Industrial Farming Is Destroying Our Health and
Environment
Sometimes
you read or hear someone in power say something so illogical and narrow-minded that it really
crystallizes the reasons why the United States is in such dire straits when it
comes to health.
Secretary of
Agriculture, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Tom
Vilsack, recently made such a statement. As reported by Politico:1
“There’s
been a lot of griping from some corners about the impact of large-scale
industrial agriculture on the environment and its sustainability, and Vilsack
is tired of it.
In
remarks to the GreenGov Symposium … the secretary said critics of conventional
farming should understand the role they play in that system as consumers.
Americans
spend about 10 percent of their income on food, thanks to the U.S. agricultural
system, while residents of other developed countries spend 20 percent. For
those in developing countries, the outlay is 50 percent.
As a
result of U.S. farmers and the efficiencies of large-scale farms, Americans
have more money in their pockets for things like housing, education and
luxuries like vacations, Vilsack said.”
In other
words, shut up about sustainability and just be happy there’s plenty of cheap
food to be had. What’s so crazy about a statement like this is the miniscule
view it takes on a subject that has extraordinarily vast ramifications for
human health and future generations.
The
High Cost of Cheap Food
Our current
agricultural model has an array of hidden costs. It takes a toll on workers and
residents in farming areas, wildlife, soil, air and water supplies; it depletes
natural resources that are non-renewable or slow to renew, and dumps toxins
into what remains.
Ultimately,
it takes a toll on the health of those who consume this denatured, contaminated
and ultra-processed food, and it threatens the very ability to continue growing
food in the future.
We’re not
even talking about some far distant future that is easy to ignore. We’re
talking about a mere 20 to 60 years in the future! According to various
scientific predictions:
- Within 60
years, the world’s topsoil may be completely lost.2
- Potable water
is quickly being depleted and becoming increasingly scarce.
- By 2050, antibiotic-resistant
infections — a health crisis directly attributable to industrial
farming — may kill 10 million people worldwide each year.3
- Phosphorus,
needed for fertilizer, may soon be completely depleted.4 Modern
fertilizer consists of varying amounts of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P)
and potassium (K). Both phosphorus and potassium, neither of which can be
synthesized, are becoming increasingly sparse.5
According to
the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative (GPRI),6 we could hit
“peak phosphorus” as early as 2030. Without these fertilizer ingredients, the
entire world would quickly be in trouble. Phosphorus in particular is critical
for healthy plant growth.
The only way
to do without these fertilizers is to radically alter the way we farm the land.
Using regenerative
farming methods, fertilizer use becomes less of a rate-limiting factor.
Yet Vilsack
is “tired” of hearing about how industrial farming hurts the planet and its
inhabitants, and he wants Americans to pipe down and thank the gods of
efficiency we can afford to take vacations with the money we save on food.
Low
Food Prices, High Medical Costs
Never mind
the fact that Americans have the lowest health rating7 in the developed world thanks to this industrial,
processed diet, and the fact that we have the most expensive health care system
in the world, even though it ranks 37th in terms of quality.8
Cheap food
is no bargain when it makes you and your children chronically ill. Nearly 38
percent of American adults9 and 17 percent
of children and adolescents10 are obese,
and this alone costs the U.S. health care system up to $210 billion each year.11
That could
pay for a lot of organic veggies, yet using Vilsack’s reasoning, you should be
happy that cheap food affords you to pay for your ill health.
Cheap food
is no bargain when it leads to the permanent “vacation” that is premature death
either, at least not for the surviving family members who have to bear the loss
of a loved one.
Remarkably,
while the global maternal mortality rate has improved, falling by more than
one-third in the past 15 years, the U.S. is one of the few countries that buck
that auspicious trend. Since 1990, the maternal death rate in the U.S. has
actually RISEN by more than 50 percent, according to the latest statistics.12
Hidden
Costs Abound
Vilsack also
stays mum on the fact that your tax dollars are used to:
•Subsidize
all this cheap corn, soy and wheat grown by industrial farms — the basic
ingredients of cheap processed food — as well as meat and dairy from
concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
Over the
past 15 years, more than $96 billion in agricultural subsidies have been handed
out to industrial farmers who pollute the environment and contribute to the
destruction of the ecosystem,13 all in the
name of efficiency.
•Promote
biotech propaganda that falsely assures you genetically engineered (GE)
foods are a boon to farmers and the food system and pose no safety concern.14,15,16
•Provide industry
farmers with crop insurance. Last year, this price tag came to a whopping $14
billion. Virtually all U.S. corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton crops are insured
under this program, and as noted by Bloomberg:17
“The
arrangement is a good deal for everyone but taxpayers. The government pays 18
approved insurance companies to run the program, pays farmers to buy coverage
and pays the bills if losses exceed predetermined limits …
Unlike
direct farm aid payments, which are capped at $40,000 per farm, there is no
limit on crop insurance subsidies … The heavily-discounted insurance
incentivizes farmers to cultivate marginal acres that may or may not be
fertile. And the program’s been vulnerable to fraud …”
Pay
Now or Pay Later
By using
your tax dollars to prop up the industrial farming system, it falsely makes
the food appear inexpensive when in reality you’re paying for it in other ways
and in other places than your grocery store.
Agricultural
subsidies are just one portion of the hidden costs you pay. There’s alsoenvironmental
cleanups, such as the removal of nitrates from drinking water, lakes and
rivers. And then, of course, there are health care costs.
Thanks to
policies that oversupply our markets with GE corn and soy, the federal
government has greatly contributed to the creation of health issues that can be
directly attributed to ingredients like corn
syrup and soybean
oil, including obesity, diabetes, immune dysfunction and autoimmune
diseases, reproductive problems, heart disease, dementia and cancer.
Glyphosate,
which is used in particularly high amounts on GE crops like corn and soy, and
on conventional wheat, makes these basic processed food ingredients even more
hazardous. In addition to being a probable human carcinogen, glyphosatepromotes
nutritional deficiencies by immobilizing certain nutrients.
It also
enhances systemic toxicity by disrupting microbial function throughout our body
and raises the damaging effects of other food-borne chemicals and environmental
toxins by shutting down detoxifying enzymes. It also decimates cellular
communication by damaging cellular tight junctions.
In Vilsack’s
eyes, none of these factors are worthy of attention, apparently. It’s really a
travesty when you consider that this “shut up and be grateful” rhetoric is
coming from one of our top agricultural leaders. Vilsack was even in the
running for vice president as Hillary Clinton’s running mate.18,19
Imagine, a
man with this simplistically one-sided view on something as holistic as food
was under consideration for the second most powerful position in the United
States.
Who
Does Vilsack Work for, Really?
Unfortunately,
Vilsack is in a position to do plenty of damage as is. The former Biotech
Governor of the Year wants the White House to create an administrator-level
food council to “coordinate the activities of the 15 different federal agencies
that address agricultural and food issues.”20 The problem
with this idea should be obvious to anyone familiar with the shortcomings and
failings of these food- and agricultural-related agencies.
What we
really need is a system that weeds out conflicts of interest and prevents
private corporations from running our federal agencies. Vilsack is but one in a
long list of people who are working both sides.
As a food
and agricultural leader, his endorsement of an ultra-processed
diet is sickening in more ways than one. These subsidized junk foods are a
primary driver of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. These potent
killers are all related to a nutrition-poor, processed food diet.
The fact of
the matter is, if taxpayer dollars were used to subsidize healthy whole foods
like organic fruits and vegetables, more people would be able to afford them,
people would be healthier in general, and health care costs would plummet. And
that gets to the heart of the matter, because many of the same corporations
that profit from toxic agriculture also profit from your ill health.
