Farms and Food

[imoldernu]

Livng in a semirural farming area, the subject of farming comes up on a regular basis. One of my best friends has been educating me.
I decided to learn a little bit more, about the specifics, and have spent several hours, learning about the subject.

On the food front... Where we live, what we eat, and where we buy it.

Suffice it to say, the subject is awesome. Think that if you get a chance , you might want to bookmark this visual website.

Tell us if you're not surprised.

https://www.vox.com/a/explain-food-america

Map #9 surprised me the most.

 

[Lewis Clark]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

 

[GreenEggs]

Ditto

 

[Red Badger]

WTH??!!

No chart on chicken wings? harrumph.

Very interesting -thanks.

 

[MRG]

Made me think of all the farms I grew up around. Places I'd logged or walked the land. Much of that land is now homes. My SIL is 65, her older husband still farms but there's no one to take it over.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

One point that Vox misses is the scale of agricultural overproduction in this country. Up here in Wisconsin, suicides on dairy farms are spiking because the CAFOs have driven down the price of milk until the average dairyman can't make a living income. Did you notice the high percentage of corn that's being processed into biofuel? That's a government mandate to prop up corn prices. Half the soybean crop is being raised for export. China made up 60% of that share.

For decades, federal farm policy has favored big operators over small. As a result, food is cheap, but few people without a farm in the family want to go into it -- it just doesn't pay.

The food glut has impact outside the boundaries too. National economies with a proportionally big agricultural sector have a surplus of workers because small farmers can't compete with Big Ag.. Where are they going to go to make a living? Vamos al norte. That or grow something the Anglos crave, like poppy.