<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Farmers take the hit as the CAFO model comes under pressure]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by John former Marine http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/ Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:19:19 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/1 Those poor "farmers"....

...will be better off, as will the rest of us, when factory farming is a thing of the past.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

]]> Those poor "farmers"....

...will be better off, as will the rest of us, when factory farming is a thing of the past.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin.

]]> Comment #2 by amazingdrx http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/ Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:44:18 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/2 Once the meat giants flee

The food we eat will be even worse, as industry self (no) regulation turns into active deregulation, that is the total avoidance of even civil suits, the last feeble remaining chance to restrain corruption.

The Peanut Corporation of America, for instance,  reorganized as the Peanut Corporation of Mexico and/or Brazil, will not need to go chapter 11 to avoid legal action by its victims.  As it just did.

Substitute "chicken" or "hog" or pretty much every product we make here now for "peanut".

"Free" trade is in trouble, big trouble.  And that rears the dangerous head of the protectionism monster.  A behemoth that could prolong global recession long enough for the climate to tip right over the edge into permanent irreversible unstoppable catastrophe.

We are in a "bad, stinkin' spot here", to quote Pesci's character in "Casino".  

An inevitable wave of global antibiotic resistant contagion with no national healthcare will make "Night of the Living Dead" look like a picnic.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

]]> Once the meat giants flee

The food we eat will be even worse, as industry self (no) regulation turns into active deregulation, that is the total avoidance of even civil suits, the last feeble remaining chance to restrain corruption.

The Peanut Corporation of America, for instance,  reorganized as the Peanut Corporation of Mexico and/or Brazil, will not need to go chapter 11 to avoid legal action by its victims.  As it just did.

Substitute "chicken" or "hog" or pretty much every product we make here now for "peanut".

"Free" trade is in trouble, big trouble.  And that rears the dangerous head of the protectionism monster.  A behemoth that could prolong global recession long enough for the climate to tip right over the edge into permanent irreversible unstoppable catastrophe.

We are in a "bad, stinkin' spot here", to quote Pesci's character in "Casino".  

An inevitable wave of global antibiotic resistant contagion with no national healthcare will make "Night of the Living Dead" look like a picnic.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

]]> Comment #3 by BornOnANebraskaFarm http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/ Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:41:48 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/3 Farmers

Folks, these are real families we are talking about. In the end, it would have been great if they wouldn't have got into the industrialized chicken farms in the first place. However, that's the kind of economic development that was available to allow them to stay in their rural areas.  What could have helped was a Producers Protection Act, that 19 AGs proposed in the early part of the decade and which Tyson, Perdue and Pilgrim's fought tooth and nail. At least they would have had some protection on their contracts.  There aren't a lot of options for folks in some of these areas.  My heart goes out to them.

Eating local makes you happy.

]]> Farmers

Folks, these are real families we are talking about. In the end, it would have been great if they wouldn't have got into the industrialized chicken farms in the first place. However, that's the kind of economic development that was available to allow them to stay in their rural areas.  What could have helped was a Producers Protection Act, that 19 AGs proposed in the early part of the decade and which Tyson, Perdue and Pilgrim's fought tooth and nail. At least they would have had some protection on their contracts.  There aren't a lot of options for folks in some of these areas.  My heart goes out to them.

Eating local makes you happy.

]]> Comment #4 by amazingdrx http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/ Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:59:07 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/4 Real farm families

I hear you.  Real farm families will lose their land over this CAFO bankruptcy.  We would like to buy renewable energy from them and organic food and make US all whole again.  A diversion of  agribizz subsidies to a program to subsidize farm biogas, wind, and solar power for the grid could make it happen.

And then it would be justice to confiscate every asset of the corrupt agribizz execs and their government cronies that operate criminal conspiracies like this.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

]]> Real farm families

I hear you.  Real farm families will lose their land over this CAFO bankruptcy.  We would like to buy renewable energy from them and organic food and make US all whole again.  A diversion of  agribizz subsidies to a program to subsidize farm biogas, wind, and solar power for the grid could make it happen.

