Straight from the Horse's Mouth

by Duane A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator, Webster County June 20, 2009 Edition My wife tells me that I have to quit reading agricultural news, blogs and internet sites-- or even watching TV and listening to the radio. I guess the shaking of my fist to the ceiling, the cussing out load, and even lecturing to the walls scare her. I guess when I think about it – it scares me too. Good thing the kids have all left the nest – I can about hear their comments on their dad! You would think that I am caught up in the political discussions that occur daily – but it isn’t that at all. It is the daily affronts or outright attacks that I am witnessing on the object of my career passion - agriculture. It is disturbing to me that there is such a “disconnect” and even a downright disdain that has developed over the years. At one time agriculture was held in high esteem and people spoke fondly of their farm or agricultural roots. Perhaps I live in too much in a “Rockwellian” vision of my past and view of what the farming industry and agriculture means to me. I guess we live in a world of “stimulus” today and what is stimulating me is a myriad of things that are continuing or being created that I feel can and will have detrimental effects on our very livelihood in my little piece of the world. I don’t know where I start because there are so many subjects that I could probably write a dissertation on, so I will just take the “skim approach” and hope that if anyone else is interested, they take a look for themselves. Let’s start discussion by talking movies. No I am not much of a movie-goer, but some do get my attention, particularly when they attack agriculture in general and in particular animal agriculture. Back in March, I wrote about a documentary that aired on HBO called, “Death on a Factory Farm”. Of course that was painful, but now there is a new high-budget documentary called “Food Inc.” www.foodincmovie.com which (surprise) comes from the producers of "An Inconvenient Truth”, that is about the "highly mechanized underbelly" of the nation’s food industry which purportedly shows the “evils” of food production. It includes graphic footage of poultry sheds and meat packing plants (some of it shot in secret) and of course a lot of myths and misrepresentations. Guest appearances that you might recognize are controversial “food gurus” Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation” and “Chew on This”, and Michael Pollan, author of “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food”. This film came out this past week and is getting a lot of press and attention, which is not to the benefit of agriculture in my opinion. It is not surprising that it does not leave a good impression or that “Rockwell” image of our agricultural industry. It basically challenges the modern way to produce or food. It is trying to force one segment of our society’s convictions on all of us. I think it is very dangerous to try to force American agriculture to fit into a "right way, our way" concept. Consumers around the world will continue to demand and receive affordable, nutritious foods produced in a sustainable manner by farmers using modern agricultural technologies. Freedom to grow and produce food in the manner farmers' choose is the only way American agriculture will meet future demand. What is discouraging to me is that I have not really seen anything from the ag industry countering this attack via film other than a web site put up by Monsanto www.monsanto.com/foodinc/ Once again we are just sitting, letting this stuff go on without even much of a whimper. Ok now let’s look at another item that is concerning to me. There has been an effort by fringe groups to influence how our young people think. There are books that are in even our local libraries that portray animal agriculture in bad light, and try to discourage young people from eating meat. They even skewer the real story on food production and where our food actually comes from. I actually had one book in hand that my daughter got for me to read to my grandson. It looked innocent enough, but was appalling to me as I started reading it. I had to edit the book as I read it! This and other thinly veiled attacks on agriculture are being done in subtle ways by taking advantage of the impressionable years. Now I hear that schools, even schools in our area, are adopting policies like “Meatless Mondays” in their lunch programs in the name of health, unwittingly falling into the hands of animal rights advocates and environmental fringe groups. Once again, to subtly impact the thinking process of our young people, even right here in Nebraska and Kansas. Former Beatle, Paul McCartney is one of those behind that effort. He's asking fans to go meatless on Mondays, in sort of a modified old-school Lent, in the misguided attempt to slow global warming by reducing emissions of farm animals. He is an outspoken member of HSUS and PETA and is using his fame to accomplish the means of this and other fringe groups. Now I can spend a couple of pages on movie stars, rock stars, even some country stars, TV networks etc. and their attempts to influence our thinking and progress their own agendas, but will save that for later. There are so many things, so little time and paper room. We will also have to wait to discuss other issues that are hot in my mind-- like Cap and Trade Legislation; a possible resurgence of the so called EPA Cow Flatulence Tax; Clean Water Restoration Act (CWRA); Prop 2; and now to top it off our 4-H and FFA Exhibitors are being challenged by PETA who insist that they need to have a background check before showing at State Fairs in order to be in full compliance with the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which could be a synonym for “Another Wacky Attempt” to undermine animal agriculture. Gosh I hope they stay away from County Fair – I’m not in the mood for that! Give me a break! The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu