Michael Pollan to air on Oprah tomorrow…

Michael Pollan is planning to be on Oprah tomorrow. Reading through the comments already written on Oprah’s web site, there are way too many uninformed here that give comments on what they think is “healthy” and what they learned from Michael Pollan.

Please take a moment and make a comment, even if it’s just a short one-liner. The more ag supporters the better. We all know the effect Oprah has on her viewers. It does take a brief sign-in with your name and email…but this is worth the fight for our industry.

Here is my comment…feel free to copy it and edit it to your personal beliefs (I had to make two comments as the max characters is 1500):

“First, I want to preface that my ranch is a “family” farm as I am a 5th generation rancher. We send our feeders to what some perceive as a “corporate” farm feedlot, when in fact, while the feedlot is large & it takes trucks to put feed in the bunks, it is still a family-operated farm with at least 3 generations of farmers running the feedlot & taking care of the cattle we send . That being said, we are striving to produce a safe food-source, as well as promoting other industries in agriculture that are producing safe, wholesome food. Pollan is a self-appointed “food guru” with the romantic concept that our nation’s food should be produced by a small, family farm with a few cows, chickens and hogs raised outdoors, which is simply a notion back to European times where peasants worked in the fields by hand. Farmers have found themselves in the crosshairs of urban aesthetes & green activists who hope to impose their own Utopian vision of agriculture. This vision includes shutting down large-scale scientifically run farms and replacing them with small organic homesteads and urban gardens. Families own almost 96% of the nation’s 2.2 million farms(NASS). And small-scale agriculture, after decreasing for years, is on the upswing; between 2002 and 2009 the number of farms increased by 4%, cont.”

“The mere, scientific fact lies here: Over the next 40 years, the world will be adding some 3 billion people. These people will want to eat. The U.S.,has the most arable land & developed ag production, & stands to gain from these growing markets. Last year the U.S.’ export surplus in ag grew to nearly $35 bil, compared with roughly $5 bil in ‘05 (USDA). This means, we are providing enough to feed and fuel our country, as well as being able to help other economies and hunger worldwide. “Pollan is fighting for a more natural, and essentially meat-less, food supply produced like we did 50 years ago. I respect those who are willing to pay more for a natural product. However, this notion of all organically-grown food that works for high-end foodies of the urban areas can’t produce enough affordable food to feed the masses. This on-coming war on agriculture threatens not only the livelihoods of millions of American workers; it could undermine our ability to help feed the world.”

Here is the link to the web site: http://bit.ly/89UW1c 

Also, here is a blog that I follow called Pollan Watch. Very useful to dispel myths put out by this self-proclaimed “food guru”.