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That isn't the point. The government doesn't want it, the poultry industry does. Think of it. If more and more of us raise our own birds, it cuts into their profit margins. People are concerned enough about their food and how it's raised, more are becoming educated, and it threatens the industry. They're trying to protect themselves. They need to toe a bottom line first, before they change their production methods to those that are more environmentally friendly, healthy, etc. It's cheaper to use drugs, chemicals, cram them into smaller and smaller spaces, raise them faster, get product to market faster, it costs them too much to make sure it's a good product.....that's what's driving this whole thing. Shareholders and the bottom line, instead of producing a good product that people want to buy.
The government is swayed by lobbyists more than by the people anymore. Poultry industry lobbyists (and the other major food producers, like cattle, corn, etc) have heavy influences on how these rules are written. That's what is driving so many of us who actually read this stuff crazy. Special interests take precedence over common sense and good food production practices.
I buy my eggs from a local farm, and have done so ever since I found out how supermarket eggs are produced. It sickens me the way we treat our animals. Someone posted
this link yesterday, and I read it through. I was a little leary of the way it started out, again I thought, it's a pro-vegetarian rant, but I was so wrong. This is the philosophy that many of us are zoning in on with regards to our food, and specifically our meat. The last paragraph sums it up nicely, at least for me:
On the Blood Moon, may we say a heartfelt prayer for all the animals who are being raised in inhumane conditions. May we give great thanks for the farmers and ranchers who treat their animals with respect and honor and who care deeply for their welfare. May we take the time to seek out sources of animal foods that are raised with respect for the environment, for our health, and for the well being of the animals themselves. May there come a day when factory farms have been replaced with small scale, integrated, holistic family farms where all living things are recognized for being the gifts that they surely are. May there be a day when Americans have acquired the adult knowledge that all life is dependent upon all other life in an endless circle of giving and receiving, birth and death, growth and decay, rebirth, and regeneration. May we find ourselves humble as we contemplate the miracle of life, and of the Life that transcends death. That would make our ancestors proud.