Take
Syngenta, for example. Up until the year 2000, Syngenta
not only produced atrazine — a toxic pesticide that triggers overproduction of
estrogen, thereby raising your risk of breast cancer — but also letrozol, a
chemical that blocks estrogen production and is used as a treatment for breast
cancer. So, simultaneously, Syngenta was selling an agricultural chemical that
promotes cancer, and a drug that treats it.
Now, drug
and chemical giant Bayer stands poised to merge with leading GE seed and
chemical company Monsanto, creating a corporate behemoth that will have
everything to gain from perpetuating a toxic food system. And based on
Vilsack’s history as a staunch defender and promoter of GE crops,21 he’s
unlikely to do anything to so much as slow it down.
Crop
Subsidies Feed CAFO Industry — and Drug Resistance
The same
corn and soy subsidies that plague our health are the foundation for the CAFO
production of meat and dairy. By feeding cattle this species-inappropriate
diet, they promote disease in the animals, and to counteract that, they
routinely feed the cattle antibiotics. This in turn promotes drug-resistant
bacteria, which now threatens human health like never before. The antibiotic
“apocalypse” is nearing, yet no affirmative action is being taken to stop it.
Why?
Nearly 80
percent of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are used in agriculture, yet many
in the CAFO industry still quibble about lack of evidence. In the meantime,
conservative estimates suggest 2 million Americans contract drug-resistant
infections each year and at least 23,000 die as a result.22 Yet Vilsack
wants to remind you that, thanks to industrial farming, you “only” have to
spend 10 percent of your paycheck on food, and for that, you should be
grateful!
Medical researchers
have issued warnings about rising antibiotic resistance for decades, but it
wasn’t until economists began crunching the numbers that world leaders really
began taking notice. Facing an estimated global cost of $100 trillion by 2050,
the United Nations (UN) is now stepping in to fight antibiotic resistance in a
historic declaration. As reported by NPR:23
“The
U.N.’s declaration requires countries to come up with a two-year plan to
protect the potency of antibiotics. Countries need to create ways to monitor
the use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture, start curbing that use and
begin developing new antibiotics that work. After two years, the U.N.’s
secretary-general will assess each country’s plan and check to make sure each
is making progress.”
Can
You Afford Eating a Factory Farmed Diet?
What price
can you place on all these various forms of destruction, really? By the time you add
up farm subsidies, crop insurance subsidies, biotech promotion paid by taxes,
environmental cleanups and water treatment, health care costs for chronic
disease and antibiotic resistance, you’re definitely looking at far more than
10 percent of your income.
Consider
this: As of 2013, health care spending averaged out to nearly $9,100 per capita
in the U.S.24 What
percentage of your income does that amount to? I believe it is crucial to
understand that this cost is heavily influenced by diet, so when calculating
what you can and cannot “afford,” you really should include an estimate of
future health care costs.
Could you
still afford to eat junk food today if you knew with a fair amount of certainty
that you will get diabetes from it? Diabetics incur average medical
expenditures of about $13,700 per year.25 How does
that figure fit into your current food budget? Vilsack’s obnoxious statement
does not take this into account, but you’d be wise not to fall for his
simplistic view of the matter.
What
Value Do We Place on Our Environment?
Agricultural
chemicals like pesticides are responsible for ecocide, killing soil
microbes, bees, butterflies, amphibians and birds. Synthetic fertilizers like
anhydrous ammonia, and mined fertilizer like phosphorus from Morocco and
Florida, spawn algae blooms and pollute waterways, destroying tropical fresh
waters and estuaries into the ocean.
Overusing
weed killers like Roundup (the active ingredient of which is glyphosate) on
Roundup-resistant GE crops has led to resistant weeds and serious environmental
damage. According to the largest study26 of pesticide
use on GE crops to date, farmers who plant herbicide-resistant GE crops use 28
percent more herbicides than non-GE farmers. The main reason for the increase
is to control weeds that have developed resistance to the herbicide. According
to Sustainable Pulse:27
“Ciliberto
and his colleagues measured the overall environmental impact of the changes in
chemical use that have resulted from the adoption of genetically modified
crops, using a measure called the environmental impact quotient, or EIQ, to
account for chemicals’ impact on farmworkers, consumers and the environment …
[T]he
adoption of genetically modified soybeans correlated with a massive negative impact on the environment
as increased herbicide use also increased contamination of local ecosystems.”
