Unfinished Business

After my last blogs' revelation, I haven't stopped thinking about the food we eat, and what it takes to produce that food. Today in the news I read that Subway restaraunts are now making the transition into using only cage-free eggs for their breakfast menu, thus forcing a market-driven change in the world of incredible edible egg production. This transition has been dubbed a victory by the Humane Society. I am not a proponent of animal cruelty, and I do believe cage-free is probably better overall. This story is one of many where public perception is forcing change in the marketplace and food production system. I also read today that the US Dairy Association is hosting webinars for producers to learn how to use social media to help educate people on the truths behind the dairy industry. While in Arizona recently, a colleague overheard people complaining loudly and obnoxiously about the smell coming from the nearby dairy farm. They were in an ice cream shop.

Last week I read about a hog farm that lost a court battle with local homeowners over whether or not the stench from their yard caused the neighbors to lose quality of life. Forget the thought that the hog farm, like many others that face this PR nightmare, probably existed decades before the urban sprawl creeped in.

Now here's the biggie: Walmart now has a sustainability division.

"At Walmart, we know that being an efficient and profitable business and being a good steward of the environment are goals that can work together. Our broad environmental goals at Walmart are simple and straightforward:

To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy;
To create zero waste;
To sell products that sustain people and the environment."

As I said in the last journal entry, I am all for sustainability. I also believe we can combine productivity and sustainability. Here's my nightmare:
the general public is losing sight of who and what feeds us. In attempts to be green, we are creating a false sense of reality. Those smelly cows produce the ice cream we love. The sad thing is, as my colleague so eloquently put it, "When people smell the dairy, they don't think milk, they think poop."

We are fed by production agriculture.

When did the perception of the US farmer switch from keeper of America's heartland to destroyer of all things good? Many urban people are terribly troubled by the loss of the small family farm. They have heard that there are nothing but large corporations now plowing up the fields and growing our food by the shipload with no care in how it is produced. They will trust a small tomato grower selling his wares at the local farmers market enough to pay him thrice for a single juicy fruit, but the production farms are devilish, greedy wolves who inject us with poisons through their mass produced bacon, hamburger, and corn chips. Oh, and they want our tax money for subsidies too! Damn them all!

Guess what...I'm one of those corporate farmers. My brothers are corporate farmers. So are my cousins, dear friends, and the men and women I proudly work for everyday. They are the greatest stewards of America's natural resources and land. Why? Because the land is what sustains our families. My father once told me "If we take care of our land it will take care of us." No trueblooded farmer wants to see soil health decline. No farmer wants to over-work his land so it can blow 500 miles away. No farmer want the climate to change. And I whole heartedly believe no farmer knowingly plants anything that could harm the public's health or well-being. I also think that if the farmer had his choice, animals wouldn't smell...including humans.

As for the small farms, there is a niche for them. The farmer's markets and local niche marketing can prove profitable for many. Yes, sadly many small farms have not been able to survive the world's demand for large supplies of cheap food. Do you like the $5 Footlong, or the $1 Menu? How about the fact that you can buy a loaf of hearty bread for $2, does that work for your wallet? In today's economy, are you glad that you can buy cheap food? You can thank Dr. Norman Borlaug and the true "Green Movement" of the mid 1900's. By the way, the farmer only gets about 10 cents of that $2 loaf of bread. Of environmental lobbyists Borlaug may have said it best:

"some of the environmental lobbyists of the Western nations are the salt of the earth, but many of them are elitists. They've never experienced the physical sensation of hunger. They do their lobbying from comfortable office suites in Washington or Brussels...If they lived just one month amid the misery of the developing world, as I have for fifty years, they'd be crying out for tractors and fertilizer and irrigation canals and be outraged that fashionable elitists back home were trying to deny them these things".

The current three/four generations now living in America don't know what it's like to be hungry. Remember, 96% of the world's population lives outside the US. Let's look at water, for example. Today was officially "World Water Day". According to the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, it is still a reality that an estimated 1.1 billion people rely on unsafe drinking-water sources. Living in the US have you ever truly been without drinkable water? Imagine walking miles everyday for a jar of fresh water to take back to your family...people do this in many 3rd world countries. That's reality. Another reality is that food is just as precious. Even the donation food the US sends to poor nations is under attack from hostile warloards, unfeasible storage capabilities, and Mother Nature herself. Imagine what it's like to be hungry and thirsty for days...not minutes.

So we are lucky to have food, let alone cheap food in America. I took my $900+ food bill a step further. How much can we truly live on? I mean realistically and frugally. If we made every meal at home, bought cheap ingredients/groceries, and were diligent, I bet we could eat for around $5 a day per person. That means my family of 2 and a half, could eat for about $12.50 each day. Multiplied by 30 days/month, that's $375/month. Wow. That's cheap, simple, and a lot of spaghetti. Now, realize that $375 is too expensive for many many families in America. Ryan and I are lucky in that we both have decent paying jobs. Let's look at a similar family making minimum wage. Mom and Dad, both working for $7.50 an hour, 40 hours a week = $300/week. 4 weeks = $1200/month. Subtract 15% for taxes leaves us with $1020/month. Multiplied by 2 = $2040. $375 is roughly 18% of their income. What really puts this into perspective is that on average, Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food. Not sure how they calculated that...maybe before taxes.

So, next time you smell a hog farm or see a tractor stirring up dust, I beg you to remember there is a farmer sitting in the driver's seat and feeding the pigs. Thank them for your 99 cent Junior Bacon Cheeseburger. See how that same burger tastes at $5.50 with 100% cage-free pig, cow, and wheat. Now I'm off to plan my garden and thank my family for feeding the world.