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| #MyFarmFamily |
What is a “factory farm” and what is a “family farm?”
The Organic Consumers Association has been spreading this meme around the internet. They think it would be an excellent idea for people to use drones equipped with cameras to spy on those terrible “factory farms.” As the meme says, then we could find out what really happens on those awful farms.
One individual, who I won’t name, started an online fundraiser aimed at earning money so he could do this very thing. Within the first week he managed to pull in $30,000 to purchase his own drone that he can fly over “factory farms” and get the “real” scoop.
Talk about “guilty before proven innocent!”
Obviously a “factory farm” has a negative connotation and the Organic Consumers Association, along with our drone funding buddy, want you to believe that most farms in the United States are big, bad, and unsustainable — that’s why you should buy from their small, local, and environmentally-friendly farms!
But that mantra is just plain wrong. Our conventional farms are nothing like a factory. In fact, 96% of farms in the United States are still considered “family farms.” Many farms, such as ours, have incorporated for tax and liability protections. Our produce can be used locally just as much as any other farm’s. And we’re also getting more and more sustainable over time by being able to use less inputs and to get higher yields.
So, instead of just allowing people to smear our hard work, we wanted to do something about it.
My buddy Sarah has issued a challenge for all farmers:
Agvocates, farmers, bloggers and anyone who loves agriculture—I challenge you to make a photo collage with an aerial photo of your farm and pose the question “Factory farm or family farm? You decide.” and use the hashtags #MyFamilyFarm and also #FactoryFarm to get the views from there too. If you need a quick aerial of your farm, just find it on Google Earth.
I’d like to challenge the same to all of you. Just because our farms are larger and more productive doesn’t make them anything less family than an organic farm. My photo collage is above and you can see more of them below. Whatever platform you use, just be sure to include #FactoryFarm and #MyFamilyFarm. I hope you’ll join us!
Thank you for participating, this is a great post! You know what blows my mind about this? Random people just gave a journalist >$30 000 with no guarantee of what he'll do with it. He could vacation all year for all they know! I wonder what his 'accountability' will be?
Great post!! Hope we can get others to join in!!
I remember an article of someone who actually did even better: saying nothing is wrong with the label nor inherently of the practice of factory farming!also perhaps you know about another "meme" with the photograph of calve boxes from behind and saying "no animal should be bred like this", whereas if you trace the imagine back to sources via reverse image search, you'll find another factory-family farm which shows the animals actually can go outside and have shade, both options available"of course if there's people wanting organic food in great demand, organic farming will be factory farmed as well, ironically. often owned by same corporations they think only engage in "gmo".
Great idea, So much false information is being spread about the sources of our food.