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When is a Farm not a Farm?
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Does it Matter?
Does it make a difference that we are deceived by companies calling themselves farms when they aren't? Does it make a difference when we buy food closer to the source?
Obviously there must be a desire on the part of the consumer to be buying food closer to the source. Otherwise, millions wouldn't be spent by corporations creating an illusion of "fresh from the farm." Here are some things for your consideration:
- When a company calls itself a farm, and it isn't, the consumer is being mislead. If the company misleads us about that, how trustworthy are they on other issues such as quality and safety?
- You may be getting an inferior product. Many food products on the supermarket shelf are covered with homey old-time American farming images, but actually contain imports and blends of ingredients that cheapen the product.
- You may be paying too much. For example, one well known national mail order "fresh fruit from the tree" gift box company is actually selling fruit from local warehouses around the country, which is the same source that all of the supermarkets get most of their fruit. When you take a good hard look at the prices you may be paying as much as $16 per pound of not-so-fresh cherries that have been sitting in a warehouse in cold storage. These are the same cherries for which the growers have been paid less than a dollar a pound.
Buying Directly from the Grower has Advantages
Buying directly from the grower means that you are buying from real people who care about the quality and safety of the food we all eat, as well as the long term inportance of agriculture to our communities and country. Fresher, more economical food and better knowledge about nutrition and healthy eating are just the start. You are becoming an informed consumer, in charge of your own life and health and making your own decisions.
- When you buy directly from the grower you are buying from people who are intimately involved with the fruit and have a profound commitment to quality.
- You are helping to sustain the rural community and farming families.
- You are making independent food choices for your own health and not relying on impersonal companies to do your thinking for you.
- You are helping to prevent America from becoming dependent on foreign countries for our food.
More articles about family farming-
More articles about farming policy-
- Lords of the Land
There is no doubt that domestic farm policy has failed America's family farmers. Throughout the century America's network of family farms has been steadily eroding. This crisis has reached a fever pitch in the last few years.
- Merchants of Greed
In another era they would have been called "the robber barons." Today, the ADMs, the Cargills, the ConAgras, the IBPs, the Smithfield Foods, the Tysons, the Chiquitas and other corporate agribusiness behemoths which produce and manufacture our food have become the merchants of greed.
- Freedom to Fail
How U.S. Farming Policies Have Helped Agribusiness And Pushed Family Farmers Toward Extinction
- American Farm Bureau Federation : The Enemy Within
Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness From a Public Interest Perspective
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