And then it would be justice to confiscate every asset of the corrupt agribizz execs and their government cronies that operate criminal conspiracies like this.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

]]> Comment #5 by cajohncox http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/ Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:15:59 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/5 More Sinister Then You Think

Columbus Ohio is fighting the siting of the nations largest chicken confinement facility. I wish that the capacity numbers were close to accurate in Meat Wagon. It is now possible for Agri Industry to confine 400,000 birds in one "barn". Last year an Iowa based corporation filed a permit to operate a facility housing 6 million layers at a single site.  Proposing construction of 15 so called barns each to contain 400,000 laying hens, this would be the largest single site facility in the United States. All less than 50 miles from Columbus, Ohio, the facility would locate in the watershed from which the city draws its drinking water.

Often targeting low income communities, this operation would locate in a depressed rural area where 3 million chickens are already packed in with 740 address points in three miles.  Of course, existing facilities would benefit from the new installation. They would be allowed to expand to feed the constant supply of pullets (young laying hens) necessary to replace dying birds.  The result, 11 million chickens in a 3 mile area the highest concentration anywhere in the U.S.

The old argument that if you live in a rural community you should expect to live with agriculture does not hold up. You simply could not put 6 million birds on just over 300 acres before. Most of the families impacted are small farmers who will be forced out of business, not because of vertical integration and lack mechanisms that ensure they can bring their crops to market, because know one wants to raise their children where flies swarm in biblical proportions and 160,000 tons of manure can be stored in open buildings for up to 8 months.

We can hope that the new administration will not turn a blind eye to the potential health risks of this type of folly. Unfortunately, Ohio has taken way all local control to regulate such facilities. The state now determines which rural communities will be sacrificed in the name of agricultural progress.

Cheryl http://www.myspace.com/nomorechickens


]]> More Sinister Then You Think

Columbus Ohio is fighting the siting of the nations largest chicken confinement facility. I wish that the capacity numbers were close to accurate in Meat Wagon. It is now possible for Agri Industry to confine 400,000 birds in one "barn". Last year an Iowa based corporation filed a permit to operate a facility housing 6 million layers at a single site.  Proposing construction of 15 so called barns each to contain 400,000 laying hens, this would be the largest single site facility in the United States. All less than 50 miles from Columbus, Ohio, the facility would locate in the watershed from which the city draws its drinking water.

Often targeting low income communities, this operation would locate in a depressed rural area where 3 million chickens are already packed in with 740 address points in three miles.  Of course, existing facilities would benefit from the new installation. They would be allowed to expand to feed the constant supply of pullets (young laying hens) necessary to replace dying birds.  The result, 11 million chickens in a 3 mile area the highest concentration anywhere in the U.S.

The old argument that if you live in a rural community you should expect to live with agriculture does not hold up. You simply could not put 6 million birds on just over 300 acres before. Most of the families impacted are small farmers who will be forced out of business, not because of vertical integration and lack mechanisms that ensure they can bring their crops to market, because know one wants to raise their children where flies swarm in biblical proportions and 160,000 tons of manure can be stored in open buildings for up to 8 months.

We can hope that the new administration will not turn a blind eye to the potential health risks of this type of folly. Unfortunately, Ohio has taken way all local control to regulate such facilities. The state now determines which rural communities will be sacrificed in the name of agricultural progress.

Cheryl http://www.myspace.com/nomorechickens


]]> Comment #6 by Tom Philpott http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/ Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:02:02 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/Meat-Wagon-Layoffs-at-the-factory-farm/6 Thanks, Cheryl

400,000 birds in one building -- that's just stunning. I've got to look into this Columbus deal. As margins tighten in the industry, you're going to see a scramble to cut costs -- and that means packing ever more animals into tighter spaces, and yes, of course, targeting low-income areas (including in the global south) where people lack the resources to fight back.

Victual Reality

]]> Thanks, Cheryl

400,000 birds in one building -- that's just stunning. I've got to look into this Columbus deal. As margins tighten in the industry, you're going to see a scramble to cut costs -- and that means packing ever more animals into tighter spaces, and yes, of course, targeting low-income areas (including in the global south) where people lack the resources to fight back.

Victual Reality

]]>