmers. For example, it is not uncommon for a farmer to make two to three times more money per acre leasing to solar rather than planting corn. Solar also guarantees a steady stream of revenue, unlike corn which stands the risk of crop failure and price volatility.
Nussey doesn’t even talk about the environmental benefits of less nitrogen and phosphate in the water supply, and more of our precious soil remaining in place. And the red herrings that are constantly brought up about taking up farmland? If we simply exchange the amount of land dedicated to ethanol for land dedicated to vegetables and solar? Plus solar panels are easy to remove. What a huge win!
It is well past time that we consider doing some things differently when it comes to agriculture. Let’s get ahead of the curve and put our land to work in a better way!
*ARPA Part 5
In our fifth and final installment of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) series, we will discuss where the money is actually going.
The following breakdown is based upon the US Treasury Department guidelines for categorically reporting expenditures:
Services to Disproportionally Impacted Communities:
$12,387,515. 42%
Addressing Negative Economic Impacts:
$6,972,500. 24%
Public Health:
$4,290,746. 15%
Infrastructure:
$4,095,992. 14%
Administration:
1,610,418. 5%
Johnson County chose to put nothing into Premium Pay for Workers, and nothing in Revenue Replacement.
To get more specific, we put approximately $5.5m in poverty programs, $4.7m in childcare, $4.4m in affordable housing, $3.5m in Conservation, $2.3m in Public Health, $2m to excluded workers, $1.3m to minority benefit, $1.2 to local nonprofits, $700,000 to local food and the Poor Farm, and $200,000 to local arts organizations.
As you can see, the vast majority of the ARPA funding has been designated to the people who need it most. I am very proud of that. I stand by it.
While we were presented with some great proposals for new programs, I tried to steer us away from new programs. The reason is simple – I have doubts that we could maintain these programs after the ARPA money goes away. I tried to apply that same logic when it came to the expansion of existing programs. I know we can operate these programs, because we already do so. But can we afford to double the size of a program? Should we instead look at a smaller increase? That was certainly part of our discussion.
It is pretty wild; I never expected getting $29 million dollars in federal money to be a negative. But the complaints that have come in from all directions have been kind of shocking. It must be like winning the lottery, then having all your second cousins descend upon you.
I hope we can all work to change this narrative. The $29 million in ARPA money is going to make some very positive impacts that will be felt for a long time to come.
*Salvos Salutes Next Week!
We live in a GREAT county! Why? Because of the great people that live here! Unfortunately, we rarely do enough to acknowledge these wonderful people and the wonderful things they do.
That is why I really look forward to Salvos Salutes. It provides an opportunity to mention just a few of these cool people and the good things they do. I hope you look forward to it as well!
*DID YOU KNOW? All ARPA funding must be spent by the end of December 2024.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.
If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 7:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home