Author: Gregory Rehmke
Adventures in Terraforming: Going Green with Turtles, Beavers, Buffalo, Elk, and Cattle
Animals can convert Earth’s “moonscapes” into rich green ecosystems. Past societies reshaped their environment with burning, damming streams and rivers, irrigating, as well as hunting and gathering, herding animals, agriculture. and aquaculture. Long before...
One Country Did End Farm Subsidies
For debaters looking to reform federal agriculture polices, consider a successful reform overseas… AI Overview from the land that ended federal farming subsidies and regulations: New Zealand’s agricultural sector is driven by innovative entrepreneurs...
Food, Farming, Politics, and Economics
Ideally food and farming wouldn’t be political. Decisions about how food should be grown or raised, processed, and provided wouldn’t be left for politicians and citizens to cast votes. As consumers, decisions about how...
The Hidden Half of Health and Agriculture
For the Stoa agriculture debate topic, and for the NSDA (public school) health insurance topic, understanding the Hidden Half of Nature is key. The invisible half of nature are the microbes underground, underwater, and...
Welfare for Farmers Creates Dependency
Critics of welfare for the poor argue that too much “helping” creates dependency. Books like When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself explain that poverty...
Time to Sunset Federal Farm Programs
Federal agriculture subsidies, taxes, and regulations confuse and distort farming and ranching across the country. This 2021 article in The New Republic Abolish the Department of Agriculture is subtitled: The USDA has become an...
Oysters, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Health and the Environment
Next year’s Stoa league policy topic calls for reforming federal agriculture policy. American industrial agriculture and aquaculture have long been blamed for heavy water, soil, and air pollution. Environmentalists have called for reforms to...
IP, Agriculture, Infrastructure: Notes on New Resolutions
Here are Stoa policy debate resolution choices: intellectual property, infrastructure, or agriculture. Resolution wording and overview here. Economic principles and history provide insights for economic freedom reforms. Reforming IPEconomic Thinking talks on IP reform...
Central/South America cases I like list…
After judging many Central/South America debate rounds over the last few months, I appreciate the many challenges debaters face advancing meaningful reforms for USFG programs and policies. Everyday people in Central and South America...