Hand that Feeds U.S. defends ag

Tired of being portrayed as 'bad guys,' new group speaks up

By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- A pro-farming group recently came to this city to let the public know it has been misinformed about the nation's agriculture and has a right to know the real story.

The Hand that Feeds U.S., a group funded by several U.S. commodity groups, chose to go to the epicenter of the local food movement to set the record straight.

"Ninety-eight percent of American farms are family-owned farms," said Pamela Yoder, co-owner of Windy Hill Farm in Dalhart, Texas. "We are not factory farms spewing clouds of toxins and polluting the environment."

The group used a Michael Pollan book and documentary as an example of the misinformation: One of the author's books, "An Omnivore's Dilemma," espouses organic farming over conventional farming and warns of "the treacherous landscape of food-science laboratories, feedlots and the American way of eating."

"The life cycle of livestock is not pretty, and people have the choice to buy from local markets," said Steve Verett, executive vice president of Plains Cotton Growers Inc. in Lubbock, Texas. "However, it is predicted that the population in the United States will double in size by 2050, and small organic farms will not be able to feed the nation and produce will cost the consumer more money."

"He (Pollan) is selling controversy and someone should hold him accountable," he said.

The project, funded by numerous state and national agricultural trade associations, was designed to give media and the public a clear picture of agriculture and the farm and ranch families that keep America fed.

"Farmers have fallen victim to their own success," said farmer John Thaemert of Sylvan Grove, Kan. "We all have the impression that someone has been speaking for the American farmer when 'a return to simpler times' is yearned for."

The group is sponsored by FarmPolicyFacts.org, a website aimed at educating Congress and Americans about agriculture. It is supported by the American Agri-Women, American Sugar Alliance, Minnesota Corn Growers Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Cotton Council, National Milk Producers Federation, National Sorghum Producers and the USA Rice Federation.

Thaemert said The Hand that Feeds U.S. wants to be the voice of agricultural production with no hidden agenda.

"Nobody wants to return to the way our grandparents farmed," he said. "Yes, we use pesticides to grow our crops and, yes, we are trying to make a profit, but we are not poisoning the environment."

The group said that imports are a threat to the safety of U.S. food.

"The public doesn't realize that most of the imported rice has to be re-cleaned before putting it on the grocery shelves," said Larry Combest, former chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, who is also from Lubbock. "However, most consumers would rather have food produced on American farms because of our strict governmental regulatory measures."

Verrett said the tour hopes to show that family-owned and -operated farms, not giant agribusinesses, are the true face of agriculture.

"I guess we are all tired of being 'the bad guys,'" he said. "We don't intend to let an untruthful story go unanswered. We just want to level the playing, or growing, field."