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10 mega myths about farming to remember on your next grocery run
Washington Post ^ | July 24, 2017 | Jenna Gallegos

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: agriculture; foodsupply; grocery
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To: cherry

Right you are. Three-fourths of farms don not sell enough product to support the producer, who is more of a hobbyist that relies on non-farm income.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/gallery/chart-detail/?chartId=58288


41 posted on 07/26/2017 4:23:06 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: artichokegrower

Farmers are pro illegals.

They will ALWAYS work for cheap labor.


42 posted on 07/26/2017 4:24:36 PM PDT by NoLibZone (He's racist,homophobic,misogynist and has a concealed carry permit- God how I adore that man!)
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To: MarMema

Tater chips, not corn chips. Them’s from Indiana.


43 posted on 07/26/2017 4:29:14 PM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: artichokegrower

11. Every person who is an American of African Descent raised pigs during the Obama Administration until the white man came and closed down all those pig farms in those apartments and then Obama gave them back their pigs.

False.

He gave them each $50,000 from the US Taxpayers.

“So, you’re claiming to be a pig farmer?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you feed your pigs?”

“You know....like regular pig food.”

“And that would be?”

“Uh, hay. Hay and kibbles.”


44 posted on 07/26/2017 4:32:50 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: erlayman

In a small state like Connecticut, which used to be largely agricultural...every so often, a developer will buy land, build a nice housing development, and the dairy farm that borders the development starts to *smell* to the new home owners; legal entanglements ensue, and the old farm goes broke; even if it has been there for generations.

NIMBY mind set.


45 posted on 07/26/2017 4:33:12 PM PDT by Daffynition (The New PTSD: PRESIDENT-Trump Stress Disorder” - The LSN didn’t make Trump, so they can’t break h)
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To: robroys woman

I can only speak for the farms in my part of our state and not one is owned by large corporations.

We have some large farm owners but they are family owned.


46 posted on 07/26/2017 4:37:55 PM PDT by tiki
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To: jjotto

“more of a hobbyist that relies on non-farm income.”

My buddy’s dad became a “gentleman farmer” on his 50 acre farm he got after he retired from teaching. All of his kids say his mom was actually the force behind that idea, just to get him off the couch and out of the house.


47 posted on 07/26/2017 5:05:50 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.")
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To: TheNext

There is virtually no dairy farm in the US except for the Amish that uses Americans to milk cows.


48 posted on 07/26/2017 5:40:27 PM PDT by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come 'round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: TheNext

There is virtually no dairy farm in the US except for the Amish that uses Americans to milk cows.


49 posted on 07/26/2017 5:40:28 PM PDT by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come 'round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: ifinnegan
10. Chemicals are the biggest threat to food safety

So what is?

50 posted on 07/26/2017 5:45:55 PM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: Teacher317

I suspect that Mexicans using the fields for a bathroom is the chief threat to food safety.


51 posted on 07/26/2017 5:48:51 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: Teacher317

Mexicans shitting in the fields


52 posted on 07/26/2017 5:54:36 PM PDT by Noamie
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To: jjotto
The USDA Census of Agriculture from 2015 lists 32 million acres of corporate-owned land out of 284 million acres of farmland.

********** "Corportate-owned" can be a confusing term.

Many farms are family-owned, but the business structure may use a corporation that is closely-held by the members of the farm family. One common arrangement is to have a corporation (or corporations) that owns some of the land, while the actual farm operations are being conducted by an LLC that is owned/controlled by the same family members. The LLC leases the land from the corporation that owns the real estate, even though all the legal entities are owned/controlled by the same family members.

So one person could argue that it is a family farm and a second person could argue that it is corporate farm, and both would technically be true statements.

53 posted on 07/26/2017 5:57:16 PM PDT by leftcoaster
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To: TheNext
If you cannot pick your own crops, you have too much farm.

The Middle Ages called. They want you back.

54 posted on 07/26/2017 6:08:22 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: Jim Robinson
"We don’t need farmers. We can just buy our food at the grocery store."

Folks, he's right again!

55 posted on 07/26/2017 6:13:57 PM PDT by moehoward
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To: moehoward; Jim Robinson

56 posted on 07/26/2017 6:25:27 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west))
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To: ifinnegan

3. Farming is traditional and low tech”””

I challenge you to find out the p;rice of a new tractor—combine—cornpicker—or any other piece of farming equipment.

Try the website Machinery Pete.


57 posted on 07/26/2017 6:38:06 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: FredZarguna

“There is virtually no dairy farm in the US except for the Amish that uses Americans to milk cows.”

Funny how the owners of those farms will always say they “can’t find any American’s to do the job”, but always leave out the part about “at the low wages I’m paying.”


58 posted on 07/26/2017 7:40:03 PM PDT by Carthego delenda est
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To: MarMema

>> All the Lays chips you eat were grown in northern Michigan <<

Is that because the chip plants don’t do well in the warmer climates down south?

Or maybe the soil chemistry of northern Michigan is uniquely helpful for chip farming, sorta like the soil around Vidalia GA is great for onions?


59 posted on 07/26/2017 7:41:20 PM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: blueunicorn6

>> I thought they grew iron ore in Northern Michigan? <<

Maybe the soil that produces good iron orchards is in a different county from the soil that produces good chip orchards? After all, northern MI is a big place.

Also, I wonder if they need to use a lot of immigrant labor at harvest time to pull the ore and the chips down from the trees?

Or maybe the farmers now have harvesting machines to do the work?


60 posted on 07/26/2017 7:51:01 PM PDT by Hawthorn
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