How can we
justify this kind of environmental destruction in the name of efficient food
production? In the end, we cannot survive without a thriving ecosystem, as we
are part of it. If the ecosystem falls apart, humanity goes down with it, so
environmental activism is really a call to self-preservation.
It’s not
about hugging trees and placing plants and animals over humans. It’s
understanding that we cannot survive very long without them, and the quicker
plants and animals die, the quicker we’re destined to follow in their tracks.
Besides
environmental destruction, increased pesticide use also has financial
ramifications for farmers. Some say the cost of GE seeds and pesticides have
gotten so high, they’re now operating at or near a loss.28,29 Who benefits from this toxic system?
Primarily the makers of GE seeds and pesticides. And this is the system Vilsack
defends, while being “annoyed” with those who point out the obvious dangers of
letting the industrial farming business continue as usual.
Another
surprising responsibility Vilsack shoulders is to oversee the White House
administration’s response to the opioid addiction epidemic. In a recent
Washington Post article,30 Vilsack
shares his “four-pillar plan to revitalize struggling rural economies” that
have been hard-hit not just by agricultural woes but drug addiction as well.
To get rural
economies back on track, he suggests investing in organic farming, eco-tourism,
biofuels and bio-based manufacturing. However, while that may sound like an
endorsement of organic agriculture, it’s likely little more than a token
gesture, and it’s interesting how this comment is showing up in an article
about his response to drug addiction, while his agricultural agenda is so
heavily biased toward biotech and chemical agriculture.
Meanwhile,
there’s no mention of the real cause of the opioid epidemic — prescription
narcotics that have been falsely marketed as safe with low addiction potential.
Florida
Groundwater Contaminated With Radioactive Fertilizer
According to
a recent report by Mother Jones,31 a fertilizer
company mining for phosphate in central Florida caused a 45-foot-wide sinkhole,
depositing an estimated 215 million gallons of radioactive water into the
aquifer below. This is just one example of the devastating side effects of our
chemical-dependent farming system.
“This
strange event has everything to do with your food,” Tom Philpott points
out. “That’s because the
breach occurred in … Bone Valley, one of the world’s most productive and
valuable stores of phosphate rock,32 the
feedstock for phosphate fertilizer … Florida’s phosphate deposits … provide
about 75 percent of the nation’s supply of
phosphate fertilizer and about 25 percent of the world supply.
They’re
essentially ecological sacrifice zones … For every ton of product, the process
generates five tons of a waste product called phosphogypsum, which contains low
levels of radiation as well as a range of toxic heavy metals … In Florida … it
has been accumulating in huge piles known as gyp stacks …
And it
was on one of the gyp stacks that the sinkhole formed, unleashing that vast
pond of tainted water … The sinkhole just east of Tampa Bay is a spectacular
reminder of phosphate mining’s high ecological price tag.”
The public
was not notified of the contamination until two weeks after the event, and
Robert Brinkmann, a professor of geology and environmental sustainability at
Hofstra University, suspects removing the contaminated water from the aquifer
will be a significant challenge.33 It can
spread through the subterranean water system, shaped much like Swiss cheese,
very quickly. Moreover, the Florida aquifer system also stretches into Alabama,
Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Radioactive
Fertilizer Implicated in Lung Cancer
The
radioactive compound found in calcium phosphate fertilizers is polonium-210 — a chemically toxic34 and highly
radioactive element35 that
releases alpha particles as it decays. While alpha particles cannot penetrate
deeply into your body, they can cause serious damage to cells they do come into
contact with.
Calcium
phosphate fertilizers are commonly used on food crops and tobacco fields, and
it was actually research into the toxicity of tobacco that led to the finding
that this low-grade radioactivity may be contributing to cancer.
