you are what you eat
October 22, 2009 by Betmo
on my journey to be healthier, i have really tried to buy locally grown meat and produce. it’s tough. family farms were foreclosed out of business in the 1980’s and the situation was so dire- and has continued to be so- that willie nelson started farm aid in 1985. so, if so many farmers went under, how did the ensuing decade see food and dairy prices so low? mmmm…. the rise of the corporate farms and big agriculture. these giants sucked up family farms and spit out share croppers and tenants– the very folks who had owned the land and farmed it for generations are now employees of the big farms.
we have all read about the genetically modified seeds and fertilizer runoff into the drinking water- we have read about the salmonella and e coli breakouts in the lettuce and tomatoes. we really need to stop and think about how our food is grown, harvested, slaughtered, packaged and transported- because any legitimate terrorist attack would take out a link in that chain. i have come to know a few local farmers and dairy farmers- and new york used to be famous for it’s chedder cheese. i grew up next to a dairy farm and tasted real milk- right from the cow. we would walk down at milking time and get a milk bucket of milk. i suppose it’s too bad for the corporates in power that there are still those of us who remember the taste of real food- food not injected with dyes or preservatives or growth hormones. it’s for that reason that there are still folks out there who agitate for change.
isn’t it time we all became aware of where our food and water is coming from?
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You are what you eat. Bah, humbug. If that were true, my oldest granddaughter would be a big ol’ green booger. She was a gourmet picker/consumer in her “youth”. Grandma made the mistake of showing her disgust, and that started the whole “watch this” buffet snacking sessions.
Anyway, BE, that is very important and controversial video. Thank you for hooking us up with it. How do we solve this problem over the long term? If we keep the prices artificially too low, we cheat foreign producers who don’t have those subsidies to fall back on. We are constantly being reminded of this by African and S. American farmers now.
The other side is that our costs of living are substantially higher than in many of the competing countries’ markets, so how do we balance this so that our farmers aren’t undercut by low wage issues?
These are problems that have been exacerbated by the IMF and the World BanK systems of forcing farmers in countries under their sway, to produce and sell their produce at ridiculously low prices to markets deemed appropriate by the loan institutions. Many have quotas, per acre, that they must fill, regardless of their own personal needs.
Just as we see in Wall St. and Congress, there is no Free Market globally or nationally. Fingers are on the scales from all directions, and those who can’t reach up that high, have no say in the matter.