Larry Huelskoetler, a family farmer from Beason, IL, a small unincorporated town in central Illinois with a population of about 200, spoke on Monday morning, October 26th, to hundreds of people gathered for the “Showdown In Chicago,” a national grassroots mobilization taking place in Chicago against the October 25-27 national convention of the American Bankers Association (ABA).

The ABA is a banking industry lobbyist group that “works to enhance the competitiveness of the nation’s banking industry.” Its members represent over 95 percent of the banking industry’s $13.3 trillion in assets. The protests against the ABA have brought thousands of people to Chicago this week, from across the U.S., to demand progressive reform of the financial industry, call to “bust up big banks,” and send the message that “the only ones too big to fail are the American people.”

Huelskoetler directs Farmers Supporting Independent Agriculture (FSIA), ia Central Illinois-located, faith-based community organization that works to save family farms, preserve local economy, and promote sound stewardship of farmland. FSIA has successfully negotiated low-interest rate operating loans for Central Illinois family farmers who commit to purchasing from local suppliers, worked with farm realtors and farm managers to develop land stewardship best practices, partnered with institutional landowners to craft farmland leases that create sustainable farming incentives, and pushed the University of Illinois to manage its endowment farmland in a more sustainable manner that benefits tenant farmers and local communities. FSIA is a member organization of the Central Illinois Organizing Project (www.ciop.org), the largest faith-based community organization in downstate Illinois, which organized dozens of people to participate in the Chicago rallies and protests against the ABA.

“I’m here to talk to you today about the long-term effects of the decisions that the dishonest Wall Street bankers have done to my community,” Huelskoetler said. “Like in many rural communities, family farmers in my area are struggling and having a difficult time with the decisions made by the people on Wall Street.”

“I’ve been farming for 37 years, and 7 years ago a Wall Street investor came and bought the farm that my family has farmed for 50 years. I then talked to the investor. He said, “Give me an extraordinarily high rent and you can continue to farm.” I said, “I can’t give you that kind of rent and do the job right.” He said, “Too bad, I’ll bring in a mega-farmer.” ”

“A mega-farmer is a farmer who wants to be just like the big banks, big enough that he can’t fail. But high-risk farming by mega-farmers is becoming a reality. Mega-farm operators are pushing family farmers off the land they have farmed for decades. Mega-farmers can do this because they farm in an unsustainable manner. They work on narrow margins of profit. The risk is so great that these mega-farmers know they can’t do the right thing and make a profit, so they don’t even put back the nutrients into the soil that the crop takes out.”

“Therefore they are stealing from one of our greatest natural resources: the soil. The impact is felt severely. What’s left is poorly maintained fields, agricultural runoff, and diminishing productivity at a time when the world’s population continues to grow and we have to feed the people all over the world. Large-scale mega-farm operators are bypassing local agricultural suppliers and costing local communities billions of dollars in economic activity every year.”

“Six years ago we did a study in Logan County, right in the middle of Illinois. It’s some of the best farmland in the world, and we wondered why our communities were dying. The mega-farmers in our community who spent zero dollars in our area were taking 4 million dollars out of our community every year. In the very small town that I went to school in, the only business open now in my town is the post office. Everything else is boarded up.”

“Even though our problems are a little different because they’re slow-developing, they are the same as everyone else who spoke. Local agricultural bankers are expressing concern about the amount of arrears associated with large loans given to large-scale mega-farmers. Some ag loans reach $15 million for one farmer per year. These guys think they’re too big too fail.”

“The mega-farms have extended credit that family farmers can only imagine, and they are leveraged to the hilt. But now they are facing a crisis of falling crops. The outlook is not good. The warning sounds are all around us. Just look at the fall of the housing industry and the disaster in the auto industry. We need to prevent this from happening in central Ilinois and all through the Midwest.”

“We need to break up the big banks. We need banks that understand good farming practices, soil stewardship … and look at the long-term picture for the good of the environment and not just short-term profits.”

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Garry Klicker, who is with the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, took time away from harvesting his corn and soybeans in Bloomfield, Iowa, to voice his anger at the protests against the ABA. “This is not a financial system,” he said. “This is a financial disaster.”

Heidi Hynes, who works with a community center in the Bronx area of New York City and recently attended a Women Farmers Retreat, said it was “really kind of beautiful” to hear Larry speak about his care for the land and his anger at the way that agribusiness robs the soil of its nutrients.

She believes community farming should be a vital part of the movement for financial reform. “Food justice might point the way to a transformation of our economy better than anything else,” she said. “It can teach people a new way of looking at the world because it’s caring for the Earth and waiting for food to grow [instead of demanding instant gratification]. In order to grow food, we all need to work together [and this can help change the rampant selfishness in our economy].”

Pictures from the ABA protests are posted here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ethanagri4/sets/72157622677412998/

Ethan Genauer is a freelance journalist and grassroots activist for food and environmental justice. When not on the road, he lives and farms in Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of his blogs is “New Mexico Young Farmers Rise Up!” — http://nmyoungfarmers.wikidot.com

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see also – http://showdowninchicago.org/ + http://bankstersusa.org/

MORE NEWS from the “Showdown in Chicago” against the ABA:

“Assholes Bankrupting America”: Banners Dropped Against Bankers ~ http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/87889/index.php

“Showdown: Hundreds Gather to Talk About Foreclosures, Financial Struggles” ~ http://www.truthout.org/1027095

“Protests at US bankers’ convention” ~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/27/us-bankers-annual-convent…

“Banks and the Broke: Showdown in Chicago Roundup” ~ http://chicagoist.com/2009/10/27/banks_and_the_broke_showdown_in_chi.php

“5,000 Protest Bank Power, Abuses as Showdown Culminates” ~ http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5103/5000_protest_bank_power_abuse…

“Showdown Against the Greedy Bankers in Chicago” ~ http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143517

video: “ABA Showdown: Fed-Up Taxpayers Arrive In Chicago” ~ http://progressillinois.com/2009/10/26/showdown-begins

“ABA Showdown: Protesters Storm Wells Fargo” ~ http://progressillinois.com/2009/10/26/showdown-wells-fargo

“Protesters in Chicago March On Offices of Goldman, Wells Fargo” ~ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125658175842408635.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDD…

Economy Yielding ‘Very Angry’ People, Bankers Told ~ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a0JYDmIjD_20

Pictures: “Protesters Swarm Bankers Convention” ~ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/25/showdown-in-chicago-prote_n_333…

“Protesters Invade ABA Convention” ~ http://www.seiu.org/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=Chicago%20Sheraton&li…