Dear AgWeb,
I’m a farmer in southern Minnesota. These things that [Proposition #2 - Standards for Confining Farm Animals] is requiring will make food production go up, the bottom line cost is that you are going to pay for it. (“Oprah: Rare Look into American Farms,” Oct. 15) The American farmer has nobody to spread the cost too. He is at the bottom of the food chain.
Go into a furrowing barn for hogs. They are treated very well. Even some barns are air conditioned.
There is a push for organic farming. Here’s fuel for thought: It takes 3-4 acres of organic farming to 1 acre conventional farming to grow the same amount of food. And the funny thing is they charge more for it. The crop I sell is free of bugs and weeds. We have a few organic farmers in my area. Their farms are all weeds. My question is how healthy is that? Me, I use very little chemicals. Use only what I need. We are stewards of the land. We need to take care of it for further generations.
My question is how bad do you want food that is safe to eat? I have seen a chicken farm that is organic. The chickens are walking around and laying their eggs any place. It takes twice as long to pick the eggs and clean them than a regular barn.
It comes down to how much more money the general pubic wants to spend on food. The United States prides its self on cheap food. Test the food from other nations and you find a whole new basket of worms.
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