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?