It’s
well-recognized that smoking cigarettes can cause lung cancer. However, while
it may seem obvious that added chemicals would be prime culprits, research
suggests polonium may be a much bigger contributor. In turn, this suggests
radioactive fertilizer could potentially pose a hazard within our food supply
as well.
Research
suggests radiation from these fertilizers are what causes the most lung damage
and is the primary cause of cancer in smokers.36,37,38 In fact, polonium is the only component
of cigarette smoke shown to produce cancer in laboratory animals.39According to
a 2009 study,40 a person who
smokes 1.5 packs of cigarettes per day receives an 8,000 millirem (mrem)
radiation dose to the bronchial epithelium each year, which equals a radiation
dose to the skin from 300 chest x-rays.
Radioactive
Phosphates May Cause More Harm Than Previously Suspected
According to
a 2011 report in Nicotine and Tobacco Research,41
radioactivity in tobacco comes from two sources: the atmosphere and uptake
through soil rich in calcium phosphate fertilizer contaminated with polonium
phosphates. Phosphate fertilizer ore contains 50 to 150 parts per million (ppm)
of natural uranium.42 Secret
internal documents obtained from the major tobacco industries in 1998 reveal
the industry was well aware of the presence of this radioactive element in
cigarettes as early as 1959:
“Acid
wash was discovered in 1980 to be highly effectively in removing polonium-210
from the tobacco leaves; however, the industry avoided its use for concerns
that acid media would ionize nicotine converting it into a poorly absorbable
form into the brain of smokers thus depriving them of the much sought after
instant ‘nicotine kick’ sensation,” the researchers noted.
The report
concluded that “the evidence of lung cancer risk caused by cigarette smoke
radioactivity is compelling enough to warrant its removal.” Now, if tobacco
leaves become a source of cancer-causing radioactivity due to the fertilizers
used, what about food grown with these phosphate fertilizers?
Polonium may
also be present in fluoridated water, courtesy of the fluorosilicic acid
commonly used. Uranium and radium are two known carcinogens found in
fluorosilicic acid used for water fluoridation, and polonium-210 is 1 of 2
decay products of uranium. Furthermore, polonium decays into stable lead-206,
which also has significant health risks — especially in children — and research
has indeed shown that drinking fluoridated
water increases lead absorption in your body.
Meat
and Dairy — Sources of Mild Radiation?
A CNN
article43 from 2012
addressed the health effects of polonium when the radioactive element was being
investigated as a potential cause in the death of Yasser Arafat, the former
leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. According to their report:
“If you
ingest polonium-210, about 50 percent to 90 percent of the substance will exit
the body through feces, according to a fact sheet from Argonne National
Laboratory. What is left will enter the bloodstream. About 45 percent of
polonium ingested gets into the spleen, kidneys and liver, and 10 percent is
deposited in the bone marrow.
Granted,
food-borne polonium may be absorbed and react differently in your body than
that in tobacco smoke. Still, as stated by the International Atomic Energy
Agency,44 internal
exposure, which is more or less the only dangerous form, occurs primarily
through food, water and inhaling contaminated air. So it’s quite possible you
might be exposed to greater levels of this (and other) radioactive elements
than was previously thought, through the aggressive use of phosphate
fertilizers in food production.
There is in
fact some research suggesting this may be the case. According to a report by
the Florida Institute of Phosphate Research,45 American
meat products and dairy may expose your organs to radiation doses equivalent to
the dose received by smokers via cigarette smoke!
Phosphate
Fertilizers Also Impact Gut Health
While we may
not be able to estimate the potential cancer risk from foods grown with contaminated
phosphate fertilizers, research has shown that dietary calcium phosphate has a
detrimental effect on your gut health. According to a 2002 study in the Journal
of Nutrition:46
“Most
Gram-positive bacteria are susceptible to the bactericidal action of fatty
acids and bile acids. Because dietary calcium phosphate (CaP(i)) lowers the
intestinal concentration of these antimicrobial agents, high CaP(i) intake may
enhance intestinal colonization of Gram-positive pathogens and the subsequent
pathogenesis.”
