farmageddon Anyone seen this?

[tungularafishcamp]

farmageddon

Just watched this last night, netflix has it on the instant watch stuff.

It was pretty interesting/scary stuff about just how far our governmental agencies can and will go to squash the small independent farmer. Makes you wonder if maybe some of those rural firefights that happen every so often might get started this way? Have any of you had similar experiences?

 

[IndyIan]

I just watched the trailer, I'll have to check it out. Joel Salatin is always entertaining and makes alot of sense from a sustainability and small farming view point.

 

[texasjohn]

couldn't find much about it. Seems to relate to raw milk maybe?

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Raw milk was part of it, more about how BIG AG is using government agencies to stifle small farmers. At least that was the biggest thing I took from it, be interesting to see what some of the sharper tools in this tbn shed take from it.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Your take on this will depend on how much you go for Alex Jones style conspiracy theories. The world has changed. Agriculture has changed. Small farmers farm in their spare time and work in town to make a living. That's just the way things are and always have been. There's a niche for people who sell value added products like jams and jellies, cheese, or fresh produce, but the customer base is limited and the opportunity for expansion is limited by the available labor within a family.

 

[Gator6x4]

farmageddon

Just watched this last night, netflix has it on the instant watch stuff.

It was pretty interesting/scary stuff about just how far our governmental agencies can and will go to squash the small independent farmer. Makes you wonder if maybe some of those rural firefights that happen every so often might get started this way? Have any of you had similar experiences?

I don't believe what we see in a movie should be considered as factual. In my youth I watched many a Superman movie and I can't fly yet. Why? Am I doing something wrong? I watch movies all the time but consider them for what they are fantasys.

 

[creekbend]

About three weeks ago, there was a documentary about corn production in Mexico and Guatemala. It seems that there has been airborne contamination from the production of Monsanto hybrid corn. The report stated that up wards of 60% of the corn varieties that the farmers had used and seeded for centuries failed to germinate because of the cross pollination from the fields planted by the Monsanto hybrid seed crops. The documentary showed various small groups of farmers in these Countries uniting to form alliances to lobby their governments to control the widespread corn production from these hybrid seeds. They showed aerial photos where thousands of acres of hybrid corn was planted. The fields located near them didn't even produce one ear of corn and the stalks were dying.

 

[dave1949]

I haven't seen the movie, did watch the trailer.

I don't have many doubts that the FDA and USDA are controlled by corporate interests and have been for a long time now. Just look at who finances the campaigns against more complete and honest food labeling--from Monsanto to the American Grocer's Association.

I suspect that when agents bust a family-run raw milk farm, no senator's or representative's office gets a phone call from a heavy campaign donor. Like many areas in law enforcement, the enforcement is not equally applied. I think that's just a reality of how the world works more than an overt government plan to ruin family farms.

I know of a middle-age couple living on 28 acres in St. Albans, Maine that were licensed to operate a raw goat milk dairy. The state agent worked with them and was accommodating to their situation which kept the required investment down. Agents aren't going to cooperate with people who aren't doing the required testing and following sanitary procedures, nor should they.

 

[texasjohn]

I've been both to Guatemala and Mexico and seen how the natives crop there....tiny plots worked by hand, or with animal labor. I can easily believe that corporate ag has purchased large plots and applied large crop practices there. I'd believe that herbicide/management practices affected nearby small growers. Reason crops dying?? Changed drainage patterns, herbicide, insecticide, who knows...I don't understand how pollination would kill a corn plant...affect the seed and the next year's crop, perhaps.

About three weeks ago, there was a documentary about corn production in Mexico and Guatemala. It seems that there has been airborne contamination from the production of Monsanto hybrid corn. The report stated that up wards of 60% of the corn varieties that the farmers had used and seeded for centuries failed to germinate because of the cross pollination from the fields planted by the Monsanto hybrid seed crops. The documentary showed various small groups of farmers in these Countries uniting to form alliances to lobby their governments to control the widespread corn production from these hybrid seeds. They showed aerial photos where thousands of acres of hybrid corn was planted. The fields located near them didn't even produce one ear of corn and the stalks were dying.

 

[creekbend]

I've been both to Guatemala and Mexico and seen how the natives crop there....tiny plots worked by hand, or with animal labor. I can easily believe that corporate ag has purchased large plots and applied large crop practices there. I'd believe that herbicide/management practices affected nearby small growers. Reason crops dying?? Changed drainage patterns, herbicide, insecticide, who knows...I don't understand how pollination would kill a corn plant...affect the seed and the next year's crop, perhaps.

I have never been to either Country. The documentery was on the History Channel, and I was only relating the contents of the hour long program. They showed lab results that illustrated the findings. They specicifically blamed Monsato cross polination. BTW, I am not an expert.

