Posted on 07/26/2017 2:45:39 PM PDT by artichokegrower
Most of us don’t spend our days plowing fields or wrangling cattle. We’re part of the 99 percent of Americans who eat food, but don’t produce it. Because of our intimate relationship with food, and because it's so crucial to our health and the environment, people should be very concerned about how it’s produced. But we don’t always get it right. Next time you’re at the grocery store, consider these 10 modern myths about the most ancient occupation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Most farms are corporate-owned
MegaMyth #1:
Farmers are Patriotic Conservatives.
This notion does not survive First Contact with the attempt to cut their favorite subsidies out of the Federal Budget.
Behind a paywall, though.
Not linking to slime. But, given that it’s the WaPo, most of us in the real world would have probably already been aware of the info.
When I moved to Western Kansas, I was surprised to learn that farmers were not universally liked. In fact most people did not care for them.
I personally liked them OK.
How much...?
Click the article and scan thru some of the info....
The USDA Census of Agriculture from 2015 lists 32 million acres of corporate-owned land out of 284 million acres of farmland.
https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Newsroom/2015/08_31_2015.php
I guess if you don’t like farmers you could boycott their product and not eat. That’ll show them.
A lot of family farming operations have filed articles of incorporation to protect personal assets. Does this make them a corporate farm?
Without looking it up, I believe farm corporations owned exclusively by relatives are not officially considered corporate farms by the USDA, for good reason. Family corporations are pretty much the norm where farming is actually the main source of income.
JR Simplot is a family owned farming operation. Would you consider it a corporate farm? It a privately held company owned by the Simplot family
Simplot
The J. R. Simplot Company (commonly referred to as Simplot) was founded in 1929 by 20-year-old John Richard Simplot near the small agricultural community of Declo in south central Idaho. During the early 1940s the business expanded, serving the military dehydrated onions and potatoes during World War II. The firm was legally incorporated as the J. R. Simplot Company in 1955.
Company founder J. R. Simplot (1909-2008)
Simplot made billions from the commercialization of frozen french fries by one of its scientists, chemist Ray L. Dunlap. By the early 1970s it was the primary supplier of french fries to McDonald’s; by 2005 it supplied more than half of all french fries for the fast food chain. Simplot also produces fertilizers for agriculture the mining of which has been a cause of recent environmental concerns.
Simplot is now one of the largest privately owned companies in the world (ranked 59th in Private Companies by Forbes magazine in 2004) and has branches in Australia, Canada, Mexico, China, and several other regions. One of the major plants is in Caldwell, Idaho.
A view of the Simplot plant in Caldwell, Idaho, circa 1930-1945. The caption in the image states “World’s Largest Dehydrating Plant.”
J. R. Simplot retired as president of his company in 1973, but remained involved for many years. He stepped down as chairman of the board in 1994, and held the title of Chairman Emeritus until his death in 2008
These are their myths
1. Most farms are corporate-owned
2. Food is expensive
3. Farming is traditional and low tech
4. A pesticide is a pesticide is a pesticide
5. Organic farmers and conventional farmers don’t get along
6. A GMO is a GMO is a GMO
7. Only meat with a “hormone-free” label is hormone free
8. Only meat with an “antibiotic-free” label is antibiotic free
9. Foods labeled “natural” are produced differently
10. Chemicals are the biggest threat to food safety
I know that reading the article is undesirable. Here is a link to a portion of it. Less corporate farming than you’d think
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=58288
“10 mega myths”
So, what are they?
(I am not going to go through some click-bait to find out.)
No
You can pick which selections to responsibly support. Or go live across from a hog/beef/sheep farm and eat it there.
The description of Simplot you posted may be an ‘agribusiness’, but it is not a description of farming, corporate or otherwise.
Normally, food processors buy or contract produce from farmers and do not own the land or raise crops themselves. Many states prevent or discourage food processor ownership of land used for crop or livestock production.
We don’t need farmers. We can just buy our food at the grocery store.
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