I got to know a lot of farmers this summer as they participated in the market. I was under the impression they had thoughts similar to my own where food production was concerned. All of the farmers were what we'd call small, family farmers, farming between 1-80 acres. None of them were big, industrial farmers who see food as a commodity. None of them practiced monoculture, the one farming method I believe is destroying our environment and safety of our food supply. And yet most of these farmer's think it's OK to factory farm because it is our God-given right to eat animals so who cares what conditions they must live in during their short time on Earth. It's OK to put a bunch of suits in charge of livestock standards because otherwise some evil group from the Humane Society is going to shut down the agricultural industry as we know it and we're all going to be forced to eat hummus and falafel which we would buy with our food stamps because we will all be broke. I am beginning to reconsider my role in the county's agriculture landscape. Both the producers and the public seem to be on a very different page than I am. For the hundreds of thousands of acres of corn and soybeans, meant to feed animals that will later be turned into food, I say...what a waste of space.
You're not a fool, just ahead of how most people are thinking. Attitudes about food are changing, if not as quickly as one might like.
ReplyDeleteOf course this liberal fool's husband cooked our dinner in a solar oven yesterday, so I'm possibly not the best to ask about mainstream sentiment. ;-)
I ended up voting against Issue 2. It's such a disgusting measure, "let's put the people in charge of the farms with the most violations in charge of standards so they can pat themselves on the back when they say that there's nothing wrong."
ReplyDeleteWhile I am a meat eater, I do feel that animals should be treated with dignity and respect.