You listen to Mark Baker of Bakers Green Acres vent about his run-in with the state of Michigan over its plan to ban heritage breeds of pigs, and he could be a raw dairy producer. There’s the same amazement-turned-outrage that his own government could be coming down on small farmers like him producing nutritious tasty food.
Interestingly, the fact that he isn’t a raw milk producer probably gives him more credibility. Nothing weird about pork, after all, most everyone eats some at one time or another.
But what’s really going on here? Something not all that different from what goes on in the dairy industry, or the chicken and beef industries. An article on the web site of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund explains the legal and farm situations very clearly.
Obviously, the state and Big Ag’s Michigan Pork Producers Association don’t like small farms raising nutrient-dense food. But why? Because these outfits want total control of the market, in particular, control of the sources of supply. Here are three ways they seek to gain control:
1. They try, in this case, to limit the specie options. In the dairy arena, they try to eliminate an entire category of food (raw milk, and products made from raw milk). Of course, it’s the species diversity and the raw milk that growing numbers of consumers truly want, and are willing to pay extra for. To anyone who says the MI Pork Producers Association is trying to limit competition, the organization will reply that, no, any farmer can produce the one or two species that are still allowed. But, of course, small farms that are limited to producing the same breeds as the big producers have no way to set themselves apart, and are forced to become part of the commodity economy. You want American Species Pork at $3 a pound or $6 a pound? If pork-is-pork-is-pork, then you’ll insist on it at $3 a pound.
2. They want to force small pork producers to remain serfs forever, as part of the Big Ag vertically-integrated marketplace, where prices are dictated by the major processors. Small farmers who sell direct to consumers threaten the vertically integrated industry model, where farmers have no pricing say.
Harper’s Magazine had an excellent article a couple months ago about “the new monopolies” and our society’s growing tolerance of monopolistic practices, compared to 50 and 60 years ago. The author described the marketplace for chicken producers, whereby a large producer “requires the farmers to procure from the company itself all the chicks they raise and all the feed they blow into the houses. Yet the quality of the chicks and the feed can differ tremendously, from day to day and from farm to farm…Whats more, the full-grown chickens are weighed after being trucked off the farm. The farmer is not allowed to see whether the figure on the scale is accuratenor can he tell whether the chickens hes being paid for even came from his farm. He is simply expected to take the money he is given and say thank you.” As I said, sounds a lot like the dairy processors as well.
3. They want to eliminate private membership contract options. It’s not just small farms they are after, but private hunting enclaves that stock heritage pigs. Now, these places may be distasteful because they they don’t necessarily promote animal welfare.
But it’s the private part that is important here. Food clubs and herdshares are being challenged by government lawyers, and the judiciary is going along, on the grounds they aren’t truly private. The more Big Ag can reinforce this argument,such as with private hunting clubs, the less chance of protection we’ll all have.
The Michigan hog situation is getting lots of attention online, and that’s good. It’s helping educate the public about the government’s real intentions in limiting food choice. Those intentions have nothing to do with safety, and have everything to do with protecting big business. Moreover, I’d make a large wager that the push by the MI Department of Natural Resources against heritage pigs isn’t just the random effort of one state bureaucracy. It’s a state doing some test marketing for the feds. If it works in Michigan, the program will go regional, then national.
**
The TV show, 60 Minutes, had a segment last evening about how the health dangers associated with sugar have become the nation’s leading public health challenge. (No April Fool’s joke, I gather.) Gee, even more than raw milk? Seems the scientists are coming to realize that sugar not only causes diabetes and heart problems, but also cancer. So how long before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration begins working to get rid of sugar? No, not in our lifetimes. Going after small dairy and pork farmers is so much more fun.
These are shark infested waters for sure. I also found that many of the recent DHHS FDA recalls are centered on products with associated ” milk allergies”. Interesting….these allergies are not associated with raw milk…these allergies are actually pasteurized milk recalls buried inside and under and behind the words Milk Allergies. So, there are many recalls going on right now that are pasteurized milk or dairy product recalls but they are not officially labeled as such!!!
In CA at least, the raw milk educational tipping point has already been reached. The government can not unravel it’s lies. The more they try, the worse it gets for them.
CA just lost another 50 dairies in 2011. If pasteurized milk was so great….why is the fluid pasteurized milk dying!!!
There is something about the truth. There is no faking or denial of it. That includes the fight between the natural Pigs and the jealous CAFO Pig markets.
