My two friends, "Mellani" and "Mike" raise grass-fed sheep on 50 acres of organic pasture set in a wooded farm in Missouri. They had a record-breaking 38 lambs born this year, which, on the face of it, sounds great. But not so great actually. The problem is, they really don't have a market for their lambs (nor the cattle or hogs they used to raise before the market price dropped below the production price). It's eight hours round trip to the nearest large city where they might be able to sell their "crop" but that isn't practical.
The local market is too small to adequately support even their current production - the result is they're cutting back on the number of ewes and, so, lambs next year...
You can read the complete article at Spot-On.Labels: essay, farm bill, food column, food commentary, spot-on
2 Comments:
Keep spreading the word, Kevin. But it´s not just the farm bill. It´s the USDA that has worked hand-in-hand with the fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers, the USDA that formulates policies that encourage huge consolidation of farm enterprises favoring Big Ag over family farmers, your local planning and zoning commission that hardwires sprawl into local laws, pushing farmers off the land in favor of strip malls, parking lots and fast food joints. In short, America needs to make a big attitude adjustment where its lifestyle is concerned.
Ed,
Yeah, I plann on addressing the USDA in the future.
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