Top 10 Annoying Words About Agriculture by "The Foodie Farmer"

[HuckleB]

http://thefoodiefarmer.blogspot.com/2013/11/top-10-annoying-words-about-agriculture.html

"A few weeks ago, I emailed around a poll to my farm and Ag friends both near and far to ask them to give me their top 10 words that most annoyed them that are used in referencing agriculture and farming. I received a lot of interesting responses. There were many, many repeats which I have ranked in order from top to bottom. What it boils down to is that as a culture, we want everyone "in their place". We want to define the people whose opinions differ from ours and confine them to a box. Social media is littered with examples of people and organizations lumping together and defining those who hold different beliefs in a negative way. It is a way of stereotyping, generalizing, misrepresenting, and for some, the ulterior motive of spreading misinformation. Thanks to my friends who contributed.

Here are the results:

1. "BIG" - In the context of activist groups, "big" is a derogatory term linked to the perception that the majority of farms are corporate farms.Frankly, the term "big" used in this context sounds rather kindergarten-ish. It has little to do with size but more to the idea that family farms are small farms whereas big farms must be corporate. In fact, 96% of all farms in the US are family owned and operated. Farms vary in widely in size as USDA defines a farm as any entity generating $1000 or more per year. (Which includes my daughter's 4H projects I suppose). $1K sets the bar pretty low in terms of defining a farm.

"Big" is also used negatively by some who insinuate that because "Big Ag' is seen through corporations, that some how we farmers are not able to make independent decisions about our family farms. That some how "Big Ag" dictates what we buy and what we do on our farms. We aren't beholden to any corporation. We like most consumers, look for quality and customer service. Those two elements dictate our purchasing decisions and who we do business with.

A good example of double-speak however, is Chipotle who started a "big" campaign to redefine itself as "small". Established in 1993, Chipotle has expanded to over 1500 restaurants and ranks 2nd only to Taco Bell in the Top 50 QSR (quick service restaurants) in the Mexican food segment. Chipotle's 3rd quarter 2013 profits increased 18% to $827 Million. Let's be clear, if there is "Big" in food and agriculture it is Chipotle, not the US farmers supplying them.

..."


Very interesting stuff, IMO.

[NoOneMan]

1. Sounds like a big ag corporate shill

[HuckleB]

2. .

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Shill_gambit

[NoOneMan]

3. Look, I'm half joking using words from that list

On the otherhand, I don't know what their point is. I love the cherry picked super clean pig farm picture. Yep, looks just like every other pig farm I've seen in my days

[HuckleB]

4. Got it. I'm slow, sometimes. -- Also, many farmers are now writing.

There is some very good stuff out there, now. And they do share their frustrations at the ugly cliches used in regard to farming. Why shouldn't they?

[NoOneMan]

5. Because they are just weaving stupid arguments that don't even help themselves.

Even the first sentence is ass backwards:

"BIG" - In the context of activist groups, "big" is a derogatory term linked to the perception that the majority of farms are corporate farms.

Fuck that. They don't have the right to tell us what the context of the activist groups are, and are incredibly wrong. Any idiot knows that activists aren't saying the majority of farms are corporate, no more than activist say the majority of stores are Walmart. Rather, the majority of food we find in the stores are from big, corporate farms. Their percentage is irrelevant in terms of a headcount; its the volume stupid (as well as the practices that produce such volumne). Sure, any ass can register their operation as a farm. Thats not a problem. This isn't what activist are against. WTF is this person going on about? They are creating fake arguments and arguing against them (straw man). I don't know what their damn point is.

If any of these family farms really cared about perception and stupid arguments, they would start by building a massive wall between what they do and what the large corporate farms do. They do not have to rather muddle the fields with stupid arguments.

In any case, even what the little guy is doing is ecologically devastating when scaled up. We need a paradigm shift in agriculture, period.

[HuckleB]

6. They don't have a right to speak their minds?

Really?

Hmm.

Further, she's quite correct. "Big" is overused, and it's mostly meaningless. The reality is that too much of what passes as discussion is filled with meaningless terms, such as those outlined in the piece. You don't have to agree with it, but ...

[NoOneMan]

7. They are telling us what other people (evil activists) think in the use of a straw man

Yes, when it comes down to it, they have a right to look like a complete idiot.

Further, she's quite correct.

No. You can't pretend activists think something they don't and be right at the same time. Activists can be against be corporate farm operations without thinking "the majority of farms are corporate farms". Stupid ass argument.

Please read that again. The entire thing is pretending people think things with the words, and trying to undermine arguments that aren't even being made by using small farming as a counter example (though small farms aren't really the target of criticism)

[HuckleB]

8. Sorry, but I wasn't born yesterday.

If you've spent any time online and/or out talking to activists, you know she's right.

[NoOneMan]

9. The first sentence is moronic. Its a strawman. Part of meaningless junk

So....take it from there. Reread. Use your brain. Be born a week ago at least.

[HuckleB]

10. I get it. You don't like it.

Apparently, it struck a nerve. I find that to be interesting.

[fasttense]

11. I've been farming for the last 10 years and I don't find those words annoying at all.

I guess I'm NOT one of those who received the poll but none of those words bother me at all.

