The farmers and ranchers of the United States need to get back to producing food for consumers and quit producing commodities for corporate-dominated markets that do not pay them a fair price for the commodities they produce. Farmers and ranchers need a guaranteed cost of production plus cost of living. We often give up quality in taste for the quality that the packers and processors want. Take the beef industry for example. Back in the 1970's we were told by the land grant universities and the extension offices that we needed to implant our yearlings with an artificial implant that would make them grow faster and thus more pounds quicker met a larger profit sooner. So the ranchers did what they were told and started implanting their yearlings. Soon we were implanting the calves, then another implant in the fall when they were weaned and then again when they went into the feedlots. More pounds faster and more uniform animals is what we were told to produce. Well, guess what? We did all that for the packers, not the consumer. The "quality" we were told to produce was for the packers’ slaughtering facilities, so they could spend up their chains and kill more animals faster in their plants. So to meet packer quality we gave up consumers’ quality. And we as ranchers gave up a decent price for the best we could raise.I heard at a convention that we haven't produced enough beef in the U.S. to meet consumer demand since the early 1950's. And yet when I attend the NCBA convention they are always telling me the export market is what we need to raise prices. I once asked the president to clarify the fact that we import more in pounds of beef than we export - BUT - we export more in dollars than we import. Thus common sense would tell us that we are exporting our quality beef to the higher markets and importing the cheaper beef to feed the American consumers who don't have any way of knowing what they are buying. Boy, did his face get red, and he wouldn't answer to my comment until several other producers followed up with the same question, and then he finally confirmed what I had said. I know that farmers are producing massive amounts of commodities that consumers no longer have confidence in eating. Genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) are the tip of the iceberg for scaring consumers and causing a massive shift in how consumers view the agricultural community. We as farmers hear that we are overproducing and that is why markets are cheap, and then we hear that we have to have GMO's to feed the world. We also hear that we are losing massive amounts of farm land and that we have to produce more an acre to meet demand. Well which is it – are we over producing or do we need GMO's? GMO's are doing to the grain markets what the implants did to the beef markets. GMO's help farmers to raise more in volume for the processors to have for processing and keeping their plants running with cheap commodities, not a better product for the consumer. Well, to all this I say if I am wrong then why do the corporate agribusinesses fight any type of labeling bill that would allow consumers to choose? Sue Jarrett is and independent family rancher for the eastern plains of Colorado. She has been a notable activist the last three years fighting corporate hog factories. Sue ran for the state senate in 1998 and was instrumental in helping pass amendment 14, a ballot initiative to regulate the large-scale hog facilities to protect the water and air. Sue was selected to participate on the EPA small business panel in regards to the effluent guidelines under review this past year. Sue was appointed to the USDA Advisory Committee on Small Farms by Secretary Glickman and was selected Vice-co-chair at the first meeting in January 2000. |
