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The system circles the wagons…
..for 20 years I’ve been railing against glysophate…a chemical herbicide that Monsanto has been selling worldwide under the trade name “Round-up”. A number of studies have identified it as a carcinogen and a few farmers have successfully sued Monsanto for damages. Now however the EPA has declared glysophate entirely safe, putting millions of dollars in court awards in jeopardy. And more than that our health in jeopardy…particularly because glysophate/Round-up is invariably used in growing GMO foods. In short, glysophate is spread on almost all the vegetables we eat folks and the government, Big Chemicals and Big Ag are going to keep it that way. Joel Saladin is a natural grower…
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Sometimes you gotta wonder….
….if that old joke isn’t true….that among the three greatest lies is “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you”. It seems the feds devote their greatest effort to what isn’t a problem…..finding ways to nitpick small farms and processors when all the bad food is coming out of the industrial food chain. Just today our CSA farmer told me he can’t eat hamburger because his stomach can’t handle it. I told him that’s because he wasn’t really eating ground beef….but a conglomeration of junk from around the world. (Yes, “Certified Angus Beef” isn’t all Angus). Several of our customers who couldn’t eat beef happily down Thistle Hill…
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I’m from the government….
….and I’m here to protect you. Not! Awhile back, grass fed meat producers were making some progress with the government in establishing minimum standards for labeling. Nothing radical; you still weren’t going to be told whether the meat you ate came from cows fattened on hormones and antibiotics. Well that lasted until grass fed meat passed the 1% point in market share. Then Big Ag (and Big Drugs) teamed up to get rid of the grass fed label. The same health benefits of grass fed meat are found in grass fed dairy…and now those dairy farmers are going through the same (futile) process. Health blogger Dr. Joseph Mercola explains. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/04/19/grass-fed-milk-yogurt-new-label.aspx…
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The Christmas Tree bill….
….perhaps the greatest wrongs committed in Washington are discovered too-late in what is known as the Christmas Tree bill. That’s when all the pet projects of all the corrupt lawmakers are loaded onto a “must-pass” bill to keep the government running. It comes up for a vote—all the bad stuff hidden among the required stuff—at the last minute before the politicians head home for the holidays. This year, the Christmas Tree bill was that Omnibus spending bill rammed through by Speaker Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi. Let’s say you’re a lawmaker and you have a bank in your district that wants to confiscate the savings of widows and orphans. Well, you put…
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Alright, this is political….
….I try to keep this blog away from politics but, reading between the lines, you can certainly tell I believe “that government is best which governs least”. And particularly when it comes to the food we eat. Yes, even the safety of the food we eat is not well-served by big government…not the federal government…or the EU…or the UN. And not by Democrats or Republicans, either! The agenda of big government is mass production because it is simplest to control. And the money is there in large-enough amounts to enable world-class graft and corruption. World-class politicians need world-class perks. And Big Government decided long ago on a political agenda that was…
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I’ve lost track…..
….of the number of food warnings…and the many nutrition advisories…that have turned out to be dead wrong. We lucky we’ve survived the advice of the experts. Here’s the latest: http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/100715-774507-government-advice-on-whole-milk-has-been-wrong.htm
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“I don’t eat fat”….
….words still heard too often…along with “I try to limit the amount of meat my family eats”. I gave up long ago trying to convert those still worshipping at the government’s Food Pyramid. But I have wondered why the belief persists despite all the evidence that meat can be good for you….and so can the fat. It’s all the more mystifying since the government quietly abandoned the Food Pyramid a long time ago. And the lead government scientist has even warned against low-fat dieting. The key is in the word “quietly”, according to Nina Teicholz, who says the bureaucrats don’t want to admit they were wrong. So, a la Lucy, they’ve moved…
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Move along…nothing to see here….
So it’s a million pigs….not to worry. Notice that the story says the farm is owned by Smithfield’s in Virginia….not that Smithfield’s is owned by China as in Beijing! Besides, our government says the pork is perfectly safe…just like all that ground beef with USDA labels. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/58369640-78/pedv-animal-virus-state.html.csp
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Mama…don’t let your kids grow up….
….to be farmers. It’s still a no-win game despite all the publicity about the Locavore movement, farm-to-fork, food hubs, CSAs. “blah-blah” stuff. The dirty little secret is the Big Guys are killing us….and they’re the ones getting the subsidies and grants that enable them to further squash the idealists. The New York Times had the story this past weekend. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/opinion/sunday/dont-let-your-children-grow-up-to-be-farmers.html?_r=1 Thanks to Dr. Sue Beal for the link.
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Is the USDA sustainable….
….one of my favorite websites is the work of Paul and Gabe Brown…..holistic ranchers just outside Bismarck, North Dakota. Recently they linked to an article in a Yale publication that does the best job I’ve seen so far of explaining the way Big Ag and Big Government are chasing their tails….trying to get ahead of Nature. The problem is the darn weeds have unlimited research capability….not even Monsanto’s labs can keep up with them. Incredibly, it’s a New York Times editorial board member who lectures our “smart guys”. The article actually gives me some cause for hope! http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_folly_of_big_agriculture_why_nature_always_wins/2514/#.T4Rf8AnUGyo.mailto Incidentally, you can check out Brown’s Ranch at http://www.brownsranch.us/