I'm curious as to what the ideal solution to this issue would be. In the same string, I hear complaints about outsourcing food production (I assume to other contries), I hear complaints vs. commercial farms, and I hear the brutal truth that there comes a point where some farms cannot continue to produce a food supply at a price point that the consumer is willing to support. In many respects we all wish to return to the world where everyone grew their own, but the challenge is that few are willing to really return to that life where you only had what you grew...and we're not all willing to spend that kind of time just to supply our pantry, the cost is just too high, you can buy cheaper from the store, and have time to go play, fish, or whatever.
We need to focus on what we really want to have happen. Do we want a source of reasonably priced abundant food supply that we have now? Would we rather a similar priced supply but produced elsewhere because we've regulated out our own production infrastructure? Would it be better to have a more expensive food supply produced via alternative methods? Today we have the choice, and we each vote with our pocketbooks, however there are those that feel that their choice should be the choice of us all. It will be decisions like this that will shape the face of American agriculture, we must be prepared to live with those decisions, as there will be no turning back, and that will determine the fate of many who rely on farming as not only a job but as a way of life and as a heritage.
