Without farmers, you'd be hungry, naked and sober | Eric Sannerud

Translator: Monica Castedo Reviewer: Xosé María Moreno

So what do people usually say when you're about to give a public talk?

Que se soe decir antes de falar en público?

It's to imagine that your audience is naked.

Imaxina que o teu público está espido.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

Well, I'm doing a different trick tonight,

Esta noite vou facer algo diferente

and I'm going to imagine all of us without farmers,

e vou imaxinar que non temos labregos.

and well, it's not so much different.

Non hai moita diferenza.

[Without farmers you'd be hungry, naked and sober]

[Sen labregos, estarías esfameado, espido e sobrio]

(Laughter)

(Risas)

And our farmers do so much more for us

Os nosos labregos fan moito máis por nós

than simply feed and clothe and provide us excellent things to drink.

que alimentarnos, vestirnos e darnos cousas marabillosas de beber.

Our farmers are an important part of all of our communities,

Os nosos labregos son importantes en todas as nosas comunidades,

particularly our rural communities.

especialmente as nosas comunidades rurais.

And more than that,

E máis que iso,

they're a strong driver of resilient economics.

son un empuxe fundamental das economías resilientes.

Think about it this way:

Pénsadeo do seguinte modo:

When a brewer buys hops from me, grown here in Minnesota,

Cando unha cervexaría me merca lúpulos que planto aquí en Minesota,

90 percent of that dollar stays in our state,

o 90 % dese dólar quédase no noso estado,

compared to just 10 percent when they buy it from somewhere else.

comparado co só o 10 % cando compra noutra parte.

What that means is a lot.

Iso significa moito.

That 90 percent means local jobs.

Ese 90 % significa emprego local.

It means tax revenue for better schools and roads.

Significa ingresos fiscais para mellores colexios e estradas.

It means support for the co-ops, the mechanics,

Significa apoio ás cooperativas, ós mecánicos,

all the support staff that are needed for a farm to thrive.

a todo o persoal necesario para que a granxa prospere.

And they're our best stewards of the land.

E son os mellores administradores da terra.

This quote, I think, exemplifies what our family farmers do for us

Esta cita exemplifica o que as nosas familias labregas fan por nós

in stewarding our shared natural resources.

ó administraren os nosos recursos comúns.

"That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology,

"Esa terra é unha comunidade, o concepto básico da ecoloxía.

but that land is to be loved and respected as an extension of ethics."

Pero, por principio ético, esa terra ten que ser amada e respectada".

Now, they sure do a lot of good stuff for us.

Claro que fan moito por nós.

And our family farmers are great, we'd all agree.

As familias labregas son boísimas. Niso estamos de acordo.

However,

Con todo,

the trends in agriculture today are dire.

as tendencias agrícolas son horribles.

The average age of a farmer in America,

A media de idade dun labrego en EE. UU.,

according to the latest agricultural census --

segundo o último censo agrícola,

58.3.

é de 58,3.

Of all the farmers,

De tódolos labregos,

33 percent are 65 plus.

o 33 % teñen máis de 65 anos.

That's a little caricature of my grandpa.

Esta é a caricatura do meu avó.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

He's still farming,

Segue traballando na terra

and he's much older than 65.

e ten moitos máis de 65 anos.

But to put that in perspective,

Para poñelo en perspectiva,

another important public service job, teaching,

outro traballo importante do servizo público, a docencia:

average age of teachers is 42.

a media de idade dos mestres é de 42 anos.

Our farmers are pretty old in this country.

Os labregos neste país son ben vellos.

And unfortunately,

E por desgraza,

when they retire, if they retire,

cando se retiran, se se retiran,

we're not really replacing them.

non os estamos a substituír.

Of all the farmers that we added in this country

De tódolos labregos que engadimos neste país

between 2008 and 2012,

entre o 2008 e o 2012,

across the entire United States --

en todos os Estados Unidos,

see if you can catch this difference --

a ver se podedes vela diferenza,

we added 2,000 under the age of 30.

engadimos 2000 menores de 30 anos.

I'm one of those.

Eu son un deles.

I'll be around to autograph some photos later, if you'd like.

Se queren, quédome despois para firmar fotos.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

But, you know, our farmers are getting older

Pero, os nosos labregos fanse maiores

and we're not replacing them --

e non os estamos a substituír.

what's going on here?

Que está a pasar?

What are we going to do?

Que imos facer?

And I think there's a reason folks aren't coming into it,

Penso que hai unha razón pola que a xente non se anima,

and that's prices.

os prezos.

We're going to go through a couple of slides like this.

Imos analizar unhas diapositivas como esta.

Milk: This is the average retail price of a gallon of milk in the United States.

O leite: o prezo medio recomendado de 3.8 l de leite nos EE. UU.:

Four dollars forty-nine cents.

4,49 dólares.

How much do you think the farmer gets?

Canto credes que se leva o labrego?

Dollar thirty-two.

1,32 dólares.

We'll try again with bread.

Imos probar agora co pan.

Average retail price of bread in America, three forty-nine.

O prezo medio de venda do pan nos EE. UU.: 3,49 dólares.

Farmer gets ...

O labrego lévase...

Twelve cents.

12 céntimos.

Audience: Oh!

Público: ¡Oh!

And so how are we supposed to have strong local farms

Entón, suponse que temos granxas locais fortes

in this scenario?

nesta situación?

What are we supposed to do if there aren't any local farmers left?

Que se supón que temos que facer se non quedan labregos?

And this isn't just a farmer problem,

E isto non só é un problema de labregos,

it's not just something for the few of us farmers to sort out.

non é algo para que os poucos labregos que somos o resolvamos.

This is an all-of-us problem.

Este é un problema de todos.

This is rural and it's urban and it's statewide and it's nationwide.

É rural e urbán, e é a nivel estatal e nacional.

So what do we do about it?

Entón, que facemos?

I'll tell you that.

Vóuvolo dicir.

But first, a story.

Primeiro, unha historia.

The green movement, we're all kind of familiar,

O movemento verde, todos sabemos máis ou menos,

started in the '60s, planting trees.

empezou nos anos 60, plantando árbores.

And now we've come such a long way.

Dende aquela andamos moito.

Green is part of our day-to-day lives.

O verde é parte das nosas vidas cotiás.

It's part of the day-to-day lives of Fortune 500 businesses.

É parte das vidas cotiás das empresas da Fortune 500.

It's the subject of international treaties,

É o asunto dos tratados internacionais,

the subject of presidential debates.

o asunto dos debates presidenciais.

You and I, we switch our light bulbs,

Vós e eu, cambiamos as lámpadas,

we use reusable bags.

usamos bolsas reutilizables.

We participate in the green movement each and every day.

Participamos no movemento verde cada día.

Yet ...

Aínda así...

and this is how we get to the idea --

e así é cómo chegamos á idea,

the food movement,

o movemento da comida,

relatively younger, but also somewhat familiar, I imagine.

relativamente máis novo, pero tamén familiar, supoño.

You go to the grocery store,

Vas ó supermercado,

you see a sign that says "Buy local,"

ves un cartel que di "Compra local",

you go to the farmers market, you go to the co-op,

vas ó mercado, vas á cooperativa,

you read books by prominent authors.

les libros de autores destacados.

The food movement to date

O movemento da comida ata a data

could be summarized as voting with your fork.

podería resumirse en votar co garfo.

The idea is: you pull a dollar out of your wallet --

A idea é: quitas un dólar da carteira:

how you spend that dollar affects the food system.

cómo gastas ese dólar afecta ó sistema da comida.

It supports farmers close to home.

Apoia ós labregos preto da casa.

And that's all well and good, but where are we going?

E todo iso está moi ben, pero cara onde imos?

How do we get to our renewable-energy moment

Como chegar ó momento da enerxía renovable

like the green movement did?

como o fixeron os verdes?

And this, I think, is what we need to do.

E isto, penso, é o que precisamos facer.

Just voting with our fork is not solving the issues

Votar co garfo non resolve os problemas

that our farmers are facing.

que teñen os nosos labregos.

And so we need to do more than that.

Así que precisamos facer máis.

I believe we must move on from just voting with our fork

Penso que debemos pasar de votar co garfo

to voting with our vote.

a votar co noso voto.

We need to take our dollars

Precisamos coller os nosos dólares

and continue to spend them locally.

e seguir a gastalos localmente.

We also need to show up at the ballot box for our farmers.

Tamén temos que presentarnos nas urnas polos labregos.

This is bigger than just buying local strawberries

Isto é máis importante que mercar amorodos locais

once a year at a pick-your-own.

unha vez ó ano nun posto.

This is a year-round effort that we must make together

Este é un esforzo de todo o ano que temos facer xuntos

to make the change we need.

para facer o cambio precisado.

Changes like fair pricing for farmers.

Cambios como un prezo xusto para os labregos.

That's quotas, supply management,

Cotas, xerencia da oferta,

guaranteed prices.

prezos garantidos.

Changes like fair and open trade.

Cambios como o comercio xusto e libre.

That means ending trade wars.

Rematar coas guerras de comercio.

And yeah, of course it means voting.

E claro que significa votar.

Now we all knew that one already, though.

Aínda que xa o sabiamos.

For example, it's working.

Por exemplo, funciona.

Hey, who's that?

Eh, quen é ese?

(Laughter)

(Risas)

Just this year in Minnesota,

Neste ano en Minesota,

we've passed a historic, first-in-the-country tax credit.

aprobouse un crédito fiscal histórico, o primeiro no país.

The Beginning Farmer Tax Credit.

O Crédito fiscal do labrego principiante.

It incentivizes our transition of land

Incentiva a transición da terra

from the existing generation to the next generation.

da xeración actual á seguinte xeración.

That was done by a handful of us young farmers --

Iso fixémolo unha presa de labregos novos.

we certainly don't have money, you saw that earlier.

Claro que non temos cartos, xa o viron.

We don't have political experience.

Non temos experiencia política.

