Re: small farmers surviving

[Guest guest]

> I think the only way a small farmer can make a go of it

> is to serve their community and diversify to value added

> products....like it should have stayed.

Hi Wanita:

I think small farmers can compete with big corporate farming and win.

Not only can they win in the marketplace, they can make a good living

doing it.

How can they do it? They need to see what the weakness is in big

corporate farming. Forget safety, that weakness is the complete

absense of concern for nutritional value of the food produced by

coporate farming methods. Corporate farming methods have high yield

as the goal, while at the same time having no concern for declining

nutritional values. Everyone who eats food grown by coporate farming

methods pays for it later in their sickness care costs. To compete

with corporate farming, I suggest small farmers need to make the

nutritional value of their food their aim, disregarding what this

means for yields.

In marketing nutritional food it will mean a public education program

regarding nutrition. Public education systems certainly have not done

the job. It needs to be pointed out that a diet poor in nutrition

plus supplements does not equal a diet high in nutrition. It needs to

be pointed out that all foods vary widely in nutritional value and

the prime factor in this variaton is the soil fertility that produced

the food.

I find that those who already experience health problems are greatly

affected by Price's " Nutrition and Physical Degeneration " and are

highly motivated to see if dietary changes for nutritional food can

make a difference. They are ready to pay more for this food, but the

problem is that you can't buy it because no one produces it. They ask

where they can buy the brilliant yellow butter that Price used to

produce the butter oil that he used in his clinical experiments and I

tell them that I don't know.

Chi

[Guest guest]

At 03:58 PM 4/21/02 +0000, you wrote:

>

>> I think the only way a small farmer can make a go of it

>> is to serve their community and diversify to value added

>> products....like it should have stayed.

>

>Hi Wanita:

>I think small farmers can compete with big corporate farming and win.

>Not only can they win in the marketplace, they can make a good living

>doing it.

>How can they do it? They need to see what the weakness is in big

>corporate farming. Forget safety, that weakness is the complete

>absense of concern for nutritional value of the food produced by

>coporate farming methods. Corporate farming methods have high yield

>as the goal, while at the same time having no concern for declining

>nutritional values. Everyone who eats food grown by coporate farming

>methods pays for it later in their sickness care costs. To compete

>with corporate farming, I suggest small farmers need to make the

>nutritional value of their food their aim, disregarding what this

>means for yields.

>In marketing nutritional food it will mean a public education program

>regarding nutrition. Public education systems certainly have not done

>the job. It needs to be pointed out that a diet poor in nutrition

>plus supplements does not equal a diet high in nutrition. It needs to

>be pointed out that all foods vary widely in nutritional value and

>the prime factor in this variaton is the soil fertility that produced

>the food.

>I find that those who already experience health problems are greatly

>affected by Price's " Nutrition and Physical Degeneration " and are

>highly motivated to see if dietary changes for nutritional food can

>make a difference. They are ready to pay more for this food, but the

>problem is that you can't buy it because no one produces it. They ask

>where they can buy the brilliant yellow butter that Price used to

>produce the butter oil that he used in his clinical experiments and I

>tell them that I don't know.

>Chi

>

Good points, Chi! Its simpler to compete than think beyond the box. So this is

beyond organic, grassfed, value added and back to superfood. I like the

part of

educating not to what's wrong with all the rest but whats right with your

product. Gets iffy when health claim and processing regulating enters.To make

the best quality butter oil you would need many small farmers willing to

enrich

the soil and willing to produce a seasonal product. I'm in the northeast and

there are no large pastures anymore. Other quality products could be made. Co

ops would be the way to go and networking like our dozen county milk producers

that co oped to control their profit and the pressures that compromised the

health of their herds for production. Its a lot of work, research and would

suit vegetables better here.

Wanita