North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>]

On Aug 19, 2007, at 10:00 PM, Mark & Helen Angermayer wrote:

> <x-tad-smaller>  Being in the swine industry for many years
> </x-tad-smaller>

Mark, did you start off raising pigs outdoors, and switch to confinement? If so, did you notice a difference in the flavor and texture of the meat?

Much of this is a matter of personal taste, of course. I buy, whenever possible, meat from animals raised at least partly outdoors by small-scale farmers. Although it's not my only reason for doing this, I have noticed that when I do get standard grocery meat (presumably from confinement operations), the meat, while often more tender, seems to me to be tasteless and often bad-textured. I once got some brand-name pork that I can only describe as having a flabby texture. I've never bought the stuff again.
>  
> <x-tad-smaller> the real benefit is the unbelievably cheap food prices.  
> </x-tad-smaller>

I would say the real *problem* is the unbelievably cheap farmgate food prices. You're entirely correct that many farmers are just barely getting by, even if they are running large operations; and many can't manage even getting by, and go out of business. This is at least partially because many customers, though apparently perfectly willing to pay large extra amounts to buy produce already cut up into pieces, hamburger already formed for them into patties, and much of their food precooked; and also perfectly willing to pay several times the price of a pair of basic jeans to get the brand they prefer; are entirely unwilling to pay what it costs to produce quality in the food to begin with.

Note that I said "many" customers. It's true that there are people eating almost nothing but beans and rice because they can't afford anything else. There are people who, because of their finances, have no access to cooking facilities, and are stuck in a nasty trap in which they can't save by doing their own cooking. And there are certainly also people who will pay for quality; some of whom have trouble finding it. But I think there are very many people, at least in the USA, who have no idea what either a tomato or a pork chop can taste like; as well as some who just don't care. And I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who have six cases of soda pop in the cart but complain that the fruit costs too much.

I agree that most farmers aren't greedy. I think in fact most greedy people are not going to become, or remain, farmers; the amount of work, attention, skill, and investment it takes to succeed in any kind of farming will, in current society, bring you higher financial return doing all sorts of other things. As with any large group of people, there are of course exceptions. Blowing up entire groves of trees to try to get rid of a bird problem is certainly unusual behaviour.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly