The Prairie Star: Montana Ag Newspaper

As the media bombards the public with stories of high food prices and increased Farm Bill subsidies, I have been considering the implications of public perceptions of food.

The fact that Americans are becoming farther removed from the reality of food production is no surprise. In the past 50 years, the percentage of the total population living on the farm has decreased 15 percent. Most Americans are now at least three generations removed from farming, so the only time children visit the farm anymore is when the class takes a field trip to the local pumpkin patch.

Removing the firsthand knowledge of farm life and food production has left the population vulnerable to misinformation. Organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) work diligently to convince people that all animals raised for consumption are mistreated on corporate farms despite the fact that more than 90 percent of the farms in the U.S. are owned and operated by families. Of the 3 percent of farms owned by corporations, 90 percent are family owned businesses that have incorporated simply for the business benefits of a corporate structure. Since most people will never visit a typical American farm and see cattle grazing freely in a pasture, this myth is difficult to combat.

When a video of animal mistreatment is discovered, the press distributes it hourly for several consecutive days. Their features on responsible animal stewardship are few and far between.

Likewise, grain producers are villainized for using fertilizer and chemicals on their crops to increase production. Urban critics decry the use of land for crops and livestock grazing. Some work tirelessly to raise funds to buy land in order to turn it back to the “wild,” and groups like the World Wildlife Federation and the Nature Conservancy collect donations with that goal in mind.

Urban sprawl encroaches 3,000 acres of productive farmland per day. While farmers are typically blamed for the disappearance of native grasslands in this country, the truth is that farmland acres are actually decreasing even as the population grows and requires more food.

Thanks in part to the media and the money behind environmental activist groups, the public’s view of production agriculture is becoming increasingly skewed. It should come as no surprise that when food prices begin to inch upward at the same time that a Farm Bill is passed, the animosity toward farmers (and the government that subsidizes them) is growing.

Apparently, many people in this nation want cheaper food but fewer subsidies to farmers. They want cheaper food but fewer acres in production. They want cheaper food but fewer chemicals and fertilizers applied to increase the supply. They want cheaper food but more vigorous food safety standards.

It seems that it would be impossible to satisfy those demands, especially because Americans themselves seem to be confused by what they want. Why is it there such an uproar about food price increases when families consume one third of their calories at a restaurant? One fourth of all Americans consume fast food once a day. Wouldn’t thrifty shopping at a grocery store and scaling back on takeout offset the higher prices of foods?

The nation has become so accustomed to eating out that children are convinced that fast food is a preferable means of nutrition. Last summer, a study revealed that preschoolers preferred food wrapped in a McDonald’s package to food wrapped in plain packaging. Even the McDonald’s carrots tasted better to them.

Adults are making similarly poor nutrition choices. Today’s adult consumes 20 percent more calories than the typical adult of 20 years ago, and most of those calories come from fats and oils. And while I don’t have a statistic handy to support my hypothesis, my guess is that the more urbanized our society becomes, the fewer calories are burned. A person just doesn’t expend the same amount of energy at a desk that is expended while pitching hay to livestock or walking miles of fenceline.

The bottom line is this: if the American public wants food, American farmers will provide it. In a perfect world, the public would be willing to pay a price for that food that would ensure enough profit for the farmer that he would be able to feed his own family and maintain his business. However, as we all know, this is not a perfect world. Americans are not willing to spend more than 10 to 12 percent of their income on food. Middlemen must be paid to process and package the food. And headlines touting “billions in farm subsidies” included in the Farm Bill fail to mention that more than two thirds of the money appropriated in the bill will cover food stamps and other nutrition programs.

Those details that are seldom reported by major media outlets allow the public to point a finger of blame directly at production agriculture. It reaffirms one of my strongly held beliefs; production agriculture must do a better job of promoting public relations and painting a more accurate picture of the origins of food.

© 2008 Erin Slivka

www.raisingcountrykids.com

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