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Agriculture Is One of the Most Polluting and Dangerous Industries

Industrial ag supplies most of our food, yet its lack of regulation may be more of a threat than Wall Street's.
May 11, 2009  |  
 
 
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The following is by Will Allen, author of The War on Bugs.

Taxpayers are demanding that government enforce existing regulations and create more stringent rules to limit the excess and greed in banking, insurance, housing, and on Wall Street. But, in the rush to regulate, we can't forget to oversee industrial agriculture. It is one of our most polluting and dangerous industries. Like the financial sectors, its practices have not been well regulated for the last thirty years. Let me run down a few of the major problems that have developed because of our poorly regulated U.S. agriculture.

Carbon Foot Print: The U.S. EPA estimated in 2007 that agriculture in the U.S. was responsible for about 18% of our carbon footprint, which is huge because the U.S. is the largest polluter in the world. This should include (but doesn't) the manufacture and use of pesticides and fertilizers, fuel and oil for tractors, equipment, trucking and shipping, electricity for lighting, cooling, and heating, and emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other green house gases. Unfortunately, the EPA estimate of 18% still doesn't include a large portion of the fuel, the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, some of the nitrous oxide, all of the CFCs and bromines, and most of the transport emissions. When they are counted, agriculture's share of the U.S. carbon footprint will be at least 25 to 30%.

Oftentimes we see all greenhouse gasses as being equivalent to carbon dioxide (CO2). But, methane emissions are 21 times and nitrous oxides 310 times more damaging as greenhouse gasses than CO2. Since agriculture is one of the largest producers of methane and nitrous oxide, the extent of the agricultural impact is staggering. Unless we change our bad habits of food production and long distance delivery, we will not be able to deal with climate change.

Fertilizer Pollution/Dead Zones: Factory farming is polluting the ground, river, and ocean water with high amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other fertilizers. High levels of nitrates and nitrites were found in twenty-five thousand community wells that provided drinking water to two thirds of the nation's population. More than fifteen million people in two hundred eighty communities are drinking water with phosphorous or phosphates which mostly come from industrial farming operations.

Nitrate and phosphorous fertilizer runoff flow into the rivers and ultimately end up in the ocean.  The river water rides up over the heavier salt water when it reaches the ocean and algae blooms develop on the fertilizer rich water. When the algae die, the bacteria use up all of the oxygen in decomposing them. This creates an oxygen dead (or hypoxic) zone. In 1995, scientists identified 60 dead zones around the world.

Recent results published in 2008 identified 405 oceanic dead zones. The prime cause for dead zones is the use of highly soluble synthetic fertilizers, which are overused to obtain maximum yields. The government regulations on the total maximum daily load (tmdl) of synthetic nitrogen, or phosphorous fertilizer coming off of farms were established under the Clean Water Act. But those statutes are routinely not enforced. There are exceptions, but in general the regulators have been in a thirty-year coma.

Pesticides in Water: In addition to fertilizer pollution of our food and water, high amounts of pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones are also in the food, soil, water, and air. More than twelve thousand wells that provide water to 100 million people have arsenic or lead concentrations above the health based limits established by the U.S.EPA. Arsenic has been used on crops in the U.S. since 1867 and lead-arsenic since 1890. Arsenic is still widely used today on turf crops, corn, soy, and cotton as an herbicide or defoliant. The EPA, FDA, USDA and almost all state agencies, however, do not even keep good track of arsenic use. It is hard to regulate when you don't know how much is being used.

While we don't know how much was used, we do know that nearly 30 million people in the U.S. are drinking water contaminated with Atrazine, Simazine, Telone II, 2,4-D, or 2,4,5-T. All of these chemicals are related to DDT and were first sold in the 1940s, after they were developed in World War II. Simazine and 2,4,5-T had their EPA registrations cancelled more than twenty years ago because they were so deadly; yet millions of people in the U.S. still drink water contaminated with these two terrible war toys.  All these DDT relatives caused cancer and multiple birth defects in tests on laboratory animals. They continue today to greatly damage bird populations in farm country.


Will Allen is the author of The War on Bugs. He has been farming organically since 1972 in Oregon, California, and Vermont, where he now co-manages Cedar Circle Farm.
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What the rest of the world can do
Posted by: akai ringo on May 11, 2009 7:33 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It is of course entirely up to individual Americans and American states whether or not they decide to change their policies and practices. In terms of policies on the environment and agriculture, I have seen no signs at federal level that Obama is any different from Bush, but perhaps I have missed something. What we in the rest of the world can and, if we agree with the logic of this article, should do is stop buying American food imports. Here in Japan, this has already happened to a large extent with American beef, the market for which has been taken over almost entirely by Austrialia, and there is no reason why this could not happen with pork and vegetables. Perhaps a decline in profits would give a stimulus to reform.

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Exploit the capitalist way to your end
Posted by: xvictor on May 11, 2009 8:13 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The industrial ag interests is merely supplying the demand. Don't give 'em an excuse to expand their overly-large operations even more. It's YOU, the consumer, who has to change.

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BAILOUT PUTS WIPES OUT SMALL/MED AGRI-BUSINESS SECTOR
Posted by: SassyFrassy on May 11, 2009 9:17 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
it is important to SEEK legislative and LEGAL means to kick out STIMULUS and BAILOUT. the momentary re-bound in market is a TEMPORARY re-inflation bubble that GEIGHTNER AND DEMS have created and WHEN it bursts it will be WORSE than the FIRST.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN? the marketplace will be MONOPOLIZED and DOMINATED BY A FEW BIG AGRI-BUSINESS AND BUS and the PUBLIC will be forced to buy foods only grown with PESTICIDES and GMO seeds which have NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE and WASH DC SLUGS have actually had bills to want to make it ILLEGAL FOR ANYONE to grow produce for themselves or for anyone.

this would be a serious problem for those with allergy/asthma as they rely on healthy organic foods because there will be no small bus/med bus allowed and no organic foods allowed to be grown.