Interestingly,
the adverse effect of dietary calcium phosphate was found to be dependent on
the type of dietary fat consumed. In rats given diets containing corn oil (a
staple in processed foods), the calcium phosphate stimulated colonization of
pathogenic bacteria, whereas this adverse effect was not found in animals given
a diet with milk fat.
There are
many drawbacks to conventional fertilizers, and radioactive food can perhaps be
added to that list (with or without radioactive fallout from Japan, which is a
whole other story). While modern agricultural methods may appear to be the most
cost effective and efficient strategy at first glance, it quickly becomes one
of the costliest ways to produce food once you take into account the
environmental and human health consequences.
Vilsack — A Major Promoter and Defender of
Toxic Agriculture
It takes a
special kind of person to endorse such obvious human and environmental
destruction (and I haven’t even touched on how pesticides decimate bee and
butterfly populations, upon which one-third of our food supply depend for their
crucial pollination services47). Vilsack’s
history, and recent comments, show he’s just that kind of person.
Not
surprisingly, in 2001, when Vilsack was Governor of Iowa, the Biotechnology
Industry Organization (BIO) named him Governor of the Year to honor his
contributions to and promotion of the industry.”48
The fact of
the matter is the cheap foods Vilsack promotes and defends have very real
costs. The U.S. farm bill promotes obesity, and by 2030, the CDC predicts HALF
of all Americans will be obese, costing the health care system $550 billion
over the following two decades.49 Based on the
evidence, it seems clear that Vilsack is just another puppet of the masters
that are corrupting Congress.
The
American Farm Bureau
Just like
the USDA, the American Farm Bureau, which has positioned itself as a grassroots
organization that supports farmers, is another faction of the Big Ag system.
When small farmers are pitted against CAFOs, the Farm Bureau typically sides
with the industrial farmers, leaving family farmers to fend for themselves. As
previously reported by The Nation:50
“From
California to New York, the Farm Bureau leads the charge for industrial-scale
food production. It opposes the labeling of genetically engineered food, animal
welfare reform and environmental regulation. In Washington, its well-funded
team of lobbyists and lawyers seeks to undermine the federal Clean Water Act
and the Clean Air Act, opposing pesticide restrictions and increased scrutiny
of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution from CAFOs …”
How
the Meat Lobby Beefs Up Your Dinner
Americans
love beef, and the meat industry admits it has worked long and hard to create and
maintain Americas love affair with juicy steaks. As a side effect, other
industries benefit as well, including fertilizer companies, pesticide
producers, seed companies and drug companies, the latter of which provide
veterinary drugs and antibiotics. As recently noted by Salon Magazine:51
“According
to the American Meat Institute, the industry’s primary trade organization:
‘Meat and poultry industry impacts firms in all 509 sectors of the U.S. economy
… The meat and poultry industry’s economic ripple effect generates $864.2
billion annually to the U.S. economy, or roughly 6 percent of the entire GDP’ …
To make
certain you keep eating meat, the industry levies almost a tax on products
sold, known as beef and pork checkoffs. In the U.S. each beef producer pays $1
per bovine head at the time the animal is sold … Between 1987 and 2013, the
U.S. beef checkoff collected $1.2 billion … money that is used ‘to increase
domestic and/or international demand for beef’ — in the words of the industry
itself …
When
Americans ask, ‘What’s for dinner?’ most will automatically reply: ‘Beef.’
That’s hardly a surprise. Back in 1992 the industry spent $42 million of beef
checkoff money spreading the slogan ‘Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.’
As for
its effectiveness, consider this quote from the industry’s own website: ‘In the
minds of the many consumers hearing that question [‘What’s for dinner?’], a
dominant answer has been planted: Beef. It’s what’s for dinner. Not just
planted, in fact. Watered, nourished and cared for over the past two decades.'”
