One Farm Visit. Thousands of Impressions.
Consider this; one person on a farm tour could make thousands of positive impressions. That’s an excellent ROI compared to dismal milk and pork prices at the farm gate right now! The following is written by a mom, health professional and speaker who experienced her first modern dairy farm tour last week as a part of speaking for a Vita-Plus event – and found an ‘ah-ha’ moment. Read on…
Ever wonder where you milk comes from? I got a chance to find out last week when I visited a dairy farm in Western Wisconsin and met 100 hard working dairy farming women.
Having only the media view of “factory” farming, I was firmly on the organic/free range/family farm side of the argument. I have to say my view has changed – still need more info, but it isn’t as black and white as I thought. I visited a dairy farm with more than 800 cows — which is huge. It is run by a family (2 brothers and their wives) and some hired help (total of 12 people I think). They’d like to have more help, but can’t afford them with the low milk prices.
I had assumed “confined” cows would be unhappy cows, dirty cows, sad — but I was wrong. Over the hour-long tour, our host constantly talked about “cow comfort” from the different types of bedding to how the feed was presented. They invest in various types of fans and misters to keep them cool – they even had motion sensitive back scratching machines for the cows. It was a bit like uncomfortable to watch one cow use it — she seemed to be REALLY enjoying it.
Mother realizes dairy farm moms raise their family right.
As anyone who has breast fed knows, if the mom is stressed or uncomfortable, the milk doesn’t flow. I hadn’t considered this concept in regard to dairy cows, but it makes sense. From that perspective, it seems ridiculous that a business person would set up a situation where conditions would limit production. No, indeed this farm was all about making the cows happy.
Our host talked about his routine and it was obvious how hard they work – long hours – and they are struggling to make a profit.
With their cute little kids running around it is hard to believe this was what Time Magazine calls a “soulless” operation.
Anyway, here’s what I’ve learned:
- The farmers I met are VERY busy, care deeply, and deserve our respect.
- There’s more to this issue than I ever imagined.
- I don’t know enough yet — it is time to get more information and start really understanding where our food comes from.
I suspect there is more than one right answer and the people who are most qualified to help me understand are the people working hard to produce our food.
So, farmers out there, please help me out!
- What should I know that I don’t?
- What do I think I know, that is just plain wrong?
- What should I be reading?
- Who should I rely on for good, unbiased, information?
Author Eliz Greene learns from dairy farm women
I talk all the time about “grow foods” and making healthy choices. It is time for me to really understand what that means. Please make a comment below and help me share the best information with the people I serve. Thanks!
To the busy women I serve, get yourself and your family out to a working farm and see where your food is produced. Become an informed consumer and support the people working hard to put food on your table.
If you’d like to learn more about Eliz, her incredible story of surviving a massive heart attack and why she cares about food, go to her blog. She reaches thousands of people, is in the process of writing a book about food and is heavily involved with the American Heart Association.
One farm visit will pay a thousand times over. Who have you not connected with that could be sharing their positive impressions of agriculture? I know you’re busy, but how do you know your ROI if you don’t make the investment in sharing information about agriculture. Don’t wait until the next nasty Time, Inc. cover or New York Times article – get out there and work to get people to farms now!
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Thanks for sharing my post! I have been overwhelmed by the response from the Ag community. I am even more convinced now that I have much to learn and look forward to having my new farm friends help me understand how to make better choices when feeding my family. Look for more questions to come – and thanks again!
Eliz, your post provided great news for an agricultural community that has been battered by misinformation in the mainstream media. We appreciate your experience of the “a-ha” moment in visiting a modern farm and realizing farmers do the right things the right way for the right reasons.
Michele,
This article addresses a very important issue. Today’s livestock and poultry industry has intentionally denied the public from visiting their farms for biosecurity reasons. As the farms have gotten larger for various reasons, the investment has also gotten significantly larger. In order to protect that investment, the Farmer, along with his or her Banker, have became much more nervous about the spread of bacteria and viruses to their animals from outside visitors. This point cannot be made any clearer than the threat to both the Pork and Poultry industries with the current H1N1 flu virus that is endemic in the human population. As Pork Producers can painfully attest to, the mere inference of the virus having came from pigs, ie: “swine flu”, has had a historically detrimental financial affect on the industry in the past several months. As one should appreciate, the Pork Industry has elevated it biosecurity levels due to the threat that H1N1 may be spread to pig farms, none of which currently have the virus.
With that said, I agree with the need to somehow show our Customers, the American families, how well we treat our animals or birds. There may be a difference of opinion on how Agriculture houses its animals and poultry, but no one can deny that todays food producers aren’t trying to do it in a manner that makes them the most productive, protect them from the elements and from their fellow brothers and sisters that are known to inflict harm on eachother. Those issues are being addressed as we speak, and our Customers can rest assured that we will do our very best to provide them high quality and safe, reasonably priced, nutritious foods.
Somehow we need to address the matter of allowing the Public access to see how we produce their food. I am certain they want to help us keep our animals and birds as healthy as possible, so we need to develope a protocol that can accomplish this.
It would be of value to receive input in regards to this idea from the Public, so let’s hear from you.
Hi Harley,
Honestly, this isn’t something I had even considered, but it makes complete sense. You are protecting the integrity of the food we eat and you certainly can’t have random people just knocking on your door expecting a tour.
I’ve had the honor of touring medical facilities and medical device manufacturing plants – two places also concerned with limiting contamination from outside sources. I wasn’t insulted to be asked if I’d been sick and didn’t take offense when I had to scrub off all of my makeup, change into a lab suit and cover my hair and shoes to visit a device factory floor.
If I am willing to do that to see how a cardiac surgical device is made, I more than willing to take precautions to find out more about how our food is made.
There must be a way to open the doors to those who are sincerely interested, protect the animals, and spread the word. I’ve been invited to several more farms and will take every opportunity I can to become more informed. Thanks for sharing this information – I’ll be prepared to ask how I can help keep things safe too.
With heart,
Eliz
Harley, thanks for bringing the biosecurity concern to life; it is a critical point. Yet, as you point out, it has become critical for agriculture find ways to show people how food is produced. I, too, would love to see input from others.
It’s too bad this isn’t reported in TIME magazine instead of the “journalism” they promote.
Thank you so much for sharing this story — an excellent example of the power of visits to working farms. These are some of the very best ways to understand the real challenges of food production these days. You have to get some dirt under your fingernails — or at least in your shoes!
And I really respect the honesty of Eliz’s questions and the integrity of her search for answers. That’s exactly what was missing from Food Inc!
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