Fox News showed it on the news, I could not believe my eyes. Personally I think it is outrageous what these farmers are doing.
I think the articls sets out quite clearly why farmers are doing what they have to do.
You can't really believe the farmers are doing these things willingly, can you?
I used to farm and I'm damn sure this is very hard, both physically and mentally on the farmers.
By way of example;
The decision was made more than 293 days ago to send the hogs to market this week. It started with the sows and boars being put together.
Since that time every bit of financing, space, feed, water, transportation, and a whole host of other things were spoken for by these hogs.
When the packing plants are closed, that whole cycle, which is repeated week after week, is thrown into chaos, and something has to give.
The result is more than a years work and planning has to simply be killed and buried instead of providing food for people who want it.
What can they do? If you can't find prompt buyers, you can't afford to keep these tens of thousands of tons of food in storage. Nor can you keep feeding your animals on the hoof as they get older and older. You gonna sell them for prices so low, they can't afford their production costs? You gonna work month after month to get deeper and deeper in debt?
Let the govt. buy up all the surplus and turn it into canned meat and dried milk and blocks of cheese, like they did in my parents' day. Then stop the "Food Stamp" program and distribute only these surpluses to the people who need them.
At least it would be a tiny bit harder to scam that (like people do with EBT cards) for lottery tickets, tattoos and hair weaves.
The heavily subsidized farming industry will survive and they could care less if you do. When you drive across the midwest it is shocking to see signs in these massive fields that have corporation names on them.
Dont think so... look up prices on farming equipment. Fox news should talk about the dollars in subsidies. They are assisting in never letting a crisis go without trillions in aid from your kids tables.