To the present it's only one of the 1 % group of people attempting to destroy our Nation's economic systems.

WHY? It was said to a WASH DC VIP-that the reason the Socialists think they will win this time and are doing this is because ACLU and their DEMS SLUGS - they don't think American's are " smart enough" to care to let their fingers do the walking to protect their lands, their CONSTITUTION or their freedoms. The DEMS and ACLU don't think the 99% of American's will be 'smart enough" to CARE about their country, their homes, their small business enough to kick the WASH DC SLUGS out and send them packing by way of Balagovich for NOT doing what is right to protect PUBLIC freedoms and the free enterprise system (ie meaning small business/med business) and rights.

see American Center for law and Justice & stoptheaclu.com & farm to consumer legal defense

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Please Don't Eat the Animals
Posted by: vasumurti on May 11, 2009 9:37 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The following quotes, facts, figures, and statistics are excerpted from Please Don't Eat the Animals (2007) by Jennifer Horsman and Jaime Flowers:

"A reduction in beef and other meat consumption is the most potent single act you can take to halt the destruction of our environment and preserve our natural resources. Our choices do matter: What's healthiest for each of us personally is also healthiest for the life support system of our precious, but wounded planet."

---John Robbins, author, Diet for a New America, and President, EarthSave Foundation

One study puts animal waste in the United States to between 2.4 trillion to 3.9 trillion pounds per year. The United states produces 15,000 pounds of manure per person. This is 130 times the amount of waste produced by the entire human population of the United States.

A 1,000-cow dairy can produce approximately 120,000 pounds of waste per day. This is the functional equivalent of the amount of sanitary waste produced by a city of 20,000 people.

A 20,000-chicken factory produces about 2.4 million pounds of manure a year. Poultry factories are one of the fastest growing industries throughout Asia.

One pig excretes nearly three gallons of waste per day, or 2.5 times the average human's daily total. One hog farm with 50,000 pigs in France produces more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles, and some pig farms are much larger.

Factory farm pollution is the primary source of damage to coastal waters in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Scientists report that over sixty percent of the coastal waters in the United States are moderately to severely degraded from factory farm nutrient pollution. This pollution creates oxygen-depleted dead zones, which are huge areas of ocean devoid of aquatic life.

Meat production causes deforestation, which then contributes to global warming. Trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, and the destruction of forests around the globe to make room for grazing cattle furthers the greenhouse effect. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations reports that the annual rate of tropical deforestation has increased from 9 million hectares in 1980 to 16.8 million hectares in 1990, and unfortunately, this destruction has accelerated since then. By 1994, a staggering 200 million hectares of rainforest had been destroyed in South America just for cattle.

"The impact of countless hooves and mouths over the years has done more to alter the type of vegetation and land forms of the West than all the water projects, strip mines, power plants, freeways, and sub-division developments combined."

---Philip Fradkin, in Audubon, National Audubon Society, New York

Agricultural meat production generates air pollution. As manure decomposes, it releases over 400 volatile organic compounds, many of which are extremely harmful to human health. Nitrogen, a major by-product of animal wastes, changes to ammonia as it escapes into the air, and this is a major source of acid rain. Worldwide, livestock produce over 30 million tons of ammonia. Hydrogen sulfide, another chemical released from animal waste, can cause irreversible neurological damage, even at low levels.

The World Conservation Union lists over 1,000 different fish species that are threatened or endangered. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate, over 60 percent of the world's fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. Commercial fish populations of cod, hake, haddock, and flounder have fallen by as much as 95 percent in the north Atlantic.

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And Yet
Posted by: throck on May 11, 2009 9:37 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We live in one of the few nations in the world where the "poor" people are fat.

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Please Don't Eat the Animals (cont'd)
Posted by: vasumurti on May 11, 2009 9:39 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The following quotes, facts, figures, and statistics are excerpted from Please Don't Eat the Animals (2007) by Jennifer Horsman and Jaime Flowers:

The United States and Europe lose several billion tons of topsoil each year from cropland and grazing land, and 84 percent of this erosion is caused by livestock agriculture. While this soil is theoretically a renewable resource, we are losing soil at a much faster rate than we are able to replace it. It takes 100 to 500 years to produce one inch of topsoil, but due to livestock grazing and feeding, farming areas can lose up to six inches of topsoil a year.

Livestock production affects a startling 70 to 85 percent of the land area of the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union. That includes the public and private rangeland used for grazing, as well as the land used to produce the crops that feed the animals. By comparison, urbanization only affects 3 percent of the United States land area, slightly larger for the European Union and the United Kingdom. Meat production consumes the world's land resources.

Half of all fresh water worldwide is used for thirsty livestock. Producing eight ounces of beef requires an unimaginable 25,000 liters of water, or the water necessary for one pound of steak equals the water consumption of the average household for a year.

The United States government spends $10 million each year to kill an estimated 100,000 wild animals, including coyotes, foxes, bobcats, badgers, bears, and mountain lions just to placate ranchers who don't want these animals killing their livestock. The cost far outweighs the damage to livestock that these predators cause.

The Worldwatch Institute estimates one pound of steak from a steer raised in a feedlot costs: five pounds of grain, a whopping 2,500 gallons of water, the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline, and about 34 pounds of topsoil.

33 percent of our nation's raw materials and fossil fuels go into livestock destined for slaughter. In a vegan economy, only 2 percent of our resources will go to the production of food.

"It seems disingenuous for the intellectual elite of the first world to dwell on the subject of too many babies being born in the second- and third-world nations while virtually ignoring the overpopulation of cattle and the realities of a food chain that robs the poor of sustenance to feed the rich a steady diet of grain-fed meat."

