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A Letter from Ag Hannity

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

I take great joy in listening to a Big Ag radio show called Agritalk, which is often incredibly funny for its extreme stance against the things we advocate for on this site. I refer to the host, Mike Adams, as "Hannity" of Industrial Ag. Well, I wrote him a letter about his apparent views that environmentalists and animal rights folks hate farmers. In fact, it almost sounds like he believes that they hate farmers FIRST and advocate for environmental reform or animal rights as a means to that end. Here's what he said back:

Hi Jill,
First let me thank you for taking time to email me with your thoughts.
Based on your comments you seem to believe that agriculture practices are harming the environment and animals. I would counter by saying there is a lot of research and data that says otherwise. I don't necessarily think the primary motive of some of these groups is hatred. I think many of them have agendas they may believe are in everyone's best interests but seem to overlook some of the facts if they don't agree with them.
Many so called animal welfare groups have an anti animal agriculture agenda. That is different than trying to improve conditions for animals. Many of them have stated they want the livestock industry shut down and for people to stop eating meat. Some of them are engaged in terrorist acts of violence against producers and researchers. To me that seems more like hate than anything I see or hear coming from people in agriculture.
Taxing and regulating farming without conclusive scientific evidence hardly seems fair to me. You say you love eating the food produced by farmers but do you realize if some of these bans, regulations and taxes are implemented, more and more food producers will be driven out of business and we will have to rely on other countries for a greater share of our food supply.
I realize everyone doesn't support ethanol like I do. As I've often said, ethanol is not perfect nor does it solve all problems. I know several farmers who don't support ethanol so I certainly don't consider them to be anti farmer. However, I don't understand not wanting to support a domestic industry that creates jobs and lessens our dependence on foreign oil.
I believe most farmers are concerned about the environment. As you mentioned they depend on the climate for their living. Agricultural practices are more conservation driven and environmentally friendly than ever before. Why should they be penalized for doing a good job? Farmers are asked to produce more but on less land. Malls, subdivisions and factories on what was once corn or bean fields contribute as much or more to climate change than does farming.
I don't think you hate farmers but saying you support them while taking positions that would force them out of business doesn't make sense to me. Following that path, eventually there won't be any farmers left to support. That is something I would hate.
Thanks again for listening and for your thoughts.

I'm grateful to him for his thoughtful response - even if I disagree with many of his views.

Jill Richardson :: A Letter from Ag Hannity

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A Letter from Ag Hannity | 6 comments

Another voice against NAIS (4.00 / 3)

By chance have you seen this?

http://www.hoosieragtoday.com/...

by: martini @ Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 13:23:29 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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aghannity (4.00 / 3)

There is lots of vitriol on both sides. Sometimes it sounds like a blood feud. That's very unfortunate. But we don't hate farmers. We just hate industrial agriculture. And that's not a system that farmers necessarily chose. They were encouraged to farm that way by our own federal government and by huge corporations that benefit so much more from this style of agriculture. We would prefer a more pastoral, more environmentally friendly type of agriculture in which farmers are aiming their efforts more at their local communities and adopting an integrated and more sustainable scheme of produce, dairy and livestock. In other words, the old family farm, the way it used to be. Is that possible? I'm guessing Aghannity would say no, that's not possible. But we should be having a conversation about it, not a shouting match.

Ed Bruske aka The Slow Cook

by: euclidarms @ Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 14:51:43 PM UTC

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For commodity agriculture, (4.00 / 3)

the system supplying the national/international commodity markets and the large chains, the traditional family farm won't do. The production capacity isn't there.

But, for the local food markets, especially the direct to consumer/direct to restaurant/school/hospital, etc. it very much is possible and to be encouraged. There's a reason why the farmers markets, CSAs, and other farming/marketing systems are growing so fast. It's because existing farms and new farms are working as hard as we can to supply that market. The market continues to grow and I think it will continue to grow for quite some time, especially as the inputs for the larger, commodities farms increase in cost. As much as I hate to see fuel prices go up because it hurts my bottom line as well as everyone else's, I'm not at dependant on fuel to run equipment as a 1,000 acre farm, although they'll have to tear my tractor and rototillers from my cold, dead, hands. At least I have two reall good horses in training for driving. If I absolutely had to, I could switch over to draft animal power as long as I didn't have to do it tomorrow....

Normal people scare me. But not as much as I scare them.....

by: Joanne Rigutto @ Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 20:07:47 PM UTC

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Arrrrgh! (4.00 / 3)

Many so called animal welfare groups have an anti animal agriculture agenda. That is different than trying to improve conditions for animals. Many of them have stated they want the livestock industry shut down and for people to stop eating meat. Some of them are engaged in terrorist acts of violence against producers and researchers. To me that seems more like hate than anything I see or hear coming from people in agriculture.

No, they would be Animal Rights Extremists. There is a reason I'm self identified as Animal Welfare not Animal Rights, and that I have a freezer full of pastured meats.

I really can't stand it when they lump us all together, either out of ignorance or on purpose. The ARE who use violence to get their point across can be labeled by the gov as domestic terrorists (one just made the Most Wanted list recently). You'd be hard pressed to find any animal welfare folks that fit that description. And while many AR folks are more "extreme" in their views than AW, most are not prone to violence and the groups are just very vocal, as is their right.

by: nycstray @ Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 16:54:19 PM UTC

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I wrote him back saying something similar (4.00 / 2)

and pointing out that a friend of mine is for animal welfare BUT she's a livestock farmer. A sustainable one.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 20:18:41 PM UTC

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It reallly gets my back up (4.00 / 3)

if ya hadn't noticed {grin}

It makes it so hard to get anything positive done when they lump us all together. I don't want to take away their pets or force them to be a vegan. I just want animals to be treated humanely and mass killing to stop at animal shelters etc.

Thanks for writing him back and addressing it :)

by: nycstray @ Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 21:07:54 PM UTC

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