The August West Foundation

06/02/2026

From today's email:

One of the things I said is we are "steamrolling" towards some major issues in our country from crop failure to the toxicity of our food. And everything in between. Here we are today, a little over a decade since I said those words and I will give you some highlights. First one is very easy. We have the most toxic food system in the world. No reason to go in to it. You hear it from me all of the time. We have had the smallest wheat crop since 1972. That was 54 years ago. What? Our cattle herd is at its lowest point since the 70's and shrinking not growing. Why? 52% of the hay crop and pasture in the US is under drought. Herd culling is at all time highs. Now when you cull herds that means the worst are out of there and on to your plate. Corn crop and soy are not good, not too bad which is awful for this time of year. Folks, we are steamrolling. Another little tid-bit I mention is recovery time. You don't just jump back from these things. It takes YEARS. Yet we eat every single day. Eventually they won't match up. Eventually, we will be at the mercy of foreign countries and their sub par products. You are already eating foreign beef. Most have no clue. My last tid-bit. Mc Donalds sells 5.4 million burgers a day in the US alone. Combine all of the other junk peddlers and they alone go through a lot of beef each day. Forget the buns which have over 15 ingredients most of which are preservatives and added garbage, where do you think all of this so called "beef" is coming from? Certainly a time to stay away from the Colonel, the King, the Clown and all of the others. Oh, we don't even want to talk about the Colonel.

If you don't think we are at a big time cross roads in our food security you are sadly misguided. Not misinformed because I don't shut up about it. It is a time to organize, a time to secure our own food sources and put the resources necessary towards making it a reality. Think about what it could be like in 10 more years. Makes me shudder. There is a reason land in the Midwest is selling at astronomical numbers for quite some time now. Hedge funds and the like pushing farmers out, land it will take decades to even pay back the purchase price. Land that will be misused but used as your choices diminish. We all know what happens when bankers get involved. Oooh, another shudder. I see a lot of you every weekend. You are all very smart people. Notice I didn't say educated. Smart people use their brains. Action is important right now. Small farm bankruptcies are at an all time high. Even worse than the farm crisis when Willie Nelson played concerts around the country to raise money. It is terrible. We need as a group to fight back and put money, time and energy in to our small farms. We will certainly regret it if we don't. Make it part of your day today...

04/28/2026

I have always said when logic goes out the window it is usually money and corruption pushing it. If you watch my documentary you will see an excerpt from when I was on Bloomberg screaming about how can any country give a company or organization immunity from hurting its people. Well, here we are again. I went nuts when they gave pharmaceutical companies immunity for vaccines. Complete insanity. So pay attention here. The Supreme Court is now entertaining giving Bayer/Monsanto, a foreign company immunity against any claims against Round Up. Now there has already been many billion dollar decisions against Round Up and Bayer only to be overturned or money decisions lowered or stayed. The lower courts are so completely corrupt they make Ukraine look like angels. Another day. So this is the USA in a nutshell: 80% of Americans have Glyphosate in their urine (where do you fit in?) The USA uses 500% more Glyphosate than all of Europe combined. We use 25% of the world's pesticides even though we are only 3% of the population. I will also tell you that the US has the most cancer, autoimmune disease, hormone problems AND the shortest life span of all industrialized nations... Is this the legacy we want to leave our children? Is it time to take this seriously? I have been writing about this for two decades. 20 years of warning of the dangers of Glyphosate and GM crops. Well, well right again as we continue down the most dangerous path in our struggle for survival. 80%!!! That is a huge percentage of the population guaranteed to get sick. What a disaster, a crime and absolute travesty against our own people. If the Supreme Court rules in Bayer's favor it will be a major blow for our health in this country. Please don't sit back and be part of it. For the sake of your children, don't.

