Why Eat Local? Why Eat Organic? Why Support Local Economies? Here's why-
One of my favorite quotes is, "Why do we put real lemon in our furniture polish and drink lemonade made with artificial lemon?" We only have one source of energy and health to sustain our bodies; food. So why do so many people complain about paying too much for food? Most people I know drive nice cars and live in nice homes and send their children to nice schools. But they still feed themselves fast food that is almost totally invaluable as a source of health. People make $1000 mortage payments, $300-$400 car payments, but don't want to spend the extra 50 CENTS to buy Organic ot Local? As a restaurant, we see and know a lot more about where food comes from than the average person. We have seen and dealt directly with these issues, and believe us, this is VERY IMPORTANT for you to know!
Factory Farms-The Worst of Industrial Agriculture
Factory farms, megafarms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)(i) claim to be the future of American farming. Higher production levels, lower retail costs, and greater efficiency are all boasts of industrial agriculture. Certainly, factory farms are capable of producing large quantities of cheap food. But cheap food at what cost? The real costs of factory farms and cheap food far outweigh the benefits.
Ruining the Legacy of Family Farm Food Systems
Every new factory farm forces 10 family farmers out of business (ii). With every small family farmer that has to leave the farm, communities lose access to fresh, healthy food and local economies are weakened.
Abusing Animals and Polluting the Environment
- Factory farms crowd tens of thousands of farm animals under one roof which denies them many of their most basic behavioral and physical needs, creates stress and exposes the animals to many serious illnesses. (iii)
- In 1995, 25 million gallons of raw animal waste spilled from an eight-acre industrial lagoon in North Carolina, killing 10 million fish and closing 364,000 acres of coastal wetlands to shellfishing. (iv)
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that manure runoff from factory farm lagoons is a significant factor in the growing problem of ground and surface water pollution. (v)
- EPA and state regulations for waste management are easily circumvented and woefully inadequate. Many factory farms operate unmonitored and unchallenged.
Threatening Our Health
- Inside factory farms, the overcrowded living conditions in feedlots and factory barns promote the spread of diseases, such as salmonella. (vi)
- To fight disease outbreaks and promote unnaturally rapid growth, factory farmed animals are routinely fed antibiotics; over 70 percent of all antibiotics in the United States are fed to healthy farm animals.(vii)
- This indiscriminate use of drugs has directly contributed to the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria which the American Medical Association considers an impending public health crisis. (viii)
- Recent studies have shown that people living near hog factories suffer from headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea, and burning eyes - symptoms brought on by noxious gasses and water pollution from manure lagoons. (ix)
- In more extreme cases, people living near factory farms have developed neurological diseases and women have suffered from miscarriages as a result of water and air contamination. Employees working inside factory farms have died from exposure to manure lagoons. (x)
Genetic Engineering (GMOs)
Why is corn pollen suspected of killing Monarch butterflies? Why are Mexican corn farmers afraid of the wind? Why do many countries refuse to buy American crops? Since the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the market in 1995, genetic engineering has sparked a global controversy. Environmental hazards, food and crop contamination, declining market prices, and political battles are all side effects of the genetic tampering with your food.
Science in the Wild
- Genetic engineering is the manipulation of specific genes that are moved from one species to another to create a trait that didn’t previously exist. For example, fish genes have been transferred to tomatoes and insect genes can be found in potatoes.
- Common crops, such as corn, have been engineered to contain pesticides in every cell of the plant. As a result, these crops are not registered as food - they are actually considered pesticides.
- The prevalent usage of GMO crops is increasingly threatening the biodiversity in our seed supply and making our crops more vulnerable to disease outbreaks and pest infestations.
Threatening Farmers Worldwide
- Farmers buy GMO crops based on promises of lower costs and higher yields, but they often find additional costs in veterinary bills, medications, unstable markets and extra pesticides. In short farmers often encounter higher costs and lower yields with GMO crops.
- Farmers that buy GMO seeds, enter into a contract that dictates how and when the crop can be grown and forbids the farmer to save seed - contrary to traditional practices.
- Many farmers have been sued for allegedly saving seeds, while neighboring farmers whose crops have been contaminated by GMO pollen drift have been sued for unknowingly "possessing" GMO seeds.
A Public Health Hazard
- While the Food and Drug Administration claims GMO products on the market are totally safe, there has been no thorough analysis of their long-term implications. Despite overwhelming consumer demand, none of these products are labeled.
- Due to the extremely unpredictable nature of genetic experimentation, new food toxins, allergens or diseases can and have resulted from GMO foods.
- Weak regulations and corporate oversight have allowed experimental crops to contaminate the general food supply. In a recent case corn, that had been genetically engineered to use as a vaccine for diarrhea in pigs, contaminated 500 bushels of soy beans that were intended for the general food supply.
- The biotech industry has undue influence over government regulatory institutions. For example, a Monsanto executive drafted a proposed legislation for the legalization of rBGH, a genetically modified growth hormone used to boost milk production in dairy herds. She was then hired by the FDA to inform public policy on the very same topic.
The government may have already cast its vote for genetic engineering in agriculture, but it remains a controversy in the minds of consumers and many family farmers. In 2001, Farm Aid helped create the Farm to Farmer Campaign on Genetic Engineering in Agriculture, to help inform family farmers, consumers and people who care about the environment about the legal, financial and health implications of genetic engineering in agriculture. Cast your vote, buy family farmed and buy organic to get GMO-free food.
Corporate Concentration
Grocery stores today are filled with many products, name brands and the appearance of choice: cereal consumers have an abundant and colorful array of products from which to choose, dairy cases are filled with different grades and brands of milk, meat counters boast row upon row of prime cuts. However, a handful of multinational food companies produces and processes most of these foods. Corporate control of the food industry is so broad that only a few companies dominate the entire food chain from seed to finished product. This is corporate concentration in agriculture.
Low Price: Pushing Farmers off the Land
- Corporate agribusiness, through its market power and its influence over policy makers, is the driving force in setting farm policies. 1
- As a result, the market prices of most crops, effectively set by domestic farm policy, are well below the cost of operating the farm.2 This enables multinational corporations to buy raw materials at the lowest possible cost while farmers struggle to cover the cost of production.
- To make up for the huge gap, between market prices and production costs, the U.S. government uses taxpayer dollars to provide farm subsidies. Unfortunately, these billions most often go to corporate farms not family farms. 3
Genetic Engineering: The Elimination of Farmers’ Rights and Livelihoods
- Two multinational companies, Monsanto and DuPont, dominate the US seed industry. 4
- Farmers who buy genetically engineered seeds are forced to sign contracts that dictate how and when the crop can be grown and deny farmers the right to save seed for the following year.
- Many farmers, whose crops have been contaminated by GE pollen drift, have been sued, by Monsanto, for unknowingly and unwillingly "possessing" GE seeds.
Corporate Food: Higher Quantity, Lower Quality
- Corporate food has to travel almost 1,500 miles on average to get to your dinner plate. It is picked or processed days in advance and it is often specially treated, processed, genetically engineered, or irradiated. 5
- Agribusinesses already process and market 95% of the food in the US. 6
Corporate Concentration: Removing Consumer Choice for Local, Fresh Food
Just like the farmer who can no longer sell his goods to a variety of buyers, consumers may soon lose their food choices. This is a real danger; by the time American consumers realize that corporate food is not always good food, all the local or independent companies could already be gone - eliminated by the corporate giants. To prevent this from happening, Farm Aid partners with and supports family farm organizations that fight for fair farm policies at local, national and international levels. These advocates help give family farmers the tools they need to bypass corporate giants and create a family farmed food supply.