Farmers feed the WORLD!

It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small, small, world...but boy is she crowded!!!

According to the Population Reference Bureau, we are nearing the 7 billion marker and are projected to pass it up THIS year. If we hit the 7 billion marker this year (and I don't see any reason to doubt the PRB) that means it only took 12 years to create 1 billion people. There is both good news and bad news to this story.

The good news: The population increase is slowing down.
The bad news: The population is still growing.

Which brings me to another good news/bad news point:

The good news: Due to new technology, a better understanding of the environment, and bio sciences farmers are able to feed the 6 going on 7 billion people in the world on a relatively small amount of land.
The bad news: That amount of land is going to get smaller. The land to population ratio is declining by 40% to 55%.

Do not fret my foodie friends. Despair not my dietetic damsels. For farmers shall prevail!

One of the reasons I do this agvocating thing and the main reason each and every farmer and rancher I know does this is to get the word out about how vitally important agriculture is not only to our country, community, economy, but also to our everyday lives...our survival. People don't stop to think about survival because we are a nation of plenty...plenty too much if you ask me. We have become spoiled and wasteful with our abundance of food. Furthermore, too many people have got WAY too much time on their hands and want to play activist just for something meddlesome to do...You meddling kids!!! (name that cartoon)

The issue is this: Activists, lobbyists, radicals, and every other group that ends with -ists want to tell farmers how to farm, what to raise, who to sell it to, how much to sell it for, when and how to plant it/grow it/breed it/raise it, and each group is demanding something different. But what about the agrilists or the farmists or the ranchists? Don't we get a say in how we raise our food?

Not that agriculture isn't a team effort, it definitely is and everyone should have a say in what they eat but over-legislation, propaganda, and special interest agendas have the potential to push agriculture to the point of extinction. That may sound drastic but look at Florida, California, Ohio, Colorado, even here in Missouri activists and special interest groups have passed laws that inhibit or hold a strong potential to inhibit agriculture.

The world has to eat and only 98% of Americans are providing food for this country and exporting to several others as well. Who will feed the masses as they continue to multiply? Will you? Will your neighbor? What about the guy in the high-rise apartment, will he raise his own meat and vegetables 12 floors up? The world needs farmers and ranchers but too many don't see it that way. SPEAK UP! BE HEARD! As farmers and ranchers or general friends of ag you need to tell your story and help SPREAD THE WORD OF AG!!!

The world keeps growing while farm land keeps shrinking and new technology--including CAFOs--should be embraced as a new means of food production. Is it perfect? No. Is it the end all, be all of modern pork production? No. But it is what we have now and it is what we can improve on for the future. Farming is a process that constantly changes and evolves. We need to work together to make sure consumers, city folks, rural folks, and the general public know that we are evolving to better serve them. Be part of the solutions...not the problem.

Advocate for Agriculture!!

American Farming--Something to Appreciate

Yet another great blog from FBlog, written by fellow pork producer Chris Chinn.

Farming in America
by Chris Chinn


I spent the last two weeks in Europe with my ALOT (Agriculture Leaders of Tomorrow) Class learning about agriculture in France, Belgium and England. It was a great learning experience and one that opened my eyes to how fortunate I am to farm and live in America.

We learned a great deal about the EU farm policy known as CAP and we had great conversations with farmers from the EU. The one thing that stood out to me was hearing that the EU Common Ag Policy (CAP) was focused on feeding the EU, not feeding the world. As American farmers, our concern is not only feeding the people in our country, but to feed people in other countries as well who don't have the resources (land) we do in the United States to produce food.

We learned that approximately 50% of a farmer’s net income in the EU comes from government direct payments. The government sets the price which farmers receive for the goods they produce. They also do not want the farmers to over produce so there are incentives or penalties in place to prohibit farmers from producing too much. As a result, the cost of food in the EU is higher than what we pay in America because the farmers are not allowed to run their farms efficiently and the increased regulations add to their cost of production.

Each farmer we spoke with told us they didn’t want to be farming for a direct payment check. Each farmer wanted less government involvement in their farms but they knew that wasn’t a possibility. The farmers told us groups outside of agriculture were influencing how policy was set in the EU.

After visiting with the EU farmers and representatives of the EU Commission on Agriculture, I realized how great it is to farm in America. I also realized if American Farmers don’t stand up and speak out about how we farm, we could find ourselves in a similar situation to the EU farmers with more regulations that run up our cost of production. If this happens, the cost of food in America will be much higher than what it is today, and every American will be challenged with how to put food on their dinner table.

This article really puts things in perspective and helps farmers and ranchers appreciate what we have here in the U.S. It's easy to loose sight of how lucky we Americans are especially when we hear more negatives than positives about our industry. As Americans, we tend to live by the "out of sight, out of mind" rule but that is really hurting agriculture in this country, among other things. Chris Chinn had an amazing opportunity to see what agriculture is like outside of our U.S. bubble. Hopefully, this article will encourage other farmers and ranchers to tell their story and correct the misconceptions.