Less than 80 years ago...
we knew what was healthy for us, we knew what made our bodies operate at the highest levels. Somehow during the navigation through generation after generation, we've fallen short of our nutritional roots. Someone lied to us, created a food system that relied on commercial industry instead of traditional agriculture, i.e. farming and ranching.
Enter the rise of monocrop agriculture, one crop for thousands of acres, pulling the same nutrients from the soil over and over again, year after year after year. Eventually the soil began to fail the farmers, there was nothing left to give, but the industry demanded more to feed the system, so dump fertilizers on it, dump pesticides on it, dump herbicides on it. Don't blame the farmers!!! instead of selling to their local communities, they were forced to sell to commodity markets, prices being set by stock market futurities. Imagine each day you come to work, your boss tells you what your paycheck is going to be for that week based on supply and demand. Farmer's only did what they had to do in order to stay in business, to feed their families.
Ranchers had it no different, more demand, less pay. Milk, eggs, pork, beef, all controlled by commodity market. Want to get upset that hormones are used on cattle? Better look again on who to point the finger at. I'll tell you right now, Mr. Rancher in deep East Texas didn't think, "hey, I bet if you put estrogen in these steer, they'll plump up real nice." It was sold as innovation, a way to maximize your output and keep that food system up and running. The only way farmer's and ranchers have a way to make any money when selling commercially is to cut cost on their end because they can't go out and sell for more.
And that's where we, the supplier and the consumer, can make a difference. Worried about the environment, buy direct from the farmer so they can support their operation without the use of chemicals. Worried about your health, buy direct from the rancher so they can support their operation with out having to use hormones and antibiotics to maximize output. There's a huge movement happening right now and that movement is finding local food sources and supporting ranchers and farmers directly, cutting out the commodity market. Support your local farmer, your local rancher, your local butcher shop or farmer's market. Create a difference today that generations from now will learn from.
Comments