Upsetting the Apple Cart

Putting Lipstick on Vertical Integration

350,000 pigs and 270 new contract growers later, a company by the name of Cornerstone Systems, working with the Pendleton-based Hill Meats  is hoping to bring pork production into full swing in the eastern part of the state. 

But before you get your feathers all ruffled about pigs and people, it's important to know that this company isn't planning to move your typical nasty, inhumane, polluting hog factories into our state.  Instead, Cornerstone Systems is planning to use an alternative system of raising pigs, called the deep-bedded hoop house.  (see below)

The deep-bedded hoop house is a humane system for raising pigs that has been perfected in Europe and been hailed by environmental and animal welfare advocates as an acceptable system for raising hogs.

Unlike the factory farm model, the pigs living in deep-beded hoop houses enjoy straw for bedding and the ability to interact and frolic like pigs should.  Because pigs are able to socialize, they aren't stressed and therefore don't require antibiotics or growth hormones to be kept alive and to gain weight - making the meat better for consumers.  And because the pigs are bedded down, the straw absorbs hydrogen sulfide and ammonia gases in the manure and urine, which are smelly and toxic to human health at high concentrations - so neighbors remain happy!

SO WHAT"S THE PROBLEM???????

Eat food?? Then speak up!

Weigh in on the 2007 Farm Bill!!

Please join Salmon-Safe, Ecotrust Food & Farms, Slow Food Portland, and Edible Portland for a free public event.

Every five to seven years, Congress passes an obscure piece of legislation that is known as the Farm Bill. As the economic engine driving the modern food system, the Farm Bill is largely responsible for determining the quantity and variety of crops we grow, and what and how much we eat.

Salmon-Safe, Ecotrust Food & Farms Program, Edible Portland and Slow Food Portland have invited Daniel Imhoff, author of Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill, and other experts to provide consumers and activists with the information that we'll need to start the food fight that delivers a more sustainable future.

What: Portland Food Fight

When: Monday, March 5, 5:30-7:30pm

Where: Billy Frank Jr. Conference Center Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center 721 NW Ninth Avenue Portland, Oregon.

The event features complimentary food from Slow Food Portland as well as wine tasting with Willamette Valley Vineyards, Salmon-Safe certified since 1998. Find out more about the event at www.salmonsafe.org or call at 503.232.3750.

Dan Imhoff is author of Farming with the Wild and co-founder and president of the Wild Farm Alliance.

Living a Nightmare with Animal Factories

Regardless of what you think about the Sierra Club, the below documentary is the best I have seen. 

Throw those stereotypes out the window, and please view this with an open mind. Remember the majority of the people that are interviewed as to how these operations impacted their lives are family farmers.

If we are not careful this could happen in Oregon.

A very informative 24 minutes..
            

   
 
   

Another milk campaign: here we go again...

Got Milk? Milk Does a Body Good. California Happy Cows.

BULLSHIT!

Sadly, we are all very familiar (and inundated) by dairy industry ads, which spew and perpetuate the lies that the majority of milk production comes from family farmers, with happy cows in red barns. 

$375,000 later the dairy industry is going to replicate the propaganda machine right here in our backyard, as reported in a January 26th article in the Capital Press.

(Captial Press isn't free press - apparently you need a subscription to read any articles on their site.)

If you could read the article, you would see that the "Dairy Farmers of Oregon" will be launching a campaign that showcases the family farmers that produce milk right here in our state. That's right family farmers will be showcased - so what's the problem??

Well, we at the Apple Cart think such a campaign would be great if the milk that consumers purchased in Oregon actually came from family farmers. 

However, what this ad campaign does is use Oregon's family dairy farmers as pawns to mask the fact that mega corporate and monstrous industrial dairies are moving into the state at unprecedented rates.

Why won't this campaign showcase the dairies of eastern Oregon like they really are - industrial, polluting, inhumane, factory farms??

That's because Oregon consumers wouldn't stand for the truth! Industrial farms pollute the air and water, ruin the quality of lives of neighbors, treat workers unfairly, disrespect animals and oh yeah - put family dairies out of business!

Consumers don't be duped by the milk propaganda machine! Make sure your milk is coming from socially responsible dairies, not industrial farms. 

Visit the Eat Well Guide and find a socially responsible dairy farmer near you!

What is Sustainable Agriculture?

Eco this, bio that and organic.

It is clear these days, people are concerned about what they are exposing themselves to,how it may impact their health and what potential harm it may cause to the environment.

And if you spend any time amongst hipsters in urban areas or soccer moms in the 'burbs, the obvious is "Sustainable" is hip!

But what is "sustainable" when it comes to agriculture?

The term "sustainable" has been misused in the public debate to the point that it now seems practically meaningless. Many companies would like you to think that they are "eco" or "sustainable," but if you dig beyond their green facade, you may be surprised at what you find. 

Our friends over at the Sustainable Table attempted to define sustainable agriculture.  This is what they came up with:

Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.

We at the Apple Cart think it is important to look beyond labling and marketing schemes.  Ask yourselves if the food your purchasing was produced in a socially responsible manner.  Were the animals treated humanely? Were neighbors negatively impacted?  Was the environment harmed? Did the farmer get a fair price?

Of course, the answers to these questions can be difficult to find.  One sure way of discovering the truth behind your food is to buy directly from a farmer, whether from a farmers market or off the farm.  Check out the Eat Well Guide  or visit a directory of Oregon farmers markets to find a farmer near you.

Ethanol Production: Full of S#&*?

Since the President's State of the Union Address, all the rave seems to be about how ethanol production is the silver bullet to our country's fossil fuel addiction. Right here in Oregon, the ethanol lobby is scurrying around the state capitol, convincing decision-makers that Oregon taxpayers should foot the bill for ethanol production in our state. (Check out House Bill 2210 for yourself)

As if the issue of subsidizing water-intensive corn production in Oregon isn't of concern enough, now the word on the street is that industrial agribusiness plans to use manure from mega-livestock operations to fuel ethanol plants.(see AP article,Methane from manure fuels ethanol")

Now, in addition to all of the environmental concerns that come with ethanol production, another concern in Oregon is that all of this ethanol hype will invite more factory-styled farms - like the Threemile Canyon Complex with 55 thousand dairy cows - into our state so that taxpayers can foot the bill for disposing of the cows' feces and urine.

(oh and by the way we virtually have no protections in place to protect the environment or neighbors from the pollution that these livestock facilities cause!)

So before ram-rodding a biofuels bill through the legislature, maybe our decision-makers should take a moment and think long and hard about what type of agriculture we are incentivizing in Oregon.  If we are not careful, the rural areas of Oregon might end up looking (and smelling) like the rural areas of Iowa - with lots of corn, corporate farms around every bend and few family farmers left to be found.

Is this the legacy we want to leave to our children and future Oregon farmers?