Teaching is so powerful. An educated consumer is damn dangerous to Food Inc. We have a real battle here.
The secret….consumer education. Outreach and teach. We the farmers have the full faith and confidence of the consumer. Dollar voting and pure market trends show clearly that consumers have little confidence or faith in the FDA.
Teach farmers…. teach!!
And they participate with this? If no sugar, what poison will be pushed on people?
consumers who are informed – either intuitively, or consciously – seek out REAL MILK. Once they experience the good stuff, they do NOT go back to the ersatz swill. They will pay the price the market demands, for genuine nutrition
It’s hard to wrap our heads around this concept, but in order to be fully informed we need to start at the beginning of something, not just pick up the science where we’re told the problems lie. Our current medical paradigm loves nothing better than to blame foods (even real nutrient dense foods) for the ills of the nation. AND – uninformed people believe all that garbage. Just like the current red meat scare.
The medical folks claim to have the fixes, doncha see? But they know nothing about real health and certainly nothing about real nutrition. People are mostly no longer sheeple and are waking up to the fact that real food is best though. This is why real food farmers are going to be facing an uphill battle for quite a long time. Things don’t change quickly in this country, it’s a painfully cumbersome process. Look at how long it’s taken, and is still taking, for people to realize that good old-fashioned butter and lard don’t cause heart disease any more than cholesterol numbers do. No, we’re a bunch of slow movers around this nation, and it’s a purpose-laden mission for the drug/medical/phood/BigAg industries.
Greetings, D. Smith.
|
| Your subscriptions on The Complete Patient
| notify you of the following changes since the previous digest:
|
===================================================== 1 of 1 (commented)
1| Author: admin
| Title: Welcome to the New (Hopefully) Improved TCP Blog Site–Some Tips to
Make It Work for You
| LINK:
http://default/article/2012/march/15/welcome-new-hopefully-improved-tcp-blog-site-some-tips-make-it-work-you
|
| Comments: 1
| —————————————————
| New comment:
| Author: influx
| Title: Thanks ! very beneficial post
Thanks ! very beneficial post! Bail Bonds Glendora
| LINK: http://default/comment/19049#comment-19049
| —————————————————
| Direct unsubscribe link (thread):
| http://default/s/del/node/nid/2504/-1/355/9951937af8b826f2f05e64a8271e36031
=====================================================
| This is an automated message. Please do NOT reply to the sender address!
| To manage your subscriptions go to
| http://default/user/355/subscriptions
[1] http://www.bailbondsglendora.info”
Michigan pigs
Inbox
x
Cindy Cunningham CCunningham@pork.org
Mar 27 (6 days ago)
to drrexdexter, Mary
Thanks for the email about the situation in Michigan. I have copied Mary Kelpinski of Michigan Pork on this email. I was unaware of this, but she may be able to shed some light on the situation.
Cindy
Cindy Cunningham
Assistant Vice President, Communications
National Pork Board
1776 NW 114th
Des Moines, Iowa 50325
515-223-2600 office
515-210-1263 cell
Please conserve our natural resources, think twice before you print this e-mail.
This message contains confidential information belonging to The National Pork Board and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by email if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses and The National Pork Board does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy from: The National Pork Board, P.O. Box 9114, Des Moines, IA 50306. Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The National Pork Board.
Ric Ohge
Mar 30 (3 days ago)
to Cindy
Dear Cindy,
The issue, because of the wording according to Senator Darwin Booher, has actually put all Small Farms that breed “Legacy” Pig Breeds into the same boat. This has evolved from a few escaped or wild pigs, that while being shown to be a problem, can’t be identified with any breed now endangered. This is the Michigan DNR totally out of control. How long will consumers watch this insipid drama and chose to stop buying “the other white meat” altogether?
Respectfully, a County Style Rib Lover,
Ric A Ohge
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/30117498?uid=3739560&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698833044627
As a raw milk producer, we walk in the mine field of the “immune weak”. We also walk among the daisies and hopeful pastures of those that yearn for a strong immune system. The immune system that is found on the farm and lost in the city with the SAD diet.
If you are going to drink raw milk…expect to experience campylobacter once in your lifetime. It is part of a whole and powerful immune system. This would be a great study for WAP to do…why not look at the campylobacter titers of raw milk drinkers verses the general population of consumers.
Science says that campy is part of the farm experience and the expected immune profile of those that drink raw milk.
Mark
Thank you again Victoria.
