Farmers trying to cultivate new image (response to Food Inc; beware the spin)

[lindisfarne]

http://www.startribune.com/business/48630042.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DUs

Weary of their standing among consumers, farmers, farm organ-
izations and agribusinesses have begun spinning back with
websites and YouTube videos, some done with slick narration
and lighting. Field trips and speaking campaigns have been
organized to "educate" urban media reporters and
diners alike.

"They don't seem to believe anything we tell them,"
said Andy Quinn, a corn farmer and ethanol plant member in
Litchfield, Minn.

The debate over what's served on your dinner plate comes at a
portentous time for conventional farms and agribusiness, with
a new Democratic administration in the White House that dines
on food grown in the First Lady's back-yard garden. 
...
Monsanto went further, launching a website, www.
monsanto.com/foodinc, that argues that the growing global
demand for food will require conventional farming with
fertilizers, herbicides and genetically modified seeds. It's
an easy argument to make, actually, since organic food sales
last year were a mere $24.6 billion, about 3.5 percent of
total U.S. food sales, according to the Organic Trade
Association. "A rounding error," joked Hirschberg,
of Stonyfield Farms.

=============
The article also cites some small conventional farmers. While
it's true that they are unlikely to have conditions equivalent
to confined animal feedlot organizations, the factory farms
are the ones who produce the vast majority of the meat out
there.

And even a "small family farm" can keep 10,000
chickens in horrible conditions, or sows in gestation boxes
(who are so poorly bred that their ankles can break when they
walk on them - see Temple Grandin's Animals Make Us Human).

[vadawg]

1. lol i love to see it referred to as the first ladies garden,

id be interested to know how much work she puts into it, and how long before the novelty wears off, and yes personally i dont like her (no idea why, just something about her rubs me the wrong way).

[lindisfarne]

7. Gardening isn't all that much work once the seeds are in. A little weeding, check for pests,

remove pests, research organic methods for dealing with pests (I'm sure she can get the info. quicker than I can).
Then you pick the goodies.
The real work goes into preparing the soil before planting!

[Badgerman]

2. HERE'S the REAL story at this link...

http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/90/90-2/Jerri_Cook.html

Read that and then start asking questions about our 'Farmers' and the oh so caring Agri-Chem companies.

Better living with Monsanto!!! All HAil!

[tabbycat31]

3. just like those STUPID HFCS commercials

[madmom]

4. The "small family farms" around here consists of a few families bought up all the

fields, contract them out while they spent their time traveling or living in Florida.On top of all that they get their government subsidies to help them along..poor farmers!

[msongs]

5. step ONE - eliminate all farm welfare subsidies nt

[Hannah Bell]

6. only if you want ag & timber land turned into subdivisions & food security offshored.