Ok, I really hope you take this to heart. If you don't it is either because you don't believe me which is ridiculous or you don't care which is worse. I don't just come up with things like, "eating defiantly" to stay out of the supermarket. Unfortunately, to not be a victim of a system hell bent on making you sick and then dishing you off to the healthcare system hell bent on keeping you alive and sick for as long as possible. These are things to live by so you are healthy in your later years and you don't have sick children. You have all seen the statistics of all of these people in their 30's and 40's getting cancer. We need to reverse this or we will really need these ridiculous robots and data centers that think for us. Be smart. Don't eat it. It is not safe. I am part of the 20% and so excited about it. I do not and never will eat and GM corn or soy. Only organic wheat and no hybrids. That alone will give you so many extra years. Seed oils and processed sugar or fake sugar derivatives. You need to stay away from them. How do you do it? Small farms. Meat, fruits, vegetables. Not Doritos, not pizza, McDonalds. Read the labels. Empower yourself by putting it back on the shelf. We went to the supermarket on the weekend to get fruit. I always like to check things out. I went looking for an edible loaf of bread. Did not find one. August got a kick out of me reading labels and throwing stuff back on the shelf. It is so far gone out there you really need to take a step back and evaluate what you are doing. It will save your life and give your children the most precious gift in life you can ever give them. Their health. Have a great day and eat well, John

02/03/2026

I talked about this in the documentary, I have talked about this for years. While the lawsuits were flying in over the health effects of Round Up (Glyphosate) Monsanto was quietly launching an even more nasty product called Dicamba. Some of you will recall this was over a decade ago. This stuff destroyed everything and it had such a unique molecular make up it would drift and wipe out plants on neighboring farms. This was literally a military grade defoliant I would compare to Agent Orange. When I heard about it before it hit the ground I was furious at not only the company that would launch something like this but the bought out idiots in our government. It got so bad Dicamba was banned for most uses and taken out of mainstream agriculture. Well, guess what? Having not learned the first time around and since our entire government system is not based on governing but taking as much money as you can, they are going to reissue the approval of this stuff. I will tell you all what I did over 10 years ago. This stuff makes Round Up seem like salt water. Dicamba is nasty. Really nasty and in a season or so it will be on the shelves in residue form to poison our children yet again. I find this news shocking and you all should too. You can feed it to your children or take a stance with your wallet. Your call. You are guaranteeing your children a life of autoimmune issues. We are seeing it with all of the chemicals in your food. Farmer's markets and dealing with little farms are not this folksy way of shopping for your food. It is a matter of protecting your health and the health of your family. It is a matter of survival which may sound dramatic but unfortunately it is true. I will tell you all what I say every message. It is an act of eating "Defiantly" It is your strong message you won't be a victim of a food system hell bent on making you sick. You are all smart and know. Do not be complacent...

12/09/2025

Hey Everyone, Good morning. My brother texted me last night about Trump coming up with $12 billion dollars for the farmers. No not really. $12 billion for big ag soy and corn growers who are not making a fortune selling soybeans to China? Yes. Other farms, like mine. ZERO! Our ag business model is so wrong and not about ag at all. It is about growing and selling as much GMO corn and soy as we can. Unfortunately, China is not buying and other countries are producing them cheaper. Small farms like mine don't even have lines of credit. No access to capital to grow. If we did, the big ag model would be crushed. It is a chokehold on small farms until we tap out. Most of you don't know. GMO corn and soy were never supposed to hit the food chain. Never. The idea was to grow these crops for use in ethanol production. They knew they were too toxic. Eventually after Monsanto lobbied, put people in decision making positions within our government like Michael Taylor who went from lobbyist, to the USDA to Monsanto VP these crops were approved to hit the food chain and look what happened. They were never supposed to hit the food chain at all. How do I know? I sat down with the very scientists who created the technology and the very scientists that did the genetic modifications on the corn!!! It was never supposed to hit the food system and now it is in everything and autoimmune diseases are skyrocketing. Not cool. So when Trump or Secretary Rollins or any of these other politicians tell you what they are doing for our farmers just know they are full of it. You only need to watch the earnings in the farm sector to know where that came from. Free money because of failed policies. Period. No need to watch the story on TV and be lied to. I have watched this disaster for 30 years unravel and have emails to prove it. We all knew where this was headed and guess what? It did.