I’ll forward this to the webmaster. He is gradually catching up on issues here…you’ll notice, for example, the contrast in the type used for the comments is now clearer than it was at the start.
“McConnell says “there’s a lot of misinformation,” and that many of the additives are vitamins, nutrients and flavorings. ” “composed of 26 different ingredients, most of them unpronounceable for the average consumer.”
Start with poisoning the children, you’ll always have a market for pills…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/pink-slime-terry-branstad-congressional-probe_n_1397350.html?ref=food&ir=Food
“there is a spurious attack being levied against it by some groups. You can suspect who they might be. They are people who do not like meat.”
He appears not to know what reality is. I like meat, unadulterated. Unfortunately they will come back with another name and continue to ply their toxins unbeknownst to the populations.
http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/michigan-swine-iso.htm#1
They ask if “decisions are based on science or media headlines”? Uh what about what the consumer wants? Is that not a major factor for selling something? They obviously do NOT want the public to be informed.
http://pingree.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=776:introducing-real-beef-act-to-require-pink-slime-labeling&catid=8:breaking-news&Itemid=
I post this because they are trying to do damage control….and as advocates we may also see the various ways they are attacking our food system. Know your enemy so you can fight more effectively.
Don’t hold your breath on FTCLDF, their track record is getting farmers into trouble, not out of trouble.
Good consolidation of information. This link and Victoria’s have gone out to our organizational contacts–just need many more.. . . .
All farmers that are bucking the system and producing whole unprocessed food and selling to consumers are by definition going to get into some kind of trouble. That is the nature of the fight. Even if FTCLDF gets some farmers deeper into some conflict….that is also the nature of this fight. We are all going to get deeper into this mess until we start to emerge from this mess.
The movie Hunger Games is fueling the consumer awakening and consciousness. Expect a perfect storm. Batten down the hatches and bring your consumers as close to you as possible. They are your life boat and life preserver, and your are theirs!!
I also see a possible near miss of the Grand Tidal Wave….as we approach the truth as it emerges, we see more and more government agencies realizing that we are right and the consumer GUT ain’t lying. At least I see this in some states. Other states just suck.
Mark
Along the way, the information put out by the Farm to Consumer people has been very helpful to us, even though we’re in Canada, and their stuff pertains to the US
last week the Health Authority slapped a Cease + Desist Order on us. Yesterday another Branch of the provincial govt. dropped by demanding the property owners must get a licence. We’ll just take it in stride, and keep on a’dairying… apparently bureaucrats need a piece of paper to cool them out, so, OK, I’ll give them one
If Barney Google or anyone else has genuinely helpful information about coping with idiots in high places (for a change of pace from his relentless, miserable pessimism) I’d be happy to hear it
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Lawsuit-Challenging-FDA-Raw-Milk-Policy-Dismissed–145925025.html
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A federal judge in Iowa has rejected a lawsuit that sought to expand access to raw milk by challenging a Food and Drug Administration rule that bans interstate shipments of unpasteurized milk.
U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett in Sioux City dismissed the two-year-old case filed by a nationwide group of raw milk drinkers, producers, and distributors. The lawsuit contends the FDA rule allowing only pasteurized milk to be sold across state lines violates their constitutional rights to travel freely and decide what to feed their families.
FDA officials say it focuses enforcement on distributors and producers not individuals.
Bennett dismissed the case concluding the raw milk supporters have not suffered an injury because the government has made it clear it doesn’t plan on enforcing the regulations against individuals.
“As Catherine Lord points out, it perhaps isn’t so important to know how or why the autism rate is rising at this point.”
OMG! This is the “director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain”….. What a foolish statement. I suppose if you look at it from their eyes, more money for the drug companies, etc.
I hope Montana Jones isn’t put in too much hardship over it, but it’s a great thing to have Canadian Farmers standing up against evil like this!
Supporting the small farmer. Stark and ugly reality of our times. Beautiful black and white photos. I hope they have a landslide turnout.
In the judge’s scheme of things, the injury would likely occur if FDA agents arrested and fined or jailed you for bringing raw milk across state lines. The FDA has declined to go after individual consumers because it fears it would stir up a hornet’s nest of upset consumers, and possibly lose in court. Seems as if the judge doesn’t think consumers being forced to travel a long ways for their raw milk are being “injured.” But he did seem open to the possibility that a food club manager, like Eric Wagoner, might have been “injured” had it been the FDA directly that went after him, rather than the Georgia Department of Agriculture.