Beef
May Be Inexpensive, But You’re Paying for It Elsewhere
Between 1995
and 2012, American taxpayers supported the beef industry with $4.1 billion in
farm subsidies. When you add in feed grain subsidies and other indirect costs,
the total cost to subsidize meat, fish, eggs and dairy balloons to $38 billion
ANNUALLY.52 As stated
before, while the food APPEARS inexpensive, it really isn’t, because you’re
paying for it through subsidies generated by taxes.
The crux of
the problem is that if subsidies are reduced, prices in the store go up and
consumption goes down. As noted by Salon: “Studies show that on average, a 10
percent increase in beef ‘s price means about a 7.5 percent decrease in
consumption.” So in essence, this toxic and destructive farming system is kept
in place primarily because of greed.
Industrial
farming is all about selling high quantities, and by subsidizing CAFOs with
your tax dollars, you’re fooled into thinking you’re getting a great deal, when
in fact you’re paying hidden costs and supporting a system that is destroying
your health at the same time. In my book, that’s no cause for celebration, and
contrary to what Vilsack says, it’s nothing to be grateful for.
CAFO
Lobby Combats All Attempts to Minimize Destructive Impact of Factory Farms
What’s
worse, the CAFO lobby has successfully fought off virtually all attempts to reduce their
destructive impact.53 In short,
they don’t care that industrial farms pollute soil and water, reduce air
quality, or promote drug-resistant disease. But they’re clinging to an
unsustainable model, and unsustainable models can never last. The question is,
will it change before or after a massive crisis has been reached?
According to
Robert Martin, executive director of the Pew Commission’s 2008 report, “Putting
Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America” — which raised
serious concerns about the way livestock farming is done in the U.S., noting
that things are getting WORSE, not better — believes that in order for true
reform to occur, the people must demand it.54
U.S.
taxpayers are funding a fake low price to keep us drowning in soy and corn, much
of which isn’t even used as food, but for “green” fuel,55 and when
this lobbyist-blown bubble finally bursts, farmers are bound to suffer, as the
value of their farmland will drop as well.
Signs of
trouble are already brewing. According to a recent article in Equities,56 the price of
corn has dropped 62 percent since 2012, and a 70 percent crash is expected.
Wheat and soybeans have also dropped by 61 and 52 percent respectively. So far,
the value of farmland has dropped by about 12 percent, but is predicted to fall
by more than 60 percent sometime in the early 2020s.57
The
Real Cost of Cheap Food Is Immeasurable
So what is
the real cost of cheap food? If you take both human and environmental health into
account, it’s immeasurable, because what price can you put, really, on
premature death due to poor health? What dollar amount can you place on the
destruction of farmland and pollution of water? What’s the cost of killing a
large percentage of the pollinators that are such an integral part of our food
system?
Most family
farms have been lost to industrial-scale facilities and government mandates
have consolidated food processing, ostensibly to ensure food safety. In
reality, all this consolidation RAISES the risk of foodborne illness. By
shipping animals hundreds of miles to industrial processing lines, local
economies have also been eliminated.
Politicians
and industry lobbyists love to talk about how this industrialized, consolidated
system has made food safer and less expensive, when in reality it’s all about
controlling the food system through price fixing, and by controlling the food,
they control the people, and that includes you and me.
Holistic
systems of inputs and outputs have been turned into industrial disintegration
sites. Farms mine the land and water, taking until it’s gone. As a result, we
have less wildlife, less soil abundance, more monocultures, more pollution and
more illness. Truly, you cannot separate food production from health and
medicine, because they are so intricately intertwined. Lack of investment in
high quality food leads to higher medical expenditures, both on an individual
and global scale.
Reclaim
Your Health and Food Independence
Big Ag is
acting just like Big Tobacco did back in its heyday, corrupting Congress
to allow them to continue business as usual, which includes prematurely killing
people and causing completely unnecessary suffering in more ways than one.