---Jeremy Rifkin, author, Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture, and president of the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation

Lester Brown of the Overseas Development Council calculates that if Americans reduced their meat consumption by only 10 percent per year, it would free at least 12 million tons of grain for human consumption--or enough to feed 60 million people.

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» Re Steers Posted by: Jarmadi

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unfreeinus
Posted by: losingmyliberties on May 12, 2009 4:58 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What about all those people in towns and cities,spraying and applying all those chemicals to there lawns. Lawn mowers,weed whips,and leaf blowers,are all used responsible and don't do any harm to the planet.

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if we don't buy it...
Posted by: veggiegrrrl on May 12, 2009 6:50 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
if we don't buy it...the powers that be will stop producing it... vote your conscience with your dollars...make a choice every day with your fork and your plate.

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» RE: I agree veggiegrrrl. Posted by: Quist

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The biggest threat in history, to the planet & its people -Monsanto!
Posted by: outlook on May 12, 2009 7:14 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A well researched and enlightening article which will be read by an interested few. It will fail to educate the 'Wall-Marters' and the 'Wall Streeters'

We are in urgent need of some bold individuals to set up an international web-site; based on the model created by, the excellent protest web-site, 'Avaaz'

I agree, this is a problem which affects all life on earth and the earth itself. Monsanto is responsible for the impoverishment and the suicides of thousand of farmers in the third world; we in the west are being poisoned, the planet is being polluted, the bees are disappearing and we are losing diversity. We need to think 'too big to be sustainable' and let go of the idea of 'too big to fail'

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This article is a huge improvement over that Kathy Freston idit
Posted by: AdamG on May 12, 2009 9:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's no surprise that agriculture makes up such a big portion of Americans pollution, it is our most intimate interface with the environment, after all.

Food and agriculuture needs to get back to a personable scale where people can actually see and understand the ramifications of their actions. Otherwise, it is all abstract and no matter how much information we are given, we will eventually make decisions based on what we can hold and see, money.

While backyard gardens and community gardens are a part of the solution, so are medium sized diverse production oriented farms. I don't want to go back to a hand to mouth system and I don't think we need to. If we want to have people continue to make some of the techno-glitzy things that do have appropriate uses (like PV's) we need people to grow food so they don't have to.

Hopefully with the freedom of not having to find a paycheck for awhile-Will Allen was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship-we will see more articles from him.

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More Food for Thought
Posted by: stellabloo on May 12, 2009 9:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Another huge source of drinking water pollution is untreated runoff from slaughterhouses and feedlots. Even in areas with stringent requirements for regular wastewater treatment, untreated animal waste flows directly into creeks and lakes. Drinking water contaminated by cattle feces was directly responsible for the infamous e. coli fatalities in Walkerton Ontario, not to mention the thousands of cases of cryptosporidium - including the 1993 outbreak in Milwaukee that infected 400 000 people and killed over a hundred.

I would also like to mention that the feeding practices that led to emergence of Mad Cow disease in bovines AND humans have NOT been changed in North America - we are still feeding our livestock the rendered remains of slaughtered animals. For example, veal calves are fed a blood serum derivative because it's cheaper than a milk-based product. This is obviously a dangerous practice and I would like to remind everyone that Mad Cow mutated over to the elk and deer populations (thanks to these same feeding practices being used on the popular game farms of the 80's). "Mad Deer" or Chronic Wasting Disease now affects thousands of wild animals and poses a very real risk to any hunter in the lower 48 who thinks they can sidestep Big Agribusiness with "organic" wild meat. Alzheimer's, in many ways identical to Creuzfeld-Jakob (aka Mad Cow aka scrapies aka CWD) is a silent epidemic of our times and both Big Pharma and the government are unwilling to explore this potential link.

On the bright side, a new process has been invented which extracts the phosphorus and nitrogen from HUMAN waste and turns it into odorless fertilizer pellets. Brilliant. We need more of this kind of practical research but I'm thinking that if it doesn't have a huge commercial or military application, it won't become a priority.

Along that line, I had an environmental law prof who was actually a physicist specializing in acoustics. He was doing a lecture tour at some major american universities about a fascinating new technology that could break down molecules by ultrasound. His thought was that toxic waste such as persistent pesticides could be effectively and permanently treated by breaking up the component molecules into their constituent elements. That was 1996. This same technology since disappeared into the black hole of time - except that the Building 7 collapsed 5 years later at the same time as the World Trade Towers with no evidence of explosive detonators. Now, I'm not a conspiracist in any sense and I don't have a tinfoil hat - I'm just saying we have the technology to do this. We do have the technology to usher in a sustainable future too, would that we would get on with it instead of perpetuating the same old bullshit :.?

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They also get alot of government subsidies.
Posted by: travelertoo on May 12, 2009 9:38 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only that but they pay no local or state tax. They just show their tax exeption card and on any purchase for their farm or anything to do with their farm they aren't charged tax. Also diesel for tractors is exempt from the tax everyone else has to pay which can add up to alot per gallon. Most of these 'farmers' have big operations of many square miles of land. I'm sure there are many other government handouts that I don't know about because I'm not a farmer.

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Community Supported Agriculture
Posted by: needlefoot on May 12, 2009 12:55 PM   
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This morning I sent off an email to a local farm that practices organic and sustainable farming. I am going to purchase a share in this farm's crops. I had been thinking about this for awhile, but it wasn't until after I had read Michael Pollan's IN DEFENSE OF FOOD that I figured I needed to follow through. After making the decision, I wandered over to my local supermarket. I checked out the organic vegetables. Most were from Mexico and Canada. In other words - NOT LOCAL.

