The Garlic Papers

by Stanley Crawford

The compelling personal story at the heart of the Netflix documentary, "Garlic Breath."
Readers who care about preserving local businesses will appreciate this new book by writer and garlic farm owner Stanley Crawford. In the fall of 2014, Crawford questioned US tariff exemptions for the country’s largest importer of Chinese garlic. This set off a massive legal battle, pitting his small New Mexico farm against the importer and its international law firms. In this compelling account of his David-and-Goliath battle, now in its fifth year, Crawford describes his personal and farming life under a cloud of lawsuits and administrative skirmishes. The unusual case was of such interest that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary, “Garlic Breath,” in the six-part series Rotten, released in 2018.

Genres: Nonfiction

186 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2019

About the author

Crawford is the author of "Gascoyne," "Petroleum Man," "Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine," "A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm," "Mayordomo: Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico," "The River in Winter," and "Some Instructions to My Wife Concerning the Upkeep of the House and Marriage and to my Son and Daughter Concerning the Conduct of their Childhood." He lives in new Mexico with his wife, RoseMary, where they own and run a garlic farm.

Reviews

[Kristen Davenport · Rating 1 out of 5]

Readers should know that Stan’s new book, The Garlic Papers, is a work of personal fiction by Stan Crawford and in no way is an accurate journalistic representation of what actually happened at the Department of Commerce. Stan Crawford has accepted cash and expensive equipment, both directly and indirectly, from Chinese businessmen Jack Bai and Wang Ruopeng, who are trying to gain an upper hand for their Chinese garlic companies in the American garlic market. Bai and his companies are direct competitors and long-time enemies of Harmoni, the company Crawford and his attorney Ted Hume are trying to take down. And, Bai's companies owe our federal government more than half a billion in unpaid back tariffs they owe for dumping garlic on the American market. Major American domestic garlic growers have not supported Crawford's work at the Department of Commerce and federal regulators have determined that Crawford and his lawyer, Ted Hume, made dishonest filings at the Department of Commerce and were actually working at the behest of Chinese businessman Jack Bai rather than of their own accord. Hume (who has been Bai’s lawyer for more than a decade) stands accused of making false and misleading statements by both the DOC and the Court of International Trade.

The publisher should never have allowed Crawford this bully pulpit simply because he is a "famous author." It is a shame that Crawford has chosen to use this pulpit as an attempt to “anonymously” trash his former associates and neighbors with outright falsehoods, half-truths, lies of omission, mischaracterization of events and manipulation of context regarding the story of what happened at the Department of Commerce from 2015-2019. He even goes so far as to accuse his “fellow garlic growers” of committing various felonies with no evidence other than the narrative concocted by his dishonest attorney Ted Hume. There is voluminous public record about what happened and those who would write about this (or let others write about it) should do their due diligence first.

[Johanna DeBiase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crawford’s story begins with a visit from international trade attorney, Ted Hume. Hume represents Chinese garlic producers who have been unable to compete in the US garlic industry against Harmoni International Spice, the largest importer of Chinese garlic, because Harmoni has managed to avoid paying any duty on their garlic for the past fifteen years.
US law prohibits foreign producers from flooding the market with goods at an unfairly low price that would undercut domestic producers, which is called dumping. Suspiciously, Harmoni has never been charged by The United States Department of Commerce with any anti-dumping taxes.
Hume is in search of a US garlic grower to submit a request for review of Harmoni. He has an impossible time locating a farmer willing to go up against big corporations that benefit from reselling the cheap Chinese garlic. When Hume asks Crawford if he’s interested, his response is simply, “Sure. Sounds interesting.” Little does Crawford know what he is getting himself into.
Though Crawford is embroiled in a bureaucratic juridicial mess, the farm remains at the heart of his life. Seasons don’t stop turning and plants don’t stop growing just because he’s amidst a legal battle.
Written in vignettes, “The Garlic Papers,” juxtaposes the life of an American farmer with government corruption and economic injustice. As the reader learns more than they ever thought they wanted to know about US trade laws, Crawford offers many spaces to breathe and take in the hard but rewarding life of a small farmer, such as instructional chapters devoted to the maintenance of tools or how to pull weeds efficiently, selling at farmer’s markets or the best forms of irrigation. Crawford eases us into the romanticism of farming and summer afternoons beside the river.
Part way into Crawford and Hume’s legal war with Harmoni, Crawford recruits a nearby farmer to join their fight. This farmer is referred to only as “my fellow garlic grower” or “my neighbor,” keeping him anonymous for reasons we learn of later. These reasons include accusations by Crawford of extortion, blackmail and ultimately deception and betrayal.
Some of the story behind this memoir aired on the Netflix docuseries Rotten in January of 2018. In this episode, many of the local and foreign characters are interviewed. Each TV viewer will have their own opinion about who comes off as the hero of this story and who comes off looking bad. Crawford takes a few chapters in his memoir to discuss his experiences with filming the television show and his reactions to it. He also explains what they left out of the story.
Though this is a memoir of one man’s experiences in one industry, it speaks to a larger issue in our modern world. For the last couple of decades, small local businesses have struggled to survive against Goliath corporations.

[Mike C · Rating 2 out of 5]

An argument for tariffs and government subsidies from the perspective of the one benefitting from them; this books shouldn’t be branded as anything other than that. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics would see that while others may see him as being oppressed

Why should we subsidize this guys farm if others can do his job more efficiently? A broad, nuanced question that I’m not sure he makes a good case for. Are there situations where tariffs and subsidies make sense? Yes, but this guy does an awful job being his own advocate. Maybe if someone could prove the Chinese company is using slave labor or that their product is harmful, but even he hardly touched on this which is the smoking gun to his argument

Most of the book was basically just reading the rambling of this guy’s diary that accidentally was published and sent to production (especially with his insults of his enemy which were pretty poor and childish)

There clearly isn’t enough subject matter for this book. It’s so short to begin with and then for large stints at a time he talks about his background, his writing, the machinery on his farm… instead of talking about the actual issue at hand

I think the reason he published this is because he was so insulted that a lawyer said his farm was fake that he wrote down every single thing he knows about garlic to try and prove them wrong

The Chinese firm argues that he’s not a professional farmer but instead a hobbyist. He’s offended by this and then spends most of the book talking about how he’s an author… therefore disputing his own claim

Chapters are three pages so maybe you could argue he isn’t really an author at all

In page 46 his lawyer asks him to withdraw his case in order to protect another of the lawyer’s clients. The author doesn’t for a second consider he’s getting the bad end of the situation here, but rather spends a page explaining what it means to withdraw (this is so basic, I reread it twice I was so confused I thought I must be missing something). Why did he not just retain another lawyer? Or point out the conflict of interest in his lawyer being basically blackmailed here? How stupid is this guy??

(^this later comes up to be a huge point in the book, he completely messed this up and tried to brush it under the rug while also blaming others for not going along with him)

On page 61 he clearly states that China produces 19 million metrics tons of garlic a year as opposed to the US’s 175k. Why should all Americans be charged more to salvage his farm? If we produce 1% of the garlic China does then it’s clearly not sustainable for us to turn away imports. That single fact destroys any argument he has really.

[Rachel Weintraub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting perspective on one domestic farmer’s experience with home-grown garlic, which bore legal implications on both the national and international stage. If you ever find yourself in northern New Mexico, definitely recommend visiting Stan at his beautiful property! https://abnb.me/qCMF9qxvVmb

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heck of a story. And the writing, superb. Not many folks could go through an experience like this and manage to retell it with such restraint. Or remain so philosophical about it. Beautifully done, but especially the chapters about farming life. They read like poetry. Well worth your time.