The Quiet Takeover: How Germany Lost Agricultural Freedom. Are We Repeating History? Part Two. By Idaho Senator Glenneda ZUIDERVELD (12/27/25). Images from Sen. Zuiderveld’s article. Updated posted 12/29/25

glenneda.substack.com/p…

Extraordinary Idaho Senator Glenneda Zuiderveld wrote a second extraordinary analysis of the German system during Adolf Hitler’s reign as Führer. She asks readers to consider:

• Do parallels exist between Nazi Germany’s agricultural history and our own in Idaho and America?

• Will we stand by idly and allow Germany’s history to repeat itself here?

While reading this post, we found ourselves saying:

Yup. What happened in Germany’s agricultural system is happening in America’s right now! The similarities are both eerie and scary.

And thinking:

The only way out of this mess is to go completely around it. Farmers must exit the government system and become independent.

We cannot let this system of agriculture continue in our state and our country.

We encourage you to read the entire post, which is better than any summary we could provide. Carefully consider Sen. Zuiderveld’s eloquent words, deep research, and many links provided.

Below we offer her introduction and conclusion, her table of contents, our take (a comment posted on her Substack), and related resources you might find helpful.

• Note: This is Part Two of a three-part series, “Are We Repeating History?” that looks at Germany in the 1930s, examining education, health and welfare, and agriculture and considering lessons this history offers us today.

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Sen. Zuiderveld’s Introduction

Part One focused on education. In this installment, I turn to agriculture, how it was consolidated, controlled, and ultimately used as a tool of power.

My grandparents-in-law were both captured and forced into labor camps under Hitler’s regime. They carried those memories for life, and they shared one consistent warning with us: learn history before the devastation and chaos, if you don’t want to repeat it.

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Sen. Zuiderveld’s Conclusion

History does not repeat because people are evil; it repeats because people are tired, distracted, and willing to trade freedom for relief. The loss of agricultural independence in pre-war Germany was not caused by a single tyrant or a single law, but by a series of “reasonable” solutions that slowly removed choice, responsibility, and courage.

This is why learning history matters, especially when it is uncomfortable to read. If we soften these lessons, excuse them, or tell ourselves it could never happen here, we guarantee that it will.

The past is not warning us with whispers. It is speaking plainly.

The only question left is whether we are willing to listen before the cost of learning becomes unbearable.

ED NOTE 

If trading freedom and liberty for relief sounds familiar, consider that social distancing, lockdowns, COVID shots, and vaccination cards offered this tradeoff during the COVID Era (which is finding new traction today with flu and measles scares). Airport scanning and now massive surveillance and digital IDs offered this tradeoff following 9/11 attacks.

Please do not trade freedom and liberty for safety. The promises of safety are mostly false and temporary. The loss of liberty is true and can lead to forever totalitarianism (Europe and Australia's clampdowns on free speech and their extraordinary surveillance measures offer more examples).

Benjamin Franklin famously said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” tinyurl.com/47zr4487 (second to last paragraph).

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Contents

• How Germany Set the Stage for Agricultural Control

• The Reich Food Estate: How “Coordination” Replaced Freedom

• The Hereditary Farm Law: When Land Became a Leash

• Credit, Debt Relief, and Financial Dependency: When Help Became a Chain

• Labor Control and Production Pressure: When Farming Became an Obligation

• Autarky, Rationing, and Food as a Weapon

• Propaganda, Honor, and Social Pressure: When Obedience Became Virtue

• Enforcement, Punishment, and “Legal” Coercion

• Shortages, Black Markets, and Decline

• The Big Picture: How It All Fit Together

• Closing thoughts

• Further Reading & Sources

  • Primary Documents & Archives

  • Museums & Historical Institutions

  • Major Historical Works

  • Suggested Research Terms

  • Further Reading: How Farm Subsidies Influence Farm Operations

  • United States — Federal Subsidies & Conditions

• I ask you, are we repeating history? You Decide

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Our Take

See comment here: glenneda.substack.com/p…

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Related:

• Part 1: Education in Idaho & Beyond: How Curriculum, Not Chaos, Prepared a Nation to Obey. Are We Repeating History? By Idaho Senator Glenneda ZUIDERVELD (12/21/25). Article: tinyurl.com/yez3rzj2 | Substack Note: tinyurl.com/2azcpafk

• USDA Press Releases: usda.gov/about-usda/new…

• 🆕 Gem Boise Valley Counties FSA Newsletter December 29, 2025 (another example of government programs “helping” farmers, but with strings attached): tinyurl.com/ys2njnw6

  Topics: USDA Farm Service Agency Now Accepting Applications for Second Stage of Crop Disaster, Milk Loss and On-Farm Stored Commodity Loss Assistance • Applying for FSA Guaranteed Loans • Applying for Youth Loans

• Take Control of Your Property. Financial Rebellion EPISODE 385 - Dangers of Conservation Easements (02/01//24, video 1hr 2 min): tinyurl.com/2n58rjrv

• Resources from regenerative farmer and author Joel Salatin:

  • Polyface Farms website: polyfacefarm.com

  • Farming Success: Joel Salatin’s Top 10 Markers – EcoFarming Daily (see especially Tip 4): tinyurl.com/2mrdx8dx

  • Why We Need a Food Emancipation Proclamation: tinyurl.com/4d2sft38

  • The Food Emancipation Proclamation (for Brownstone Institute): tinyurl.com/2j3ae3v5

  • A Food Emancipation Proclamation: