"I am often asked why I care so much for farmers and ranchers" Dave Domina said recently. "There are many reasons. First, I am a farm kid. Much of my family still farms. My wife is a child of agriculture, too. Second, I know there is nothing more noble than producing food. Making laws can only be secondary to making food. And, making fair laws can only follow making good food. "So", Domina says "our work is secondary to the work of farmers, ranchers, and those who grow and produce our real wealth... our food."
History proves Domina is right.
On those rare occasions when food producers have rallied, they have changed the course... and always for the better. Historians call these events "agrarian reform". There are many instances in history, though they are widely spaced in time. History is long, so events making an impressive list are nonetheless rare, as R Calf is now living in rare, but important historical space.
Each of these events, and many, many more, marked major changes in direction for the cultures affected by them:
BC:
| 486 | Cassius enacts land ownership reform, Rome to break up strangling large estates. |
| 367 | Licinian Rogations (367 B.C.) of Caius Licinius Calvus Stolo limited the amount of land any citizen could hold, and the number of sheep and cattle. (Early anticoncentration efforts.) |
| 82 | Octavian''s Agrarian Laws redistributed land, and took it from wealthy holding too much & sharing too little. |
AD:
| 33 | Jesus uses parables of lost sheep, vineyard workers, sowers & weeds to explain promise of God and launch Christianity |
| 234 | Civil war begins in Roman Empire |
| 284 | Roman Civil War ends with reforms, including land reforms, of Diocletian |
| 380 | Christian peasants make Christianity official religion of Rome |
| 527 | Justinian Code appears to assure justice after decline of towns and small farmers |
| 610 | Mohammed preaches reform; reaches out to producers and those living on the land |
| 1050 | Ag reforms lead to new crops and beginning of 250 years of strong ag in West |
| 1180 | Windmill invented by cattlemen in need of constant water |
| 1381 | Peasants Revolt in England (protesting shackling effect of concentrated wealth) |
| 1524-26 | Peasants Revolt in Germany (the Protestant Reformation joined it!) |
| 1601 | Queen Elizabeth suspended and disbanded some ag processing monopolies when opposition reached level of parliamentary revolt |
| 1620 | Dutch use windmill power to help reclaim land for farming from the sea |
| 1774 | Turgot, French Minister, restored free markets for grain & livestock to revive France & reunite it in response to its growing seeds of revolution |
| 1776 | American farmers & merchants unite to demand free markets and fair trade |
| 1867 | Grange Movement of Reform starts with employees of newly formed USDA to assure fairness for Civil War veterans returning to farms & ranches |
| 1892 | Populist Party, created by farmers & ranchers, hold convention in Omaha |
| 1921-33 | Farmers & Ranchers win reforms with Packers & Stockyards Act & Agriculture Acts as leading reforms |
| 1955 | NFO formed. Nat'l Farm Labor Union organizes between 1947 & 1960 |
Too much time has passed since 1955. Too little has been done to protect farmers for 50 years now. At Domina Law Group, we know big business will always have the easy path to access, to legislators, and elected officials, and will always be able to outspend opponents to try to buy the outcomes they seek in courts through intimidation or legal maneuvering. But, justice enjoys the hospitality of the fair minded and grounded, not the selfish or rich. Justice it the friend of the humble and sincere, not the moneyed or hedonistic.