 

[DAY]

40+ years ago I ran a raw (goat) milk dairy in Pennsylvania. Bottled and sold it to health food stores from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. Totally legal; inspected and tested every two weeks. I don't know about the laws today.

 

[972500]

I have followed Joel Salitan for years now, he is a great man weather you want to follow what he is doing or not. What people should question is why is the goverment telling us we cant eat certain food, it should be an option and if you want to eat processed food or raw food its your choice to make. Why can people eat fast food for every meal of the day and government wont put regulations on that or people smoke 2 packs a day and drink a fifth of liquor every night and noone stops that, I'm not saying the government should stop those who smoke or drink I am saying they should let citzens make a choice for themselves rather than making it for them. I personally grew up drinking raw milk every morning, never once have gotten sick from milk but i've gotten sick from mcdonalds or wendys plenty of times and yes I still go back to those places and eat every now and then. When I went to college I obviously couldnt have fresh milk from the barn, I was 18 the first time I tasted processed milk and couldnt believe how flat it was. I just wish government would stay out of the nity grity of life and let us live, local, state, and federal included.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Your take on this will depend on how much you go for Alex Jones style conspiracy theories. The world has changed. Agriculture has changed. Small farmers farm in their spare time and work in town to make a living. That's just the way things are and always have been. There's a niche for people who sell value added products like jams and jellies, cheese, or fresh produce, but the customer base is limited and the opportunity for expansion is limited by the available labor within a family.

And if the documentary is true, expansion, is also limited by unfavorable legislation and unequal enforcement, I think we can all relate to that. Watch the part where an ununiformed fed with gun drawn is in someones house without identifying himself! Wonder how that would fly at Roy's house?

I don't believe what we see in a movie should be considered as factual. In my youth I watched many a Superman movie and I can't fly yet. Why? Am I doing something wrong? I watch movies all the time but consider them for what they are fantasys.

It is not a movie, it is a documentary, but with that said documentaries, just like movies and the evening news you are only seeing what fantasys someone wants you to see.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Bovine tuberculosis is transmitted through raw milk and attacks the bones. Often it settles in the spine. When I was a kid, you still saw frequent hunchbacks, though I think everyone who grew up before pasteurized milk has pretty well died off now.

There was a hoof and mouth outbreak a while back and people were unwilling to let their whole herd be slaughtered, but that's what it takes. Pigs, cows, horses, they all have to die, even if it was on the neighbor's farm and not yours. It's the price you pay for not having hoof and mouth in the USA.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I was reading today how rural America no longer has any political viable political force. My mind scanned my area and there is about 1/25th the number of actual farmers around but the few are mega farmers.

 

[TCJatko]

I have followed Joel Salitan for years now, he is a great man weather you want to follow what he is doing or not. What people should question is why is the goverment telling us we cant eat certain food, it should be an option and if you want to eat processed food or raw food its your choice to make. Why can people eat fast food for every meal of the day and government wont put regulations on that or people smoke 2 packs a day and drink a fifth of liquor every night and noone stops that, I'm not saying the government should stop those who smoke or drink I am saying they should let citzens make a choice for themselves rather than making it for them. I personally grew up drinking raw milk every morning, never once have gotten sick from milk but i've gotten sick from mcdonalds or wendys plenty of times and yes I still go back to those places and eat every now and then. When I went to college I obviously couldnt have fresh milk from the barn, I was 18 the first time I tasted processed milk and couldnt believe how flat it was. I just wish government would stay out of the nity grity of life and let us live, local, state, and federal included.

Surely you jest, sir. (or madam). You simply lack the intellectual capaciity to make these decisions. Let the "experts" in Washington decide what's best for you.

 

[dave1949]

In the 60's and 70's, I know public school teachers in Ohio had to be screened for tuberculosis.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

In the 60's and 70's, I know public school teachers in Ohio had to be screened for tuberculosis.

Still do here in Ak as well as all the students. Even to substitute I had to have one.

 

[creekbend]

In the 60's and 70's, I know public school teachers in Ohio had to be screened for tuberculosis.

During the years of 1967 to 1969, when I bagged groceries at a grocery store after school and on weekends, I was required to get a "Health Card". Everyone that worked in a grocery store, no matter what the job was, was required to get a "Health Card". And I had to pay for it. At the time, getting a yearly Health Card was $16.00.

 

[dave1949]

During the years of 1967 to 1969, when I bagged groceries at a grocery store after school and on weekends, I was required to get a "Health Card". Everyone that worked in a grocery store, no matter what the job was, was required to get a "Health Card". And I had to pay for it. At the time, getting a yearly Health Card was $16.00.

Ha, I started bagging in 1965. I think the pay was $1.60/hour. That would have been an expensive Health Card. I don't recall needing a health card in Ohio to work in a grocery store.