While in Washington during the better part of the week, I had a chance to talk with many folks in the ag industry, including NPPC President Scott Hayes, we talked about a number of things including the farm bill and also having the freedom to operate their farms. We talked about what that means for hog producers.
Hayes is a Missouri farmer himself, and he talks about the importance of not having producers all around the country dictated to by a small group of people who get to decide how they run their operations.
This is where it gets a little more interesting because of the fact that agriculture as much as it can be separate entities and different commodities can also be a harbinger of things to come. So I mean, if this could happen to a pork producer, or happened to the pork industry, who’s to say it won’t happen to cattle next, or eggs, chickens, corn, soybeans, sugar, or tomatoes? The list goes on and on.
It’s not just a pork issue that people should be voicing their concerns about. This could be a future whole agriculture issue. And it doesn’t even have to stop there. President Hayes talks about the fact that if it happens to the agriculture industry, it could happen to any other industry, or manufacturing sector of the US economy. Again, one group dictating how everybody else should do the job could be a dangerous precedent for the American economy.
Not to mention that forcing change on producers means a huge financial burden on the family farms, which could sync family farms in a time where consumers want to know more about keeping family farms sustainable, and also not joining in with factory farm production. And having farmers that are relying everything on their production to have to go into a huge financial burden could mean the end of some of those family farms.