10/23/2025

As most of you know I love politics. The sheer exposure of human nature mixed with greed and corruption really make for some entertainment. You also should know I am an equal opportunity exposer of all that is wrong with our government. Enter, Barack, Joe and Trump to find out, "where's the beef?" Now, we know that Trump has no lack for saying stupid things. He has a lot of people around him telling him things and then he goes on TV and says whatever it is like it was his idea, he owns it and it is true. Oh boy. I will remain serious because this folks is the truth. After giving Argentina tens of billions of dollars to keep them afloat. Stop not true. After giving Argentina tens of billions of dollars to keep our enemies out of Argentina he has solved the beef issue singlehandedly. Let's import a ton of beef from Argentina, of course without consulting them first and that will solve the problem right? Wrong! Argentina has big clients like North Korea and the like that pay them a fortune for their beef. Why would we get a deal? We won't. So, as usual the Don backtracks and doubles down on his stupidity. Now, remember what I have always said. Whenever hedge funds or billionaires get involved in an industry they destroy it. The beef business has come home to roost. So here is what he said. The ranchers have made so much money because of his tariffs. Thanks to his tariffs the ranchers have made so much money they now need to bring the prices down. Holy crap, really? The ranchers are the ones who have hiked the price of beef? Pure stupidity. Uneducated blustering. Here is the truth. It all started with Barack. Oh yes, Barack. The president who owns the record for the most untested approvals of GMO crops that made the Bush clan shake in their snake skin boots. Barack systematically dismantled the cattle industry by removing the leases from these big ranches on public land that some had used for centuries. Big Joe accelerated the process. Throw in some drought and you all know what happened. Yes, these family owned ranches, yes some in the same family for centuries went up for sale. No one could buy them except, you guessed it. Billionaires and Hedge funds. Millions of acres put in the hands of people and corporations who have absolutely no clue about ranching whatsoever. Guess what? The herd in the United States shrinks to its lowest levels since the 1970's. The price of beef soars long before Trump is even in the White House. Doesn't matter, keep moving. Ranchers, having lost all of that grazing land can no longer support their herds on their land. Prices are high they sell steer and replacement heifers that would normally go back in the herd to produce more babies. Bird in the hand is better than losing your land. So now the hopes of the herd growing on its own is gone. Beef goes even higher. More of our herd is sold and now you are stuck paying for garbage in the supermarket for what you would pay for my beef. Hmmm. Who is at fault here? Move on. What Trump fails to acknowledge is the packer. Yes, the middle man who screws the farmer and the consumer. The largest being JBS which is Brazilian owned. Catching on? Yes, the largest beef packer in the US is Brazilian owned. Largest Pork Producer owned by the Chinese. Oh boy I am getting a headache. They are all the same, they are all the blame, we are just pawns in the game...

10/07/2025

https://www.stamfordmuseum.org/event/bullish-farmer/

The Bullish Farmer: From Wall Street Banker to Farmer Enjoy an exclusive screening of The Bullish Farmer in our Bendel Mansion, joined by the subject of the film, himself — sustainable livestock farmer John Boy Ubaldo.

07/28/2025

We have come to the point where we must take actions we should have taken 40 years ago. The biggest example is the meteoric rise of colorectal cancers in people in the 25-35 age group. The age group that should really be seeing no signs of cancer is now seeing staggering numbers. No one is doubting it is 100% diet related. Going forward at the urging of some smarter people around me we are going to highlight what can and should be done. What I don't get is this age group is very influential. I believe that we should be empowering them to reverse this trend. I have already started this process and I hope it grows and we eliminate this trend. Do not think for a minute it will take anything less than all of us. Do not be complacent.
Start by watching the Bullish Farmer. A documentary on my farm that won a bunch of awards on the film festival circuit and is now on Prime. I have no financial interest from you watching it. I feel it is a great way to begin to understand the small farm and how to begin living by them for your health and that of your family. We will follow with solutions which is obviously the most important. That is how the Outpost was created. As a solution to the nasty food system, supermarkets (which we all know are not super in any way) and an idiot neighbor of mine that called the town of Pound Ridge to close my farm stand 20+ year ago. We have gained knowledge and experience since then and now it is time to bring everything out and begin to reverse these awful trends. The small farms are under attack from big ag, the USDA and the insane idea of using farmland as "solar farms" Pure evil as these companies prey on small town boards with very little resources to fight back. An absolute disaster. My 20+ years of fighting against GMO crops, Round Up, Geoengineering and everything else that is poisoning are children have brought me to this point in time. Truth be told. It is the amazing people around me that support and push me that have gotten us here. Time to take it back. Watch the film, eat some popcorn, not the microwave crap please and get ready as we take back our agriculture system one bite at a time. I will ask ahead of time to leave the politics out of it. They are all guilty of pushing this agenda and we can discuss that offline. Stick with the program. The most important gift you can give your children is not a trust fund. It is their health...

04/14/2025

Last year Australia sold $23 billion in beef to the United States. That is not a small number. What is a small number is that not even $1.00 of beef from the United States was sold in Australia. Our system of protecting our own farmers is so broken the only thing we know how to do is subsidize corporate, toxic agriculture and waste money funding the production of ethanol a truly useless and expensive product that does nothing but support the overproduction of soy and corn in this country. 40% of the corn grown in this country goes in to the production of ethanol which gets an $8-10 billion subsidy each year. That is approximately 36 million acres of corn I think you could feed people with and $8-10 billion that could go for better things like school food programs and food banks. It is pathetic that we take supporting this broken, disgusting toxic system over the health of our children. That all being said, it can only happen if we are complicit. If everyone got off their asses we could drop this system to its knees in one week. Yes, one week. Think of that the next time you hit the drive thru and grab a hamburger whose bun alone has 20+ ingredients. Most of which you cannot pronounce. Be part of the change. Farmers are not people looking for handouts. They are people hell bent on feeding you. But they cannot compete with the people getting the hand outs and an ignorant population...

We are ready for calving season to hit. Any day now our first "stars" will be hitting the ground. Today, more piglets will leave the barn for the wild. No subsidies, no chemicals, no hormones, Ractopamine, heavy metals, drugs or otherwise. Take some time to stop and really think. There is no turning back... Have a great day and eat well, John

03/28/2025

Let's get my rant out of the way. 202-720-2791. This is the number to the USDA. Battle through the cumbersome message center and get to Brooke Rollins office. We all need to tell them in no uncertain terms that cutting the program funding for food banks and schools to buy from local farmers is just pure insanity. Take money from killing people, take money from poisoning people but taking away a lousy $1 billion dollars so food banks and schools can buy fresh food is ridiculous. I am trying not to curse here but understand this is a tragedy and worth making a phone call. Absolutely disgusting. This hurts lower income people, this hurts children, this hurts the farmers. School lunch programs will inevitably give our children cancer. Take the pill, swallow it, my emails are all about the truth good and bad. Most importantly, do something about it. I really thought these a-holes would have backtracked on this one more than any other stupid idea. $20 million per state. Pathetic.

You can drive around here and see farms buzzing, sap houses steaming, welders fixing plows, electricians fixing augers and just about everyone being employed by farms and the survival up here in the boondocks dependent on small farms. The wholesale destruction must really end. I had more stuff to talk about that was positive but I am F)*&%^&( pi**ed. Give my foundation just $1 million and we could feed the entire county!!!! UGH!!!!

03/03/2025

89% of farms in America are small farms. Yet they comprise only 45% of farmland. Scary stat. The supposed egg shortage rages on as they say the bird flu does as well but the numbers really aren't there. Mismanagement is thriving. The numbers that are there are these. Since 2020 $1.1 billion has been given to poultry farms to fight and replenish stocks hit by the bird flu. I know we look at billions like small numbers with all of the billionaires getting their press but on a farm level it is a lot of money. 0, and I mean 0 to small farms. Now I am not talking about farms like mine. We don't even count and we are called such names as "micro farms" and "specialty ag farms" just to keep us from qualifying for anything. Imagine a small farm producing 12,000 dozen eggs a week!!! That is a small farm. They could help production and ease the pain. They qualified for nothing under Biden's requirements. Why? What? John certainly you are kidding. Of course not. I have mentioned Tom Vilsack who served under Obama and Biden. Before that a lobbyist for Monsanto and a VP for Monsanto. I have been talking about him for years and years. It is these people and their predecessors who have been part of this decades long attack on small farms. They starve us for capital, make loans nearly impossible and when they do you are beholden to them for everything. Regular banks do not loan, finance or do anything for small farms. Won't touch us. They are forbidden by regulations. So, we have no choice but to use the one or two available sources that have us by the _(*%^. If you empower the "small" farm, you can solve a lot issues. If you continue to only support the big farms the food shortages and the price of food will increase. If you want to end the egg crisis. Just have everyone in the country not buy eggs for one week. The next week they will be on sale. Our food system is not secure and is quite fragile. The end.