Retired federal judge H. Lee Sarokin presided over tobacco litigation for 10
years. He recently commented on the up-and-coming e-cigarette industry,
restating his former position on the tobacco industry that led to his being
removed from such cases:58
“All too
often in the choice between the physical health of consumers and the financial
well-being of business, concealment is chosen over disclosure, sales over
safety, and money over morality. Who are these persons who knowingly and
secretly decide to put the buying public at risk solely for the purpose of
making profits and who believe that illness and death of consumers is an
appropriate cost of their own prosperity!”
His comments
ring true for industrial farming as well. Just like the tobacco industry, Big
Ag is an industry- and federal agency-created system that does not support
environmental and human health. It is built on greed and control, and Vilsack
is nothing but a hired “hitman” for industrial pharming — a conglomerate of
chemical, biotech and pharmaceutical interests.
Boycott
the System
It is time
for disobedience.
It is time to boycott the system. Stop aiding their stranglehold on our food by
supporting regenerative agriculture, grass-fed and organic farming instead. Buy
local. Even better, get to know your farmers and buy directly from them. We
have to end the subsidizing of overproduction of junk food ingredients like
corn and soy, which feed this degenerative, consolidated system and promotes
waste, pollution and ill health.
Vilsack, as
a leader of nutrition and agriculture, has a moral and ethical responsibility
to do right by the people he serves — you. Yet his entire career has been spent
promoting and covering for purveyors of disease. He is not a true leader of the
agricultural industry. He’s a puppet of the chemical and biotechnology
industries, which have no regard for health aside from the health of their own
bottom lines.
According to
Vilsack, consolidated, industrial-scale farming is what allows Americans to
afford other necessities like housing and education, along with “luxuries like
vacations.” In this article, I’ve highlighted a number of issues that expose
just how flawed his position is.
Not only are
you paying exorbitant hidden costs for low grocery store prices, what little
money you save on groceries today, you’ll end up paying in healthcare costs
later on. A food system set up to support a for-profit healthcare system is not
a source for gratitude, and as head of the USDA, Vilsack really should
understand this truth.
Where
to Find Healthy Food
In these
times,
it’s really important to realize that how and where you buy your food matters.
Not just for your own health, but for the health of your local community and
the world at large as well. Regenerative farming can only flourish if there’s
enough demand for their products. Conversely, the industrial system can only
survive as long as people keep buying theirs.
While many
grocery stores now carry organic foods, it’s preferable to source yours from
local growers whenever possible, as much of the organic food sold in grocery
stores is imported. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can
help you locate farm-fresh foods:
|
EatWild.com
provides lists of farmers known to produce wholesome raw dairy products as
well as grass-fed beef and other farm-fresh produce (although not all are
certified organic). Here you can also find information about local farmers
markets, as well as local stores and restaurants that sell grass-fed
products. |
|
Weston A
Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with
buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass
fed raw dairy products like milk and butter
. |
|
The
Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass-fed
meats across the U.S. |
|
This
website will help you find farmers markets, family farms, and other sources
of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed
meats, and many other goodies. |
|
A national
listing of farmers markets. |
|
The Eat
Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry,
dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online
outlets in the United States and Canada. |
|
CISA is
dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small
farms. |
|
The
FoodRoutes “Find Good Food” map can help you connect with local farmers to
find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can
find a listing for local farmers, CSAs, and markets near you
. |
|
The
Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based tools rating all certified organic
brands of eggs, dairy products, and other commodities, based on their ethical
sourcing and authentic farming practices separating CAFO “organic” production
from authentic organic practices. |
|
If you’re
still unsure of where to find raw milk, check out Raw-Milk- Facts.com and RealMilk.com. They can tell you what the
status is for legality in your state, and provide a listing of raw dairy
farms in your area.
The Farm
to Consumer Legal Defense Fund59 also provides a state-by-state review of raw milk
laws.60 California residents can also find raw milk retailers
using the store locator available atwww.OrganicPastures.com. |
- Scroll down
through ‘Older Posts’ at the end of each section
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