The CSA program will provide both ORGANIC and LOCAL produce. I think that produce will look a lot better on my table than some of the stuff I have been putting there. Later, when I have had the time to research the ranches in this area and saved enough money to purchase a small freezer, I will choose a meat producer who practices sustainable farming and fill the new freezer.

This is my choice, based on my belief that organic and sustainable farming is far, far better for the environment. Being a recovering supermarket addict, I will view this as an adventure - a voyage of discovery.

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CSAs rock
Posted by: Drclaw on May 12, 2009 1:17 PM   
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join one if you can-or at the very least, find a local farmer's market. You'll support small and medium size local farmers who generally do things organically and more sustainably. You'll increase your local crop diversity, which is a good thing. You'll be safeguarding your food supply. You'll enjoy the benefits of fresher, tasier produce, cheese, and meats (if you like), and you'll learn to cook with the seasons again. I've been doing this for about 5 years now, and besides all the above, I get challenged by cooking things I'd normally not buy and have learned alot about cooking (despite being pretty good at it already).

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This could come to an end real fast
Posted by: ReallyBearish on May 12, 2009 1:46 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The problem for big ag is that it was built on cheap energy. Once peak oil is passed the foundation for big ag crumbles. At that point small farms become far more energy efficient and a better business model than big inefficient ag.

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Please provide your sources
Posted by: dfb on May 12, 2009 2:03 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm with you man but please provide a bibliography, even if hosted elsewhere. Links to reports online would be most appreciated.

For example, I know that DDT is still found in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers Delta because the latest Delta Smelt Biological Opinion (BiOp)says so.
http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/delta_update.htm
http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/ documents/SWP-CVP_OPs_BO_12-15_final_OCR.pdf

I only know that because I read the BiOp. This is the first I've read about some of the other claims you make. I'm sure I am not alone. A bibliography will provide support for your assertions.

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Now I'm ROARING with ANGER. Get that damn title correct !
Posted by: maxpayne on May 12, 2009 2:31 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's not agriculture that's the most polluting industries. It's agri-business (in this case in the form of overuse of corn, fossil fuels, and water along with bad labor and environmental practices) that's killing the planet ! Small farmers aren't the culprits ! GOD !

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American Ag is the best in the world!
Posted by: AJR Journal on May 12, 2009 4:12 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Fewer farmers feed more people than ever before.
American agriculture is a miracle of human ingenuity.
From hybridization and plant nutrition to animal husbandry and animal health, food production in this country has never been more efficient, humane, and wonderfully diverse.
As a result, Americans enjoy the most affordable, nutritious, and healthful diet in the World.
This is SUCH a great age to live in!

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AGRIBUSINESS IS THE ENEMY NOT OUR FAMILY FARM & RANCH OPERATIONS
Posted by: joeocho88 on May 12, 2009 11:50 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Back when we had FAMILY FARMS and FAMILY RANCHES, things were a LOT BETTER!
Things were also better if we would follow the TRADITIONAL FARMING PRACTICES OF NATIVE AMERICANS!

BUT NOW YOU HAVE BIG AGRIBUSINESS THAT IS DESTROYING THIS PLANET. NOT THE FAMILY FARMS, and there aren't many of us left because THE BIG BOYS FINANCE PROPAGANDA ABOUT HOW MUCH HARM FAMILY FARMS ARE DOING TO THE ENVIRONMENT!

And everyone thinks it is the FAMILY FARMS that have been in the family for hundreds of years being careful to produce meat and vegetables FREE FROM INSECTICIDES, STEROIDS AND HARMFUL HORMONES -- ANYTHING THAT IS HAZARDOUS!

The AGRIBUSINESS MONSTERS WOULD LIKE TO SEE US SMALLER ORGANIC FARMERS OUT OF BUSINESS because people would rather buy our much HEALTHIER GROWN PRODUCE AND MEAT!

So before you city slickers say too much about agriculture you all better get your facts straight.

THERE IS A LOT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR FAMILY FARM and the hellish factory farms that are using the HARMFUL PESTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND HYBRID PLANT MONSTERS SOME
washingtonpost dot com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101495
OF WHICH ALLEGEDLY HAVE HUMAN GENES MIXED IN THEM!
usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-02-biopharm-apps-up_x.htm
How much longer before we are consuming human beings?
IT"S NOT MY FAMILY FARM THAT IS DOING THIS RESEARCH!

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adriana signer
Posted by: adrianaweaver on May 13, 2009 7:27 AM   
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Thank you for writing this article. Personaly think everyone should see the article because most people are clueless about how their food reaches the table. They are unaware of the processes and risks invloved in it's production.They have no idea how dangerous chemical drift can be to their own health.Strongly feel taking a hard look at current agriculture practices is long overdue.
The subject matter is something I feel incredibly strongly about. I grew up in a small southwest Ohio farm towm.Farm country is truely beautiful.Loved living there. My first 2 jobs were on farms.Miles of corn and soybean fields were near my home as well as several orchards and an assorted variety of livestock. As such have seen first hand the effects of agriculture chemicals.
Can actualy recognize the chemicals being sprayed by their smell and what the recent weather conditions have been.Have no problem at all with responsable agriculture methods however our current use practices are anything but responsable.
I am a strong advocate of using methods which focus on sustainability. A balance has to be reached between producing food efficiently and cost effectively but not destroying the environment and people's health.
Those who work in agriculture must also be taken into account.They depend on those jobs to live. One cannot protect the environment but sacrifice jobs. People have to earn a living. However destroying the environment and our health simply to allow us to eat and keep people employed is equally unacceptable.Our great challenge is reaching solutions which neglect none of the issues.

