Upsetting the Apple Cart

The quest for the 'Big Pig' and the resulting superbugs

What do factory farms have to do with superbugs? Look no further than your "grown big quick factory farm" bacon you had for breakfast.

The unintended consequences of the efforts by mega-farmers to grow the 'Big Pig' (and fast) may have created the antibiotic resistant staph infection doctors call MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) - affectionately referred to as flesh-eating bacteria by some. As scientists worked to discover the origin of this nasty disease, it appears according to most fingers pointing, the likely culprits are industrial factory farms.

A staph infection typically can be treated with antibiotics, but this particular strain has developed and appears to be unaffected. So how did it come to this, you may wonder. Well, the answer appears to be in the abuse of medically-important antibiotics, which emerged as agribusiness worked to unnaturally increase the rates in which pigs go from piglets to bacon (or chicks to nuggets) all on behalf of padding the bottom line.

LNG will hurt Oregon Farmers

Brent Foster had a poignant photo from a recent protest.  It was a large orange tractor on a trailer with a huge sign.  The picture resembled the "No U Turn" signs on the highways with LNG at the center.  It read beneath this symbol, YAMHILL FARMERS ALL AGREE.  NO LNG.

Brent Foster was the Keynote Speaker at the Farm to Chef Conference, and provided some insight to this Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) issue. Brent is an attorney who works for Oregon Attorney General, John Kroger and has been intricately involved in the fight against the proposed LNG pipeline and port-terminals related to that pipeline. 

In the news recently an LNG terminal in Texas has applied for a permit to export LNG.  This completely contradicts the intentions stated when the port was first proposed and built, to import LNG.  But if one evaluates the conditions on the ground, you will notice that exporting LNG is the only reasonable purpose for the pipeline in the first place and it always has been.  You see, the US is believed to be the sixth largest possessor of Natural Gas in the world.  Because of this abundance, domestically produced natural gas costs about $4/gallon.  Overseas, in countries that lack this resource, the price is around $18 to $20/gallon.  So importing LNG is like bringing sand to the beach - there's plenty of it and no one really sees the need for more.   

So who needs LNG and at what expense? And, what will a LNG pipeline mean for Oregon farms?

Connect the Dots Board of Ag

Once again, the Board of Agriculture’s last meeting has given us some food for thought, or shall we say for ranting.  

Although we try to understand that this group is coming from a couple of decades of industrialized agriculture, export-oriented production and a "cheap food for all mentality", we have trouble with the fact that they are not seeing the failed agricultural policy in front of them is in need of major change.  

The Board claims that agriculture is the economic engine of our state, yet they also talk about how farmers have to buy retail and sell wholesale. We have actually even heard an Oregon Department of Agriculture employee question why anyone is their right mind would want to go into farming.  

Earth to the Department of Agriculture: Maybe people would go into farming if you and your Board would stop spending the majority of your time discussing food safety inspections and opening markets in China rather than addressing the incredible potential that we have as Oregonians to be feeding ourselves and supporting our farmers at the same time!

Which candidate supports the Family Farmer?

McCain or Obama?

Our friends over at Farm Aid broke it down for you.

Click here to see where the candidates came down on issues important to family farmers.

We at the Apple Cart encourage you to exercise your right to vote and vote family farmer.

Here's to a new era of pro-family farmer policies.

Looking for your closest polling place. Visit www.canivote.org to find it!

VOTE!

Congressional Candidates talk Local Farms & Food

Hey candidates running for congress:

The corporate ag lobby doesn't represent family farmers. That was one message from last night's forum with all the candidates running for the 5th Congressional seat being vacated by Congresswoman Darlene Hooley.

This was an opportunity for family farmers, rural residents and eaters to talk about the issues that they care about - issues that are far-too-often muddled in the chatter of the campaign season. Thanks to our colleagues over at Friends of Family Farmers for hosting this very interesting forum!

At the forum, candidates addressed a myriad of issues including:

Health care, access to markets, aging farming population, farm workers,rural meat processing, energy, fuel costs, landuse regulations, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and factory farms.

So issues aside, who won the debate? Well we are non-partisan so we won't tell you our thoughts.  However, a big shout-out to Republican Mike Erickson for actually using the term "factory farms" and talking about their negative impacts - something we rarely hear from a Republican.  Clearly someone did his homework.

State Senator Kurt Schrader certainly gets points from us for his farming background and the fact that he still lives on his family farm and seems to have a good understanding of the issues many farmers face. And not to mention, the guy's a veterinarian.

But, Mr. Schrader did make a point to boast about his Farm Bureau ties. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE chalkboard screeching to our ears! Farm Bureau may sometimes represent family farmers here in Oregon, where they have done some interesting things such as supporting Measure 49 (albeit a decision that split the organization) but...

Mr. Schrader, if you make it to Congress, you need to take a hard look at Farm Bureau policies before you jump in bed with them. Farm Bureau has definitely lost it's way from the roots the organization once had with family farmers.  This organization has become one, if not the largest mouthpiece for corporate agriculture in our country, which has resulted in the demise of the family farm. For goodness sakes Mr. Schrader, they are an insurance company not a farm organization!!

Nonetheless, all the candidates (including the 4 minor party candidates) did a great job and we commend them for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with the people and to talk about local farms and food. From last night's forum, it is clear that there is an overall lack of understanding of food and farming by candidates running for office in this country. And it is incumbent on us - the farmers, the eaters and rural residents- to ensure that we reach out to these people - who, one of which - will be making policy decisions that impact us directly.

And, whoever it is that makes it to Congress, we hope that you remember that most family farmers can't afford to take time from the farm to make a trip  to DC. If sound policies are to pass that truly help family farmers our Congressman will need to reach out to the real farmers on the ground, working the land and supporting their communities, rather than deferring to corporate ag suits that lurk in the halls and stand in lobbies just waiting to further the corporate agriculture agenda by running family farmers out-of-business.

