Story explaining much of what is causing farms like ours to wither and die...written by folks from NYC.
***One of the nice folks I have met on FaceBook had the link today...thanks Luv
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On the Rocks!
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10 comments:
Thanks for this. We are of no help if we're clueless as to what's happening around us.
Thanks for the link to the article, it does help me understand. How is imported milk cheaper? Milk products, like cheese, I can see being cheaper.
Thanks for posting a link to our blog! This story has opened us to other dairy farmers all over, and it's been amazing. We look forward to connecting more--we learn so much from you.
Dani, thanks for reading it! I don't suppose dairy is too different from many other businesses that are struggling to compete globally while being regulated locally...
Mike, thanks
Earl, the way they get around tariffs and safety regulations protecting dairy producers and consumers is by importing fractional powdered milk. There are no real standards for these products...they can be anything from anywhere, and aren't really supposed to be added to food products under the law. Milk production is highly regulated here..not so much in places like China. However, no one enforces the law and enough MPC, that's the generic name for the powder product, is imported without tariffs, to displace billions of pounds of actual home-grown milk.
The Green State Fair, love your blog. You folks really "get" it. Your link was flying around Facebook this morning at falcon speed and I was glad of it.
I learn and get to keep up with what is a happening. Thanks!
I can't read the article. Really.
This morning I was reading a Donald Hall poem called "Horses Names" and I realized, too late, where it was headed and I ran outside into the sunlight.
Call me a coward.
How much is a load of hay?
How long does it last?
Lisa, I am learning more every day from articles like that one...it was very well done
Cathy, it was just on milk pricing and and the chicanery behind the current decline. I had never read the poem Names of Horses before, but I looked it up and found it....it was sad, but in a way sweet too. Sad that the old horses had to die, but they were so old that they were having trouble grazing..."when your shoulders hurt bending to graze," the old man cared enough to make an end for them at home instead of sending them to a sale or letting them suffer until time took them. Sometimes, no matter how painful it is, it is the right thing to do. And I don't think you are a coward at all. Animals are often noble and wonderful and amazing and their lives are way too short. It brought tears to my eyes too. Take care, kind friend, I hope all is well with you.
Oh honey. OK. I'll finish the last lines of that poem when the sun is up.
I was afraid it was going to make the farmer out as callous and uncaring.
I know you have very personal experiences with animals. Mine have only been with dogs and yes - we did the right thing at the right time.
I'll take a look at the link, it's just that I'm running out of duct tape to hold my head together with all the bad news lately.
And I really do want to know about hay. I mean if it's a matter of hanging in there till the grass greens up . .
I'm at mushduckATyahooDOTcom
I, too, am learning from reading your blog, and I can relate to you in a way, as that our family business is on the verge of bankruptcy, also. The bottom has fallen out of construction and growth here in the west and with the housing being as it is... I know so many that have taken loans against their homes and now have lost everything.
Faithful, scary times we live in...so much that we have taken for granted we suddenly can't any more. I hope things work out for your family before it is too late. We have been stunned by the members of our farm community who have given up, sometimes choosing not to continue the battle, some not even having a choice. Take care, and thanks for your kind words
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