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Watching "Corporate America" all these years . . .
Posted by: Walks-in-Storms on May 14, 2009 7:06 AM   
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Watching the corporations all these years, one can be surprised either that big business got control of agriculture or that once the CEOs were in charge, they threw the public's interests onto the manure piles once used to fertilize land?

Here in South Texas, we're fighting to save ourselves from the uranium miners and nuclear power plant corporations who like the agribusiness corporations - in most instances, actually all the same people - who have the Pinto Rule for their modus operandi. We're going to lose, because the corporations here are able to outspend the taxpayers in an entire county - that including, even, the bribes necessary.

What is amazing is that all the people who own stock in these Frankenstein Monster legal creations will support their own destruction by cancer, leukemia, and all the results of irradiation. It's capitalism, you know, their religion.

The rest of us are just "collateral damage" in the class war. Whew! What a "democracy!"

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Agri business vs. family farm
Posted by: jskidgel on May 19, 2009 11:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'd like to know what the definition of agri business is? What are corporate farms? I work for a family farm. We farm 3500 acres (over 7000 crop acres) and I feel like we are targeted as a corporate farm. But in truth it is the third generation that is farming and running a business that has been in farming for 35 years. Isn't that what all family farmers want? Success. Don’t they want to see their children and their hard work continue and their farm to be successful? I work on food safety, pesticide safety, environmental, air, and water quality issues. There is so much paper work and yes, it would be very difficult for a few man operations to meet all these requirements and keep up with the amount of regulations we already have in place. Point being that agriculture is already a heavily regulated industry. Would more regulations really make us safer?? Does a bigger government really help the people being governed?? As far as organic farming goes it is a choice. Vote with your dollar. We farm convention and organic ground. I eat both the convention and organic food we produce. I don’t think one is better than the other. I know that both types of farming are safe. I feel that if we all had to convert our farming practices to organic that there would be a lot of hungry people in the world. Organic farmers know that their inputs are very expensive, they use a lot of hand labor (weeding), the cost of the food they produce is more or they would not be able to continue farming. Food produced in the US is the safety food around. The US has much more stringent regulations on safety (both for the workers and the inputs used) than most other countries.

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What the rest of the world can do
Posted by: akai ringo on May 11, 2009 7:33 PM   
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It is of course entirely up to individual Americans and American states whether or not they decide to change their policies and practices. In terms of policies on the environment and agriculture, I have seen no signs at federal level that Obama is any different from Bush, but perhaps I have missed something. What we in the rest of the world can and, if we agree with the logic of this article, should do is stop buying American food imports. Here in Japan, this has already happened to a large extent with American beef, the market for which has been taken over almost entirely by Austrialia, and there is no reason why this could not happen with pork and vegetables. Perhaps a decline in profits would give a stimulus to reform.

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Exploit the capitalist way to your end
Posted by: xvictor on May 11, 2009 8:13 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The industrial ag interests is merely supplying the demand. Don't give 'em an excuse to expand their overly-large operations even more. It's YOU, the consumer, who has to change.

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BAILOUT PUTS WIPES OUT SMALL/MED AGRI-BUSINESS SECTOR
Posted by: SassyFrassy on May 11, 2009 9:17 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
it is important to SEEK legislative and LEGAL means to kick out STIMULUS and BAILOUT. the momentary re-bound in market is a TEMPORARY re-inflation bubble that GEIGHTNER AND DEMS have created and WHEN it bursts it will be WORSE than the FIRST.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN? the marketplace will be MONOPOLIZED and DOMINATED BY A FEW BIG AGRI-BUSINESS AND BUS and the PUBLIC will be forced to buy foods only grown with PESTICIDES and GMO seeds which have NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE and WASH DC SLUGS have actually had bills to want to make it ILLEGAL FOR ANYONE to grow produce for themselves or for anyone.

this would be a serious problem for those with allergy/asthma as they rely on healthy organic foods because there will be no small bus/med bus allowed and no organic foods allowed to be grown.

To the present it's only one of the 1 % group of people attempting to destroy our Nation's economic systems.

WHY? It was said to a WASH DC VIP-that the reason the Socialists think they will win this time and are doing this is because ACLU and their DEMS SLUGS - they don't think American's are " smart enough" to care to let their fingers do the walking to protect their lands, their CONSTITUTION or their freedoms. The DEMS and ACLU don't think the 99% of American's will be 'smart enough" to CARE about their country, their homes, their small business enough to kick the WASH DC SLUGS out and send them packing by way of Balagovich for NOT doing what is right to protect PUBLIC freedoms and the free enterprise system (ie meaning small business/med business) and rights.

see American Center for law and Justice & stoptheaclu.com & farm to consumer legal defense

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Please Don't Eat the Animals
Posted by: vasumurti on May 11, 2009 9:37 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The following quotes, facts, figures, and statistics are excerpted from Please Don't Eat the Animals (2007) by Jennifer Horsman and Jaime Flowers:

"A reduction in beef and other meat consumption is the most potent single act you can take to halt the destruction of our environment and preserve our natural resources. Our choices do matter: What's healthiest for each of us personally is also healthiest for the life support system of our precious, but wounded planet."

---John Robbins, author, Diet for a New America, and President, EarthSave Foundation

One study puts animal waste in the United States to between 2.4 trillion to 3.9 trillion pounds per year. The United states produces 15,000 pounds of manure per person. This is 130 times the amount of waste produced by the entire human population of the United States.

A 1,000-cow dairy can produce approximately 120,000 pounds of waste per day. This is the functional equivalent of the amount of sanitary waste produced by a city of 20,000 people.

A 20,000-chicken factory produces about 2.4 million pounds of manure a year. Poultry factories are one of the fastest growing industries throughout Asia.

One pig excretes nearly three gallons of waste per day, or 2.5 times the average human's daily total. One hog farm with 50,000 pigs in France produces more waste than the entire city of Los Angeles, and some pig farms are much larger.

Factory farm pollution is the primary source of damage to coastal waters in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Scientists report that over sixty percent of the coastal waters in the United States are moderately to severely degraded from factory farm nutrient pollution. This pollution creates oxygen-depleted dead zones, which are huge areas of ocean devoid of aquatic life.

Meat production causes deforestation, which then contributes to global warming. Trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, and the destruction of forests around the globe to make room for grazing cattle furthers the greenhouse effect. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations reports that the annual rate of tropical deforestation has increased from 9 million hectares in 1980 to 16.8 million hectares in 1990, and unfortunately, this destruction has accelerated since then. By 1994, a staggering 200 million hectares of rainforest had been destroyed in South America just for cattle.

"The impact of countless hooves and mouths over the years has done more to alter the type of vegetation and land forms of the West than all the water projects, strip mines, power plants, freeways, and sub-division developments combined."

---Philip Fradkin, in Audubon, National Audubon Society, New York

Agricultural meat production generates air pollution. As manure decomposes, it releases over 400 volatile organic compounds, many of which are extremely harmful to human health. Nitrogen, a major by-product of animal wastes, changes to ammonia as it escapes into the air, and this is a major source of acid rain. Worldwide, livestock produce over 30 million tons of ammonia. Hydrogen sulfide, another chemical released from animal waste, can cause irreversible neurological damage, even at low levels.

The World Conservation Union lists over 1,000 different fish species that are threatened or endangered. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate, over 60 percent of the world's fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. Commercial fish populations of cod, hake, haddock, and flounder have fallen by as much as 95 percent in the north Atlantic.

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And Yet
Posted by: throck on May 11, 2009 9:37 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We live in one of the few nations in the world where the "poor" people are fat.

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Please Don't Eat the Animals (cont'd)
Posted by: vasumurti on May 11, 2009 9:39 PM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The following quotes, facts, figures, and statistics are excerpted from Please Don't Eat the Animals (2007) by Jennifer Horsman and Jaime Flowers:

The United States and Europe lose several billion tons of topsoil each year from cropland and grazing land, and 84 percent of this erosion is caused by livestock agriculture. While this soil is theoretically a renewable resource, we are losing soil at a much faster rate than we are able to replace it. It takes 100 to 500 years to produce one inch of topsoil, but due to livestock grazing and feeding, farming areas can lose up to six inches of topsoil a year.

Livestock production affects a startling 70 to 85 percent of the land area of the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union. That includes the public and private rangeland used for grazing, as well as the land used to produce the crops that feed the animals. By comparison, urbanization only affects 3 percent of the United States land area, slightly larger for the European Union and the United Kingdom. Meat production consumes the world's land resources.

Half of all fresh water worldwide is used for thirsty livestock. Producing eight ounces of beef requires an unimaginable 25,000 liters of water, or the water necessary for one pound of steak equals the water consumption of the average household for a year.

The United States government spends $10 million each year to kill an estimated 100,000 wild animals, including coyotes, foxes, bobcats, badgers, bears, and mountain lions just to placate ranchers who don't want these animals killing their livestock. The cost far outweighs the damage to livestock that these predators cause.

The Worldwatch Institute estimates one pound of steak from a steer raised in a feedlot costs: five pounds of grain, a whopping 2,500 gallons of water, the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline, and about 34 pounds of topsoil.

33 percent of our nation's raw materials and fossil fuels go into livestock destined for slaughter. In a vegan economy, only 2 percent of our resources will go to the production of food.

"It seems disingenuous for the intellectual elite of the first world to dwell on the subject of too many babies being born in the second- and third-world nations while virtually ignoring the overpopulation of cattle and the realities of a food chain that robs the poor of sustenance to feed the rich a steady diet of grain-fed meat."

---Jeremy Rifkin, author, Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture, and president of the Greenhouse Crisis Foundation

Lester Brown of the Overseas Development Council calculates that if Americans reduced their meat consumption by only 10 percent per year, it would free at least 12 million tons of grain for human consumption--or enough to feed 60 million people.

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» Re Steers Posted by: Jarmadi

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unfreeinus
Posted by: losingmyliberties on May 12, 2009 4:58 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What about all those people in towns and cities,spraying and applying all those chemicals to there lawns. Lawn mowers,weed whips,and leaf blowers,are all used responsible and don't do any harm to the planet.

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if we don't buy it...
Posted by: veggiegrrrl on May 12, 2009 6:50 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
if we don't buy it...the powers that be will stop producing it... vote your conscience with your dollars...make a choice every day with your fork and your plate.

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» RE: I agree veggiegrrrl. Posted by: Quist

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The biggest threat in history, to the planet & its people -Monsanto!
Posted by: outlook on May 12, 2009 7:14 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A well researched and enlightening article which will be read by an interested few. It will fail to educate the 'Wall-Marters' and the 'Wall Streeters'

We are in urgent need of some bold individuals to set up an international web-site; based on the model created by, the excellent protest web-site, 'Avaaz'

I agree, this is a problem which affects all life on earth and the earth itself. Monsanto is responsible for the impoverishment and the suicides of thousand of farmers in the third world; we in the west are being poisoned, the planet is being polluted, the bees are disappearing and we are losing diversity. We need to think 'too big to be sustainable' and let go of the idea of 'too big to fail'

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This article is a huge improvement over that Kathy Freston idit
Posted by: AdamG on May 12, 2009 9:00 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's no surprise that agriculture makes up such a big portion of Americans pollution, it is our most intimate interface with the environment, after all.

Food and agriculuture needs to get back to a personable scale where people can actually see and understand the ramifications of their actions. Otherwise, it is all abstract and no matter how much information we are given, we will eventually make decisions based on what we can hold and see, money.

While backyard gardens and community gardens are a part of the solution, so are medium sized diverse production oriented farms. I don't want to go back to a hand to mouth system and I don't think we need to. If we want to have people continue to make some of the techno-glitzy things that do have appropriate uses (like PV's) we need people to grow food so they don't have to.

Hopefully with the freedom of not having to find a paycheck for awhile-Will Allen was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship-we will see more articles from him.

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More Food for Thought
Posted by: stellabloo on May 12, 2009 9:32 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Another huge source of drinking water pollution is untreated runoff from slaughterhouses and feedlots. Even in areas with stringent requirements for regular wastewater treatment, untreated animal waste flows directly into creeks and lakes. Drinking water contaminated by cattle feces was directly responsible for the infamous e. coli fatalities in Walkerton Ontario, not to mention the thousands of cases of cryptosporidium - including the 1993 outbreak in Milwaukee that infected 400 000 people and killed over a hundred.

I would also like to mention that the feeding practices that led to emergence of Mad Cow disease in bovines AND humans have NOT been changed in North America - we are still feeding our livestock the rendered remains of slaughtered animals. For example, veal calves are fed a blood serum derivative because it's cheaper than a milk-based product. This is obviously a dangerous practice and I would like to remind everyone that Mad Cow mutated over to the elk and deer populations (thanks to these same feeding practices being used on the popular game farms of the 80's). "Mad Deer" or Chronic Wasting Disease now affects thousands of wild animals and poses a very real risk to any hunter in the lower 48 who thinks they can sidestep Big Agribusiness with "organic" wild meat. Alzheimer's, in many ways identical to Creuzfeld-Jakob (aka Mad Cow aka scrapies aka CWD) is a silent epidemic of our times and both Big Pharma and the government are unwilling to explore this potential link.

On the bright side, a new process has been invented which extracts the phosphorus and nitrogen from HUMAN waste and turns it into odorless fertilizer pellets. Brilliant. We need more of this kind of practical research but I'm thinking that if it doesn't have a huge commercial or military application, it won't become a priority.

Along that line, I had an environmental law prof who was actually a physicist specializing in acoustics. He was doing a lecture tour at some major american universities about a fascinating new technology that could break down molecules by ultrasound. His thought was that toxic waste such as persistent pesticides could be effectively and permanently treated by breaking up the component molecules into their constituent elements. That was 1996. This same technology since disappeared into the black hole of time - except that the Building 7 collapsed 5 years later at the same time as the World Trade Towers with no evidence of explosive detonators. Now, I'm not a conspiracist in any sense and I don't have a tinfoil hat - I'm just saying we have the technology to do this. We do have the technology to usher in a sustainable future too, would that we would get on with it instead of perpetuating the same old bullshit :.?

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They also get alot of government subsidies.
Posted by: travelertoo on May 12, 2009 9:38 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not only that but they pay no local or state tax. They just show their tax exeption card and on any purchase for their farm or anything to do with their farm they aren't charged tax. Also diesel for tractors is exempt from the tax everyone else has to pay which can add up to alot per gallon. Most of these 'farmers' have big operations of many square miles of land. I'm sure there are many other government handouts that I don't know about because I'm not a farmer.

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Community Supported Agriculture
Posted by: needlefoot on May 12, 2009 12:55 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This morning I sent off an email to a local farm that practices organic and sustainable farming. I am going to purchase a share in this farm's crops. I had been thinking about this for awhile, but it wasn't until after I had read Michael Pollan's IN DEFENSE OF FOOD that I figured I needed to follow through. After making the decision, I wandered over to my local supermarket. I checked out the organic vegetables. Most were from Mexico and Canada. In other words - NOT LOCAL.

The CSA program will provide both ORGANIC and LOCAL produce. I think that produce will look a lot better on my table than some of the stuff I have been putting there. Later, when I have had the time to research the ranches in this area and saved enough money to purchase a small freezer, I will choose a meat producer who practices sustainable farming and fill the new freezer.

This is my choice, based on my belief that organic and sustainable farming is far, far better for the environment. Being a recovering supermarket addict, I will view this as an adventure - a voyage of discovery.

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CSAs rock
Posted by: Drclaw on May 12, 2009 1:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
join one if you can-or at the very least, find a local farmer's market. You'll support small and medium size local farmers who generally do things organically and more sustainably. You'll increase your local crop diversity, which is a good thing. You'll be safeguarding your food supply. You'll enjoy the benefits of fresher, tasier produce, cheese, and meats (if you like), and you'll learn to cook with the seasons again. I've been doing this for about 5 years now, and besides all the above, I get challenged by cooking things I'd normally not buy and have learned alot about cooking (despite being pretty good at it already).

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This could come to an end real fast
Posted by: ReallyBearish on May 12, 2009 1:46 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The problem for big ag is that it was built on cheap energy. Once peak oil is passed the foundation for big ag crumbles. At that point small farms become far more energy efficient and a better business model than big inefficient ag.

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Please provide your sources
Posted by: dfb on May 12, 2009 2:03 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm with you man but please provide a bibliography, even if hosted elsewhere. Links to reports online would be most appreciated.

For example, I know that DDT is still found in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers Delta because the latest Delta Smelt Biological Opinion (BiOp)says so.
http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/delta_update.htm
http://www.fws.gov/sacramento/es/ documents/SWP-CVP_OPs_BO_12-15_final_OCR.pdf

I only know that because I read the BiOp. This is the first I've read about some of the other claims you make. I'm sure I am not alone. A bibliography will provide support for your assertions.

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Now I'm ROARING with ANGER. Get that damn title correct !
Posted by: maxpayne on May 12, 2009 2:31 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's not agriculture that's the most polluting industries. It's agri-business (in this case in the form of overuse of corn, fossil fuels, and water along with bad labor and environmental practices) that's killing the planet ! Small farmers aren't the culprits ! GOD !

