Farmers- A Threat to America?

At a pleasant New Years Eve gathering of friends at dinner I sparked a general conversation of some excitement by commenting on organic food production in America. I wondered how organic product growth could keep pace with our country's need for produce and other food items.

Some surprising thoughts were offered over a dinner that involved wild caught salmon as a main course. It was pointed out by one guest that nearly everything on the table was organically grown and there was a need for organic products that extended beyond the issue of healthy eating.

The surprise to me was the animosity towards farming in America that was expressed. One diner expressed the thought that farming had done more damage to America through the years than any other group.

I was bewildered by such a thought and said so.
The list of farm transgressions was produced without hesitation starting with farmers as the supporters of the slave trade, the misuse of the soil that produced the Dust Bowl and erosion of the thirties, the importation and then mistreatment of illegal aliens brought to America to harvest crops at miserable wages, outrageous political tactics to assure government crop support and stimulate an agricultural business that is continuously eliminating the family farm and locally grown produce. The expanded use of Ethanol was described as simply a political perk for farmers than made no sense in solving oil use and environmental issues. Then the nitrogen poisoning of water ways was put on the table for discussion.

It was pointed out to me that the fertilization of farms in Pennsylvania had caused pollution that ran down the Susquehanna River into the Chesapeake Bay. The increased nitrogen content of the inflow has seriously degraded various fish stocks and the oyster production in the bay.

Apparently improvements and farmer education,in the Chesapeake watershed is producing a slow improvement in the situation. That seems not to be the case in the Gulf of Mexico where dramatic change is happening. The entire watershed of the Mississippi drains down the center of the country into the Gulf and is causing a growing dead zone. Apparently this dead zone supports no life and is caused by farm fertilization with a concentration of nitrogen. No fish , no mollusks, no plant life—no nothing—and the dead zone is growing.

I had heard about the Chesapeake problem and the improving situation there. I had not been aware of the Gulf dead zone and am only familiar with the presentation I received at dinner after a glass of wine or two. The dead zone story was followed up with a recommendation that I become aware of the “acidization” of the oceans that was taking place. Fortunately I was rescued by the presentation of a beautiful Trifle for dessert and the suggestion that we save the oceans problems for another dinner gathering.

While we as a nation are arguing over the issues of global warming and Co2 emissions from fossil fuel use, there is a real and present danger that has been on the back burner of political interest. It seems that action against oil companies and the auto industry are easier targets than farmers. I think it is because we imagine farming as a family effort when that is not the typical case any longer.

I’m half way converted to organic products wherever possible to alleviate the nitrogen pollution of the water ways by the mega farms along the major rivers. I’m a big proponent of fish as a healthy dinner choice and really never connected the farms as such a threat to Grouper and other species in the Gulf of Mexico. The problem with my friends at dinner is that their knowledge and interest extends beyond just eating the meal.

Now I’ve got to think about farmers in an expanded light. In the meantime our hostess has promised the recipe for the magnificent salmon marinade that made the New Years Eve dinner so memorable. I think she offered the recipe as a consolation prize for my lack of farming knowledge but a demonstrated willingness to learn.

As a long time big city dweller I have only really had one extensive tour of a farm in my life. That was a dairy farm. I haven’t had a glass of milk since that visit which was about 35 years ago. Those cows didn’t look like Elsie which was my prior vision of what a cow was supposed to look like. I'm a bit hesitant to visit many farms. I really want to imagine that the food I eat magically arrived in the refrigerated cases after being lovingly grown and harvested by the Waltons.

Happy New Year and let me hear from the farmers both organic and otherwise. I’m sure that I didn’t get the total picture over that salmon at dinner.