Nah - I just like to start small and build. Best of luck, sincerely.
The bottles have been holding up pretty well, but it would be somewhat easy to replace them. Same
I don’t think I’m smarter. I just don’t blame my problems on the president or things outside of my control. Most everything is outside my control, like waves in the ocean. I don’t curse them - I ride them.At some point we have to admit that politicians do make differences, and we need to oppose those who make negative differences. There is only so much “riding the waves” an economy can do, and right now, it’s not doing it very well.
Unions are more prevalent in northern industrial states. Many states down south are right to work states. It is generally colder up north, hence the reference to climate. I see. It can also vary within states, as is the case in my own.
I could probably find more farmers who share my view than I could find farmers who have the view that they have benefited from the industrialization of our food supply. Aside from that, we have hardly any varieties of vegetables left. There were 30 varieties of tomato in 1975. Now there are three or four, and they are genetically engineered. Such is the case with much of our food supply. The out of control increases in weight of the average American corresponds directly to the advent of corn being subsidized and becoming the main staple in most everything people eat, right down to the animal carcasses they eat. You are what you eat, and people eat livestock fed entirely on corn. Most everything is sweetened with corn, and all of this leads to a fat population. Corn is one of the least healthy crops one can eat, and thanks to the industrialized food industry, that is mostly what people eat.
I am greatly relieved to learn that the farmers in my state who are barely getting by are not real. One less thing to worry about.
Sufjon
I don’t know what state you’re in, but the farmers I know made money last year. Some made a lot of money. This year, many did not, because of the drought. Prices were very high, so some did. Those in the northern part of this state, which was not drought-stricken, certainly did. And the ones who did well are the ones who keep up on superior products and methods. Ranchers definitely made money even though there was a drought. At $1.35/lb and up for feeders, you almost can’t fail to make money if you have any idea at all what you’re doing and aren’t overstocked. It isn’t always that way, and not everywhere, but it is now and here. But land, of course, is very expensive, and farmers and ranchers have to pay for it out of after-tax income, which isn’t good every year.
Poultry and hogs are raised entirely on grain and grain byproducts, but it isn’t all corn. Most cattle are not, and most of those that are (feeders) are fed mostly grain byproducts like brewers’ grain, cottonseed and rice hulls and wheat fines. Corn is too expensive for most feed outs and, besides, it has little protein in it. They used to supplement with soybean meal, but since China now buys 40% of the crop, they have been forced to find substitutes. They are fed “grain” for 80-120 days only. That’s the “prime” stuff. Those grain-feeding days are shortening, though, because of the cost of grain, and feedlots “upstream” more of the growout back to the ranchers or backgrounders. That’s done on grass, sometimes on early wheat fields. But that’s okay, because they pay for that extra weight.
Hogs’ diets are now more varied, but with poultry it does take a significant amount of corn as a percentage of their diet. Even “range chickens” are fed grain, so unless one gives up poultry entirely, one is going to eat grain-fed.
Corn is, indeed, subsidized. But more of it goes to ethanol now than goes into animal feed.
I don’t like “industrial tomatoes” either, and largely avoid them. I don’t know why people buy them. In season, I buy them at the farmers’ market where there are many, many varieties. Out of season, the few I eat come from Chile and they’re very good.
I am not sure what people are eating that has all that corn in it. Twinkies perhaps. Candy. Ready-made this or that. I don’t eat corn except in the summertime, and most definitely don’t eat corn syrup. I’m not persuaded yet that obesity is largely due to consumption of corn, but perhaps you can provide the studies demonstrating that.
Finally, at some point one has to admit that politicians’ actions affect peoples’ lives and can skew economies. One would have to be awfully dedicated to a government not to see those adverse consequences when they happen. You have presented a discourse on the terrible diets Americans have, and of which you at least suggest people are largely unaware. Are you not critical of the government for at least that, if it’s so? The “iron tomatoes” you dislike are largely grown on land that is irrigated through government subsidies. Are you okay with that too?
Corn fed cattle develop acid in their stomach which allow e coli to thrive and get passed on to the consumer. Glad I watch Alton Brown and his advice on what to choose at farmer markets. Grass fed all the way 