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Well, like I said though - the guy down the street from me is local - and I wouldn't buy beef from him if he was the last guy on earth selling it. So I doubt locally grown things are much better than the average, the perk really is that you're supporting people who live by you. that's a good thing for local economies, but does not automatically transfer to the local people nutritionally or otherwise.
Well, like I said though - the guy down the street from me is local - and I wouldn't buy beef from him if he was the last guy on earth selling it. So I doubt locally grown things are much better than the average, the perk really is that you're supporting people who live by you. that's a good thing for local economies, but does not automatically transfer to the local people nutritionally or otherwise.
i've worked on factory dairy farms (or factory farms from my perspective and on the scale of farms in my region), so i have a pretty good idea of what's involved: the almighty dollar and to heck with the animals or the groundwater.
Not a fair representation of big ag in my opinion, and I'm a big ag inspector for the state. Farmers, whether running a small homestead or a large multi-national corporation, will generally do what is expected of them. So if your state has groundwater protection laws, and they do I assure you as the EPA runs ALL CAFO groundwater rules, then they comply with the minimum standards. Sometimes the standards are too lenient and sometiems the standards are outrageous, for instance the storing of hay in the "production" area is considered to be an avenue for groundwater contamination, yet this ruling only applies to CAFO's not ranchers. What is the difference? There isn't any - it is a stupid rule and we all know it. Point being - there are a ton of Regs out there and for the most part the CAFOs do their part. When they don't they get fined.
And, as I posted before, I have a multi-national farm who just spend millions of dollars improving the living conditions of their animals just because they wanted to. No one made them do that - things above and beyond Regs should be commended, but generally speaking no one pays attention to the good things coming from big Ag, only the bad.
Not a fair representation of big ag in my opinion, and I'm a big ag inspector for the state. Farmers, whether running a small homestead or a large multi-national corporation, will generally do what is expected of them. So if your state has groundwater protection laws, and they do I assure you as the EPA runs ALL CAFO groundwater rules, then they comply with the minimum standards. Sometimes the standards are too lenient and sometiems the standards are outrageous, for instance the storing of hay in the "production" area is considered to be an avenue for groundwater contamination, yet this ruling only applies to CAFO's not ranchers. What is the difference? There isn't any - it is a stupid rule and we all know it. Point being - there are a ton of Regs out there and for the most part the CAFOs do their part. When they don't they get fined.
And, as I posted before, I have a multi-national farm who just spend millions of dollars improving the living conditions of their animals just because they wanted to. No one made them do that - things above and beyond Regs should be commended, but generally speaking no one pays attention to the good things coming from big Ag, only the bad.
