Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler answer listener questions about agriculture, domestic and global, and our producers who make our lives possible, the ordinary worker.
Victor’s description of town life in the San Joaquin Valley is strikingly similar to life here in the Imperial Valley. Happy birthday Victor. God Bless.
I do love the farming discussion. When Victor mentioned maybe not knowing how to drive the computerized tractors, my mind went directly to the “right to repair” issue. Farmers have the problem of not having computerized equipment to fix their tractors other than at a John Deere dealer for example. This “right to repair” issue also applies to people who want to repair Apple phones. There are more than a few companies that make products in such a way that only authorized repair places can work on the equipment. You talked about people who can’t fix things. Well, electronics are made in such a way that if you can’t fix them yourself you have to throw them out because it’s cheaper to buy a new item than to pay $100 to $500 for parts and labor. There’s something wrong with a society that makes things that don’t last and repairing used items more expensive than new items.
So far, this series of podcasts, answering listener questions, is entertaining and educational, as all of Professor Hanson’s podcasts are. But the caption for this one is a bit of a tease-I hope you’ll get to a boycott of China, “Band of Brothers”, the historian’s craft, and military strategy for weaker powers, in the next podcasts.
Best regards,
Brad
I see no one has commented on this podcast yet so I will…
Victor I would like to hear your thoughts on the future of agarianism – is there any hope for it or as some think going to be the future. See for example (among others)…
Chris Smaje recent book: A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth. He spends time on the social political stuff, the value of work, corporations etc. He was a sociology prof an is now a small farm farmer in England.
Philosophically I am on side with his thinking but can it possibly be realistic given a population of about 8 billion – that I’ve no feel for. Maybe it is inevitable as some suggest.
I grew up on 8n 9n Jubilee (and haying equipment) as you did spending lots of time on my grandparents purebred cattle an sheep ranch and I raised my own purebred cattle and a few sheep for a bit. My other set of grandparents were dryland wheat and a few cattle so I spent some time on a case LA and a little Minneapolis Moline Z and a bit on an open station case combine. My uncle did dryland wheat and about 5000 laying hens. He had a Farmall h. I have gathered washed candled an packaged more eggs than most ever see in their lives. I worked on a fruit orchard for a summer moving irrigation pipe, picking cantelope running a tree shaker (for cherries) working in the cherry canning production line. All of this except my own cattle before I was 18…
I think an agrarian lifestyle one of the best ways to live for people and we need to incorporate more of it as I would ask is the divorce between manual labor an our high tech world trill healthy or sustainable? Will climate change drive more agrarianism as as some think due to fundamental changes in the distribution of people on land may be forced by climate change? I watched a British series on Wartime farming that showed all the changes farming in Britain had to undergo to support the war – a truly amazing series. I wonder if a return to agrarianism would require as big or a bigger shift in public perception. I could go on about things like energy availability and so on but I think you see the jist of what I am asking. I’d like to hear your opinion on how the future will unfold as well as how you think it should unfold.
Sort of like how Jimmy Stewart said and John Wayne echoed John Ford westerns weren’t always historically accurate but instead portrayed how Ford believed western history should have been.
Another great podcast from you and Jack. I am a bit confused however, the description of this podcast says what it says below. Yet I did not hear about a China boycott or Prof. Hanson’s view of Band of Brothers. Two topics I was excited to hear yet nothing. Is there another mis-labeled one out there that may have the correct info?
“Victor Davis Hanson, along with cohost Jack Fowler, provides answers to listener questions, including why a boycott of China should be on the table, what he thinks of Band of Brothers, the nature of the historian’s craft, and what military strategy should be employed by a weaker power.”
Know Mike Rowe? ….. shows up on Tucker Carlson
Victor’s description of town life in the San Joaquin Valley is strikingly similar to life here in the Imperial Valley. Happy birthday Victor. God Bless.
I do love the farming discussion. When Victor mentioned maybe not knowing how to drive the computerized tractors, my mind went directly to the “right to repair” issue. Farmers have the problem of not having computerized equipment to fix their tractors other than at a John Deere dealer for example. This “right to repair” issue also applies to people who want to repair Apple phones. There are more than a few companies that make products in such a way that only authorized repair places can work on the equipment. You talked about people who can’t fix things. Well, electronics are made in such a way that if you can’t fix them yourself you have to throw them out because it’s cheaper to buy a new item than to pay $100 to $500 for parts and labor. There’s something wrong with a society that makes things that don’t last and repairing used items more expensive than new items.
So far, this series of podcasts, answering listener questions, is entertaining and educational, as all of Professor Hanson’s podcasts are. But the caption for this one is a bit of a tease-I hope you’ll get to a boycott of China, “Band of Brothers”, the historian’s craft, and military strategy for weaker powers, in the next podcasts.
Best regards,
Brad
I see no one has commented on this podcast yet so I will…
Victor I would like to hear your thoughts on the future of agarianism – is there any hope for it or as some think going to be the future. See for example (among others)…
Chris Smaje recent book: A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth. He spends time on the social political stuff, the value of work, corporations etc. He was a sociology prof an is now a small farm farmer in England.
Philosophically I am on side with his thinking but can it possibly be realistic given a population of about 8 billion – that I’ve no feel for. Maybe it is inevitable as some suggest.
I grew up on 8n 9n Jubilee (and haying equipment) as you did spending lots of time on my grandparents purebred cattle an sheep ranch and I raised my own purebred cattle and a few sheep for a bit. My other set of grandparents were dryland wheat and a few cattle so I spent some time on a case LA and a little Minneapolis Moline Z and a bit on an open station case combine. My uncle did dryland wheat and about 5000 laying hens. He had a Farmall h. I have gathered washed candled an packaged more eggs than most ever see in their lives. I worked on a fruit orchard for a summer moving irrigation pipe, picking cantelope running a tree shaker (for cherries) working in the cherry canning production line. All of this except my own cattle before I was 18…
Hi,
I will continue a bit.
I think an agrarian lifestyle one of the best ways to live for people and we need to incorporate more of it as I would ask is the divorce between manual labor an our high tech world trill healthy or sustainable? Will climate change drive more agrarianism as as some think due to fundamental changes in the distribution of people on land may be forced by climate change? I watched a British series on Wartime farming that showed all the changes farming in Britain had to undergo to support the war – a truly amazing series. I wonder if a return to agrarianism would require as big or a bigger shift in public perception. I could go on about things like energy availability and so on but I think you see the jist of what I am asking. I’d like to hear your opinion on how the future will unfold as well as how you think it should unfold.
Sort of like how Jimmy Stewart said and John Wayne echoed John Ford westerns weren’t always historically accurate but instead portrayed how Ford believed western history should have been.
Thanks in advance!
-Ed-
Another great podcast from you and Jack. I am a bit confused however, the description of this podcast says what it says below. Yet I did not hear about a China boycott or Prof. Hanson’s view of Band of Brothers. Two topics I was excited to hear yet nothing. Is there another mis-labeled one out there that may have the correct info?
“Victor Davis Hanson, along with cohost Jack Fowler, provides answers to listener questions, including why a boycott of China should be on the table, what he thinks of Band of Brothers, the nature of the historian’s craft, and what military strategy should be employed by a weaker power.”