Quote:
Katy,
You are right blanket statements are generally never a good idea, there are virtually always exceptions, and one should judge the individual person/place or thing such as a feed. Just because something is commercial does not make it "bad".. Agreed, and thank you.
Obesity; INDEED! Again, one can not point a finger at a single factor such as what goes into our food. I agree, current live styles with desk jobs and kids playing video games instead of riding a bike are a big factor in the obesity problem. The point I am making is all the high fructose corn syrup in soda pop and so so many other products sure helps accelerate the problem. Heck I made chili the other day, was lazy and did not get the kidney beans soaking in time, so I use a can of plain old kidney beans..They contain high fructose corn syrup!!!!!
Yikes, what the heck??
Finally, I agree with you about if people still worked on the farm like your family does... THIS is one reason I am against the status quo of the industrial ag system we currently have. THIS is a reason I am an advocate of the Local food movement!!!!!! IF and when local foods can compete with the status quo we can have more people farming again, having jobs where they their own boss, laboring hard for an honest living..
ON
I think your statement that I highlighted is an unrealistic idea. Locally produced foods probably won't ever be able to compete in today's market place because most people don't give a rat's behind where or how their food is grown. They want a cheap food source which is what agriculture has worked to produce for them. There will never be more people farming for a living. Farmers/ranchers make up less than 2% of the US population and those who do it without any off the farm income as we do it is supposedly less than 1% of the population. The only way more people could ever farm is if big farms were willing to sell off portions of their holdings to individuals and the odds of that ever happening is almost zero. Does it happen? Yes, people go out and buy a small acreage and start raising some veggies to sell at their local farmer's market, but to do it on a scale to make a living doing it is very unrealistic for most people. Then there is the work involved with farming.....most people are not willing to have to work that hard....especially if you have livestock.... for very little paycheck.
