DLN Issues : Hog Farm

Rich Bell is the head of all Bell Farms and Sun Prairie.

RAISING HOGS BENEFITS TRIBAL MEMBERS
by Rich Bell, Bell Farming Group

We want the Indian people to benefit by our building and developing a world class pork production faciility with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. This is not only our objective at the Bell Farming Group, but it is an objective of our lenders, packers, feed suppliers and the many other people who provide inputs to the process. We see it as an opportunity to help the many other people who provide inputs to our process. We see it as an opportunity to help the Indian people market their resources. We share in the profit or loss according to each of our inputs. By partnering with us, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe has an opportunity to help grow the superior pork that we produce. Our pork can be differentiated from other products by its high quality. This quality is being demanded by today's global consumers.

The Bell Farming Group has earned a reputation in the industry as producing a superior product that demands a premium in the marketplace. The Tribe can take advantage of this by supplying their own valuable inputs to the process -- which are quality people -- who have proven they are excellent workers with a natural ability in animal husbandry. We utilize locally produced crops -- and can provide a better market for the area's corn and other products. Another valuable input is their land -- we appreciate the stark beauty of the barren Rosebud landscape and have taken every measure to make sure we protect the environment by properly designing and managing our pork production systems. We do care.

There are a few critics that don't understand what we are trying to achieve here. Most of these individuals have done nothing to improve the quality of life for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Rather, they have only tried to capitalize on the few resources the tribe has. If we work together this project could be used as a model for many other entrepreneurial projects to be developed in Indian country. Sure, there have been a few "bugs" in getting this project up and running. But I am not discouraged. The Bell Family has been in agriculture for 150 years. I like to believe we have helped change the way we produce pork for the better. We still strive to achieve even greater efficiencies in utilization of our resources in the future.

I look to the future -- a future that will bring economic development to the reservation. We want to be part of that. We want to be successful, not only for the Bell Farming Group, but for the Indian people as well. We have become friends with many of the tribal members. There are a few that I feel as close to as my own brothers and sisters. We enjoy being a part of this community and have common interests with many people.

There are any more people than jobs here. We all want a better life for ourselves and our children -- to have an opportunity for a better education, medical services, to be able to buy things like a new car, to take vacations. Our employees enjoy benefits such as excellent health insurance coverage, 401k retirement plan, life insurance, good wages.

It is not just the people that work for the pork facility that are benefitting. Statistics show taht for every dollar that is earned, it has a rippling effect ten times its value -- people are able to purchase more goods which in turn improves another's livelihood. We are not discouraged by our opposition. Our vision remains strong.

Rosalie Little Thunder is an educator and buffalo activist.

WE NEED SMALL BUSINESSES, NOT CORPORATE HOGS
by Rosalie Little Thunder, Member, Rosebud Sioux Tribe

"Our people need jobs!" It's a sound and noble argument, the argument forwarded by those who negotiated the hog-raising deal with Bell Farms.

True, members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe endure grinding poverty daily. So, it is no wonder that some past leaders succumbed to the prospect of immediate relief. They should not be cornered on that argument; it is from concern for jobs that they made the decision.

But what idn't happen was close, objective scrutiny (woableza)) of the hog farm proposal. Particularly troublesome is that hog farms are not exactly welcome elsewhere. Corporate farms have left behind a trail of environmental damage. Corporate farms contribute significantly to the decline of rural life. Corporate farms quickly, but painfully, execute "the little guy".

So, what are they doing on tribal land, with the pretense of concern? To escape environmental regulations and scrutiny, perhaps, or to take unhindered advantage of resources of land and labor.

I believe that prolongued oppression has much to do with the acceptance of Bell Farms. Oppression is still a reality for Lakota people. Oppression creates pockets of economic disadvantage, and therefore, poverty. Oppression also creates unhealthy dependence on external salvation, sometimes in the guise of hog farm jobs. A face can be handsome, but the heart can be dark.

The new tribal council bears a heavy burden -- to understand all the economic, environmental, and cultural implications. The questions are many: Just what is the economic advantage when the operation is so automated that only a handful of tribal members are emplyed? Will the labor force be comprised of migrant workers from the South, who desperately need the income and cannot complain of working conditions? What is the true input of natural resources and output of financial benefit for the tribe? Will turnover be so high that health effects will not be apparent?

What concerns me most is yet another act of oppressed behavior -- the blind dependency on another stranger. Corporations are not known for compassion and community concern. Corporations are profit-driven. It seems to me that this imbalanced "partnership" will only erode the integrity of the tribe.

Some argue that if the tribe withdraws from this unfortunate deal, it could damage our repuutation with other "big business" prospects. On the Rosebud Reservation, there are too few small businesses. Any community, anywhere, needs basic goods and services. Yet we seek these goods and services outside the community, draining the local economy. With adequate capital and ingenuity, there is no lack of small business opportunities.

"Outside interests telling us what to do," an elder said in reference to the hog farm opposition and litigation. I can safely say that those organizations that intervened did so at the behest of Rosebud tribal members, when they were silenced, albeit temporarily, by exclusion and intimidation in the decision-making process by the previous council.

So, what did the hog farm bring to Rosebud? I hold onto the hope that from this debacle will emerge people's sense of dignity and self0sufficiency and restoration of our stewardship role of Grandmother Earth -- and our VISION.

I pray for support and guidance for the current leaders as they legally and financially extricate an already impoverished tribe from a very dishonorable treaty.