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Farms vs. Factories
Some Small Farmers Are Going To Jail -- To Spite the System
- By Joseph Mercola, DO
- Published 11/8/2007
- Farms vs. Factories
- Unrated
A growing number of small farmers in the United States, fed up with federal regulations that they say favor big business, are facing felony charges and possible jail time. Farmer Richard Bean, who runs Double H Farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his partner are being charged with felony intent to defraud, which carries the possibility of three years in jail for a conviction, for selling meat improperly labeled “certified organic” along with seven misdemeanor charges.
The Cruel Truth About Factory Farms -- Don't Read If You're Squeamish
- By Joseph Mercola, DO
- Published 10/25/2007
- Farms vs. Factories
- Unrated
Corporations have turned family-farming methods into cost-saving, mass-production strategies, which endanger public health and treat animals cruelly. Also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), factory farms treat animals like production units, and the result is poor food quality for you, and inhumane conditions for the animals.
The New American Food System
- By John Ikerd, PhD
- Published 12/10/2003
- Farms vs. Factories
- Unrated
Nowhere in America is our economic and social disconnectedness more evident than in our systems of food and farming. Most consumers, particularly younger consumers, have no sense of where their food actually comes from or who produces it. Even those who know that farmers grow crops and raise livestock, and [that] others process and package these crops and deliver food to grocery stores and restaurants, still have little sense of what’s actually involved in this process. We shouldn’t be surprised that consumers have no real understanding of food, because they have no sense of connectedness with the land or with the farmers who tend the soil to bring forth their food.
Discover How Your Beef is Really Raised
- By Michael Pollan
- Published 04/17/2002
- Farms vs. Factories
- Unrated
What gets a beef calf from 80 to 1,200 pounds in 14 months are enormous quantities of corn, protein supplements -- and drugs, including growth hormones. These ''efficiencies,'' all of which come at a price, have transformed raising cattle into a high-volume, low-margin business. Not everybody is convinced that this is progress. Weaning marks the fateful moment when the natural, evolutionary logic represented by a ruminant grazing on grass bumps up against the industrial logic that, with stunning speed, turns that animal into a box of beef. This industrial logic is rational and even irresistible -- after all, it has succeeded in transforming beef from a luxury item into everyday fare for millions of people. And yet the further you follow it, the more likely you are to wonder if that rational logic might not also be completely insane.
Alternatives to Using Pesticides
- By Joseph Mercola, DO
- Published 07/30/2000
- Farms vs. Factories , Organic Gardening
- Unrated
Although most of us like to avoid the use of toxic pesticides, you don't need to put up with ants swarming your counters. Boric acid or borax will kill ants and even cockroaches. Since most ants like sweets, you can mix a little bit of honey or other type of sugar with boric acid and make a paste. Cut out some 2-inch by 2-inch cardboard squares and smear the paste on. Put these in the ant trail, where they will gobble it up and take the residues back to the nest.