But we showed up, and we made our voices heard.

Pero presentámonos e fixémonos escoitar.

And thanks to the support of farmers and non-farmers alike,

E grazas ó apoio dos labregos e dos non labregos,

we got something incredible done here in this state.

conseguimos facer algo incríble neste estado.

If we can do it, anybody can do it.

Se nós o podemos facer, calquera pode.

Now, that was all light and fuzzy and feels pretty happy.

Todo iso foi leve e difuso e séntese ledicia.

Skeptics in the audience, you're here.

Os escépticos no público, estades aquí.

That would be me, if I were here.

Ese sería eu, se estivese aquí.

Skeptics are thinking,

Os escépticos pensan,

"Wow, what do we need to change about our food system?"

"Que temos que cambiar do noso sistema de alimentación?"

Farmers are great.

Os labregos son xeniais.

We have unlimited food, and it's real cheap, too,

Temos comida ilimitada e tamén é moi barata.

isn't that great?

Non é xenial?

Well, unfortunately,

Desafortunadamente,

in the '80s and the '90s in this country, we went down a path of policy

nos anos 80 e 90 neste país seguimos un camiño de política

that could be described as "get big or get out."

que se podería describir como "crece ou sae".

And what "get big or get out" means is you maximize production

O que "crece ou sae" significa é que maximizas a produción

while minimizing costs.

mentras que minimizas custos.

On its face value, that sounds pretty simple.

No senso literal, soa bastante simple.

However, that shift turned our farmers from a venerated class

Con todo, ese cambio truncou os labregos dunha clase venerada

and a valued class in our society

e apreciada na nosa sociedade

into a cost to be minimized.

nun custo a minimizar.

That shift made it so that my great-grandfather,

Ese cambio fixo que o meu bisavó,

who supported the family with six cows,

quen mantivo a familia con seis vacas,

that same dairy,

esa mesma granxa,

trying to support their family, has to be 600 cows today.

que intenta manter a súa familia, hoxe debe ter 600 vacas.

Six-thousand-cow dairies are not unheard of.

Granxas con 6000 vacas non son atípicas.

What happens when there's this one dairy farm

Que pasa cando só haxa unha granxa

in an entire county,

nun condado enteiro,

where there used to be hundreds?

onde antes había centos?

The same could be said with corn or beans or field crops.

O mesmo se pode dicir dos cultivos de millo, fabas e outros.

What happens when it takes 10,000 acres for one person to support themselves?

Que pasa cando se precisen 10000 hectáreas para manter a unha persoa?

When it used to only take 40.

Cando só se precisaban 40.

We know what happens, we read about it in the news.

Sabemos o que pasa, o lemos nas noticias.

Broadly determined, rural decline,

Declive rural determinante,

but schools close, schools consolidate,

pero as escolas pechan, únense a unha máis grande,

post offices close, grocery stores close.

as oficinas de correo pechan, os supermercados pechan.

People leave,

A xente vaise,

the community suffers and goes away.

a comunidade sofre e desaparece.

I believe all of us in this audience with ties to rural Minnesota

Todos os presentes que temos lazos coa Minesota rural

know this story well.

coñecemos ben a historia.

This is not a problem that we can solve with farmers markets and good intentions.

Non é un problema que poidamos solucionar cos mercados e as boas intencións.

We have to do more for our farmers.

Temos que facer máis polos nosos labregos.

Policy got us into this mess,

A política meteunos nesta lea

and policy can get us out.

e a política nos pode quitar dela.

American farmers are only getting older, fewer and poorer,

Os labregos estadounidenses fanse vellos, menos e máis pobres,

yet they are crucial to our state.

pero son cruciais para o noso Estado.

They're the vibrancy in our rural communities.

Son a vitalidade nas nosas comunidades rurais.

They're the drivers of economic growth and stability,

Son os motores do crecemento económico e da estabilidade,

and they are our best protectors of our shared resources

e os que mellor protexen os recursos comúns

of land, water and air.

da terra, o auga e o aire.

So we have to do better for them.

Así que temos que axudalos máis.

So join me, would you?

Unídesvos a min?

Let's fight for our farmers.

Loitemos polos nosos labregos.

You can see it,

Védelo,

we're already doing it in Minnesota, having great success.

xa o facemos en Minesota con gran éxito.

And together, we can do even more.

E xuntos aínda podemos facer máis.

And we must.

E debemos.

So we were voting with our fork before,

Antes votábamos co garfo,

and we want to keep doing that.

e queremos seguir facéndoo.

But if I could have one idea for you to go home with today,

Pero se quero que vos vaiades á casa cunha idea,

it's vote with your vote.

é que votedes co voso voto.

And so to that end,

E para iso,

on the count of three, I'd like all of us to say it together.

contamos ata tres, e decimos todos xuntos.

Are you ready?

Estades listos?

OK, one,

Ben, un,

two,

dous,

three.

tres.

Audience: Vote with your vote.

Público: Vota co teu voto.

Very nice, thank you.

Moi ben. Grazas.

I think you got it.

Penso que o entendestes.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)