<Isn't the Dairy Industry sweating it right now?...They must be sweating it,
big time."
SARCASM ON
That's great, isn't it? People who depend on the dairy industry for their
livelihood might be suffering! Hey, maybe their kids will miss a few meals
- fantastic! Let 'em suffer. They deserve it, considering what they're
doing to this world's environment and peoples' health! Right on!!
SARCASM OFF
Luckily, I doubt that much suffering has occured. Overall US milk
production has increased by 8% in the last ten years and milk prices
continue to rise. The *number* of dairy cows has decreased, but average
production per cow has more than doubled (info from USDA). As a farmer, I
find the attitude that Paleolists live "rightly" and farmers live "wrongly"
to misinformed and insulting. "I'm a Paleoist, so I'm part of the solution
to the devastation caused by the evil farmer and can justifiably harp on the
evils of agriculture..." The dreaded cereal grains are a favoured target:
you've stopped putting cereal grains directly into your mouth and are now a
virtuous non-consumer, right?
Consider corn. Less than 2% of US-produced corn is directly eaten by
humans, including both whole-grain and processed corn foods. 50% of the
crop is grown to feed livestock - the beef, pork, lamb and chicken that you
eat. 5% goes to make fuel oil for the car that you drive. The remainer
goes for export (15%, I believe) to increase the GNP and contribute to the
economy you depend on, and to make the products you use each and every day
of your life. Cotton clothing (fibers strengthed by cornstarch), magazines
(cornstarch is bound with the paper fibres keep pages together as they run
through high-speed presses), toothpaste (sorbitol, corn sweetener), glue,
shoe polish, lotions, crayons, paint, cosmetics, linoleum, bio-degradable
plastics - all contain corn If we all stopped eating corn tomorrow, a small
number of farmers might suffer one bad year: then they would simply plant
feed or industrial grade corn to supply the products that you demand.
Commercial meat is produced from corn, barley, oats, wheat, soybeans - and
milk by-products. If you cut direct consumption of cereal grains and dairy
only to increase consumption of non-organic meat, you have made little or no
difference in overall production. Considering the grain=meat conversion
ratio (how many pounds of grain it takes to put one pound of meat on an
animal) you may have actually increased cereal grain production and its
accompanying devastation.
Consider a non-food crop - cotton. This post is already too long - it would
be abusrdly so if I were to list modern uses of cotton. You wear it, sit on
it, sleep in it and walk on it every day. Cotton is
agriculture=environmental devastation at its finest. For example,
California grows 4% of the world supply of cotton. California cotton is
grown with water from rapidly deleting aquifers and dammed rivers (fisheries
and entire ecosystems destroyed) - and now Calilfornia farmers want to pipe
in northern water to destroy northern fisheries and ecosystems. Pray that
the fruit & veggies you eat weren't grown near a cotton crop - more than 10%
of the world's pesticides (and almost 25% of the insecticides) are applied
to cotton, and 35% of those cotton pesticides are applied to US fields. The
type of chemicals used? Two that are common: 1. Metam sodium - it's
called a soil sterilant and is used as a biocide to kill pests and weeds
before planting the cotton crop. Unfortunately, metam sodium kills more
than pests and weeds - it kills most living things. 2. Aldicarb - an
extremely effective groundwater contaminant - Each year, California farmers
use more than 200,000 pounds of Aldicarb on their cotton crops.
Why do farmers continue to grow cotton and grow it in this matter? Because
you keep asking for it by buying cotton products and eating
commercially-raised meat. Oh, did I forget to mention that cottonseed cakes
(with all those healthy herbicides and pesticides) are also fed to the meat
that you eat?
Take a stroll through the netsites relating to "legal" commercial fruits,
nuts and vegetables. Check the links that are inevitably listed on those
sites. Find out what they mean. Integrated pest management. Recommended
topsoil application rates. Very scary stuff - if you're truly concerned
about your health and the environment. But you buy the scary products
devastation.
"I'd buy organic food but I don't know where..." I took ten minutes this
morning to search for sources of organic food. The dart (sorry, should have
said tiny spear) I threw at my wall map happened to land in Michigan (see?
haven't lost my sense of humour!). The Zen Sheep farm in Zeeland ships
certified organic lamb overnight anywhere in the US. Dietz Creek Farm in
Williamston sells certified organic lettuce, scallions, spinch, chives and
herbs. As the owners of these two farms are members of the Organic Growers
of Michigan, they could no doubt steer interested parties to local sources
of other organic products. The same ten minute time-investment would yield
similar results for other states. For one-stop shoppers, Diamond Organics
www.diamondorganics.com/order.html) ships certified organic greens, fruits,
mushrooms and sprouts throughout the US. If you truly want organic food,
you can obtain it with relatively small effort.
Enjoy the results of the Neanderthin diet. But unless you are eating
organic food and drastically reducing your non-food consumption of
commercial agriculture's products and by-products, don't think for one
moment that you are not contributing in full to agriculture's devastation of
our environment and our health. And in the process, repeating the
agricultural history that seemingly-informed Paleolists are so quick to
revile. When you consume a product, you create demand. When you create
demand, it is not only unfair but hypocritical to lay blame on the people
who give you exactly what you ask for. If you're not part of the
solution....you know the rest. I wish you all good health and happiness and
bid you farewell.
Chris
A Proud Farmer
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