It’s the factory farming stupid.

So before the right-wing extremists poke their heads out from some hole to claim that we want everyone to become vegetarians, let me set the record straight.

First, we at the Apple Cart neither support nor promote an all-vegetarian diet.  In fact, we hope that you will start to eat meat and that you will eat lots of it – provided you purchase your meat from Oregon family farmers who raise their animals in a way that doesn’t pollute the environment and doesn’t impact their neighbors. And, yes we want you to support farmers who raise their animals humanely. 

Ah…the “H” word.  Yup we said it – humanely. “Humanely” doesn’t mean that we’re expecting the farm critters to come in the house and lounge on the couch. It means simply treating the animals that you plan to eat with enough dignity and respect as living creatures and allowing these animals the room and freedom to enjoy life as a pig, cow or turkey before they become bacon, steak or a drumstick.

Recently a commentary written by food animal vet, Dr. Robert B. Chernson ran in our favorite “ag rag” the Capital Press. In the article, Raising Farm Animals Under Attack, Chernson defended the practice of factory farming as, “ modern agriculture” and a system that “provides producers an economic advantage.”  Our question: An economic advantage for who? 

The Apple Cart Hearts Willie!

Family farm activist Willie Nelson will be rolling through Salem and playing at the Oregon State Fair on August 29th.  We at the Apple Cart want to give a big shout out to welcome Willie to thank him for his support of family farmers across the country.  According to the Farm Aid website, Willie Nelson and Farm Aid, "have raised more than $30 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture." Read more about Farm Aid's work here.

Continue reading for an excerpt from “Save Family Farms, Save America” by Willie Nelson.

Food Safety?

Food safety has certainly been in the news lately.  From e. coli to Salmonella, it is difficult to know what is safe to eat, where our food is coming from and how it is grown.  Vegetables are not in the clear as they are sprayed with animal fecal material as fertilizer.  Meat products have been raising red flags as we have seen ‘downer cattle’ in our school lunches.  Recently, we have been warned not to eat fresh tomatoes and jalapenos while Kroger Company recalls a half a million pounds of meat from Northwest stores such as Fred Meyer and QFC. 

But worse yet is the conversation that accompanies these warnings and recalls.  Instead of directing consumers to learn about who is producing their food, where their food is coming from and how it is grown, newspapers and radio stories are focusing on other ways to “stay safe.”  The Oregonian printed a neat little fact box in its recent story about the beef recall.  It instructs us to:

(1)    Discard any recalled ground beef (really?),
(2)    To thoroughly cook all of our ground beef (you don’t say),
(3)    Not to eat any ground beef that is pink in the middle (so much for those medium rare cheese
        burgers!)
(4)    Not spread bacteria through our kitchen by using hot, soapy water for cleaning (genius!)

Yes, most of these tips are good things to do, but I feel rather insulted that this is the level of conversation the Oregonian is subjecting us to.  Not only are we treated like helpless imbeciles who don’t know the first thing about meat handling, but nowhere in this astute list of tips are actual words of wisdom that might actually keep us healthy and confident in our food system.

While listening to the “Talk of the Nation” on National Public Radio the other day, I was excited to hear that a representative from the Food and Drug Administration would be on to talk about the recent Salmonella outbreak.  Surely, I would hear some enlightening conversation around this issue… unfortunately not.  It took a caller to acknowledge the fact that vegetables themselves will not contain one of these bacteria unless they come into contact with some sort of animal material, and once again, the final words of advice that the nation was left with were “avoid fresh jalapenos.”

It took the Union of Concerned Scientists newsletter for me to actually find something I could sink my teeth into when it came to reporting on this issue. They say that “the widespread nature of the illnesses points to an inherent weakness of our industrial food production system: When production is centralized and fresh food travels thousands of miles, contamination can spread farther and faster” (now we’re onto something…)  And, finally, the advice I was looking for:  “The FDA has said that local and homegrown tomatoes are unaffected by the current Salmonella outbreak.  Shopping at farmers’ markets for produce grown close to home is one way consumers can reduce their risk of food-borne illness.” 

Thank you UCS for some journalistic integrity.

Relocalizing Eden

By Megan Fehrman

Dan Armstrong has recently written an article entitled “Relocalizing Eden,” which can be found online at http://www.mudcitypress.com/mudeden.html.

Armstrong proposes that a region's social and economic sustainability can be judged by its capacity to produce, process, and distribute some significant portion of its own food. He uses our own Willamette Valley as a case study to show how the globalized market place and industrialization of our food system have greatly decreased the amount of food that is now grown in the fertile Willamette Valley for the people of this state.  Not long ago, in the 1950s and 60s, Willamette Valley agriculture produced a wide array of grains, fruits, and vegetables; wheat once represented almost a third of what was harvested. Barley, oats, snap peas, and sweet corn were also significant crops along with many other fruits and vegetables. Only fifty years ago, farmers in this valley were providing about half of what the residents were eating. 

Today, that number has decreased to about five percent as the number of acres in grass seed has doubled in the last thirty years, and less than 20% of what is grown in the Willamette Valley is food. 

No farmers? No food.

By Zoe Bradbury
Coos Bay, OR

Every time I come in from my farm fields and tune into the news these days, the headline is about food: food prices, food scares, food shortages, food riots. Food has America's attention these days, but folks are overlooking a critical piece of the brewing crisis: a national shortage of farmers.

We farmers make up a mere 1.6 percent of the U.S. population right now. Picture an inverted pyramid balanced precariously on its nose: that's our national food supply, with about 3 million of us feeding three hundred million of you. In food terms, our nation resembles an elephant perched on a pair of stiletto heels.