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American Ag is the best in the world!
Posted by: AJR Journal on May 12, 2009 4:12 PM   
Current rating: 3    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Fewer farmers feed more people than ever before.
American agriculture is a miracle of human ingenuity.
From hybridization and plant nutrition to animal husbandry and animal health, food production in this country has never been more efficient, humane, and wonderfully diverse.
As a result, Americans enjoy the most affordable, nutritious, and healthful diet in the World.
This is SUCH a great age to live in!

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AGRIBUSINESS IS THE ENEMY NOT OUR FAMILY FARM & RANCH OPERATIONS
Posted by: joeocho88 on May 12, 2009 11:50 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Back when we had FAMILY FARMS and FAMILY RANCHES, things were a LOT BETTER!
Things were also better if we would follow the TRADITIONAL FARMING PRACTICES OF NATIVE AMERICANS!

BUT NOW YOU HAVE BIG AGRIBUSINESS THAT IS DESTROYING THIS PLANET. NOT THE FAMILY FARMS, and there aren't many of us left because THE BIG BOYS FINANCE PROPAGANDA ABOUT HOW MUCH HARM FAMILY FARMS ARE DOING TO THE ENVIRONMENT!

And everyone thinks it is the FAMILY FARMS that have been in the family for hundreds of years being careful to produce meat and vegetables FREE FROM INSECTICIDES, STEROIDS AND HARMFUL HORMONES -- ANYTHING THAT IS HAZARDOUS!

The AGRIBUSINESS MONSTERS WOULD LIKE TO SEE US SMALLER ORGANIC FARMERS OUT OF BUSINESS because people would rather buy our much HEALTHIER GROWN PRODUCE AND MEAT!

So before you city slickers say too much about agriculture you all better get your facts straight.

THERE IS A LOT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR FAMILY FARM and the hellish factory farms that are using the HARMFUL PESTICIDES, FERTILIZERS AND HYBRID PLANT MONSTERS SOME
washingtonpost dot com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030101495
OF WHICH ALLEGEDLY HAVE HUMAN GENES MIXED IN THEM!
usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-02-biopharm-apps-up_x.htm
How much longer before we are consuming human beings?
IT"S NOT MY FAMILY FARM THAT IS DOING THIS RESEARCH!

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adriana signer
Posted by: adrianaweaver on May 13, 2009 7:27 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thank you for writing this article. Personaly think everyone should see the article because most people are clueless about how their food reaches the table. They are unaware of the processes and risks invloved in it's production.They have no idea how dangerous chemical drift can be to their own health.Strongly feel taking a hard look at current agriculture practices is long overdue.
The subject matter is something I feel incredibly strongly about. I grew up in a small southwest Ohio farm towm.Farm country is truely beautiful.Loved living there. My first 2 jobs were on farms.Miles of corn and soybean fields were near my home as well as several orchards and an assorted variety of livestock. As such have seen first hand the effects of agriculture chemicals.
Can actualy recognize the chemicals being sprayed by their smell and what the recent weather conditions have been.Have no problem at all with responsable agriculture methods however our current use practices are anything but responsable.
I am a strong advocate of using methods which focus on sustainability. A balance has to be reached between producing food efficiently and cost effectively but not destroying the environment and people's health.
Those who work in agriculture must also be taken into account.They depend on those jobs to live. One cannot protect the environment but sacrifice jobs. People have to earn a living. However destroying the environment and our health simply to allow us to eat and keep people employed is equally unacceptable.Our great challenge is reaching solutions which neglect none of the issues.

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Watching "Corporate America" all these years . . .
Posted by: Walks-in-Storms on May 14, 2009 7:06 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Watching the corporations all these years, one can be surprised either that big business got control of agriculture or that once the CEOs were in charge, they threw the public's interests onto the manure piles once used to fertilize land?

Here in South Texas, we're fighting to save ourselves from the uranium miners and nuclear power plant corporations who like the agribusiness corporations - in most instances, actually all the same people - who have the Pinto Rule for their modus operandi. We're going to lose, because the corporations here are able to outspend the taxpayers in an entire county - that including, even, the bribes necessary.

What is amazing is that all the people who own stock in these Frankenstein Monster legal creations will support their own destruction by cancer, leukemia, and all the results of irradiation. It's capitalism, you know, their religion.

The rest of us are just "collateral damage" in the class war. Whew! What a "democracy!"

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Agri business vs. family farm
Posted by: jskidgel on May 19, 2009 11:35 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'd like to know what the definition of agri business is? What are corporate farms? I work for a family farm. We farm 3500 acres (over 7000 crop acres) and I feel like we are targeted as a corporate farm. But in truth it is the third generation that is farming and running a business that has been in farming for 35 years. Isn't that what all family farmers want? Success. Don’t they want to see their children and their hard work continue and their farm to be successful? I work on food safety, pesticide safety, environmental, air, and water quality issues. There is so much paper work and yes, it would be very difficult for a few man operations to meet all these requirements and keep up with the amount of regulations we already have in place. Point being that agriculture is already a heavily regulated industry. Would more regulations really make us safer?? Does a bigger government really help the people being governed?? As far as organic farming goes it is a choice. Vote with your dollar. We farm convention and organic ground. I eat both the convention and organic food we produce. I don’t think one is better than the other. I know that both types of farming are safe. I feel that if we all had to convert our farming practices to organic that there would be a lot of hungry people in the world. Organic farmers know that their inputs are very expensive, they use a lot of hand labor (weeding), the cost of the food they produce is more or they would not be able to continue farming. Food produced in the US is the safety food around. The US has much more stringent regulations on safety (both for the workers and the inputs used) than most other countries.

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