Words that DO Bother me:

Conventional farmer - A nice way of saying I DOSE my vegetables with pesticides and artificial fertilizers and use GMO seeds because it so much easier. It's a way of hiding the fact that the vegetables they are pushing are laced with poisons and will probably up the pesticide levels in your blood systems by 100%. Great to know they test their dosed vegetables on themselves but just because they are willing to eat poison with their vegetables doesn't mean we have to buy it too.

Agenda driven documentaries - You know what? I will allow any and all the Agenda driven people to come to my farm and take pictures of anything and everything they want. They are always welcome to watch my sheep graze on my tall pastures. They can even watch a lamb being born born, if they want to get up at 3:30 AM. They can watch the chickens chase down grasshoppers and perch in the elm trees and I'll get them to help plant if I see they aren't doing anything. Why is it these farmers are so upset about people coming to look, take pictures and document their farms? I don't keep my pigs in air conditioned barns but I do let them out in the pastures with the sheep and chickens, with the grass and the flowers and the wind and the earth. One young sow even has a favorite lamb she always follows around. And I'll bet if that sow could talk she would gladly give up an air conditioned barn to be able to be outside with her friends.

Efficiency - For the love of God, I'm so sick of this word because it is used as an excuse to pen up every animal and lock away chickens in tiny cages. It is used to keep animals from being with the opposite sex and prevent them from birthing how nature intended. And what is so wrong about not being efficient as a farmer if it allows the animal that you will eventually slaughter to enjoy a slice of life they were meant to enjoy for their short life.

This "poll" seems to have gone out only to those "Conventional" farmers who use pesticides, GMOs and artificial fertilizers. Because they don't hardly mention organic or naturally grown foods and sustainable farming methods. They barely touch on the farm animals welfare or pasture raised animals.

[HuckleB]

12. Well, I know plenty of farmers who disagree with your stance.

Quite frankly, what your offering here is emotion-based marketing, and not much else. That's exactly what many farmers find frustrating, because it paints them in terms that are not accurate.

[fasttense]

13. Emotion based marketing? or real food chemical, antibiotic and hormone free

Real food that DOES NOT POISON the very land we grow our it on. Real food that does NOT add to the farm waste and run off that kills our waterways. Real food that does not harm or kill bees, lady bugs or birds and reptiles.

There was a story a couple of years ago of watermelons exploding on the vine. Watermelons will explode if they are rotting but this usually doesn't happen until after they are picked. It happened in China and they think it was an excessive amount of growth hormone applied to them that made them explode. This same thing could have happened here in the US considering the amounts of unnecessary chemicals and poisons the "Conventional farmer" uses. I know plenty of "Conventional farmers" and those are mostly likely the type of farmers who are having problems with the new movement for natural, real food. It's competition they don't want.

I use to be a "Conventional farmer" too. And it is much easier than trying to raise crops using natural methods. That is why they do it. Because it is easier to dump a few bags of chemicals into the soil than to build up the soil, year after year with compost. It's easier to spray poisonous pesticides than to figure out what and when to grow to avoid things like stink bugs.

Do you know all the horrible things "Conventional farmers" have learned to do to chickens to get eggs from them? Beside the tiny spaces the stacks of caged chickens endure, they give them arsenic to turn their egg yolks yellow and to make them grow faster. I knew a guy who was written up in our local paper for discovering that if he just made his chicken cages a several inches larger his chickens laid more eggs. So, I asked him how many more eggs would he get if he just let his chickens outside to roam. He turned away and never answered. Sometimes "Conventional farmers" do the horrible things they do to their animals only because that is how they were taught and they don't ever consider the welfare of the animal.

That's another thing, "Conventional farmers" have to be partial psychopaths to go on torturing animals year after year. When I was a "Conventional farmer", I didn't raise animals. I didn't want to have cage my chickens and confine my sheep and pigs all day. I didn't want to then have to pump them up with antibiotics, hormones and chemicals in order to get any production. It took all the fun out of raising animals to know I would have to make these animals suffer until their short lives were terminated. Then I discovered there was another way and it is so much more fun and interesting.

[HuckleB]

14. Thank you for confirming my point.

You're doing exactly what I'm talking about.

[KurtNYC]

15. why worry about the words?

Farming has been romanticized in recent years. The reality is that it is tough as ever to make a good living farming.

Locally, some big problems are labor and imported apples. People worrying about certain words being over-used aren't looking at the real problems facing American agriculture. American consumers DEMAND the cheapest food on the planet and then complain about the methods that make it cheap enough for them. Chipotle is simply telling them what they want to hear.

[HuckleB]

16. I generally agree.

I think, however, that farmers are feeling all of what you describe, and are tired of being painted as the bad guys. The whole "organic" vs. "other" issue is pure marketing, for the most part. Organic pesticides are not necessarily and safer, and they're much less regulated, for example. I spent a good deal of time visiting egg farms of various marketing types a decade ago, and I was shocked by what I saw. In general, the animals were given a great deal of space, and space and treatment really didn't vary among "organic," "non-organic," and "free-range" farms.

[KurtNYC]

17. Farmers are starting to get some of the crap that teachers have had to listen to for years:

People who have no experience or desire to do what they do, criticizing them, demonizing them and generally being uninformed and unrealistic.

[HuckleB]

18. True.

Still, many of us have stood up for teachers, too. I'm not sure that we can say the same about farmers.