Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
every farm. Although only about one in one hundred was still in use by that time, it was
evidence of a past rich in agricultural diversity.
Now, sadly, laying houses on farms are a thing of the past. We have reached a point
where legislation and media have many convinced that eggs produced in large con-
finement facilities where the birds never touch the ground, where they are debeaked,
dewinged, and declawed, and where they receive a diet composed of many things, in-
cluding many antibiotics, are safer to eat. Commercial raisers placing several hundred
thousand genetically identical birds in a confined space with no room to move and call-
ing it a “controlled environment” is laughable.
One-Size Legislation Doesn't Fit All
Each year laws are passed that are, perhaps, necessary for large-scale producers, but
make it more and more difficult for a small-scale business. Lawmakers need to under-
stand that when it comes to food production, one-size-fits-all legislation simply does
not work. They must consider the various levels of production and create corresponding
levels of regulation.
Requiring the person who sells one hundred dozen eggs a week to have the same type
of equipment as a factory farm that produces one million eggs a day is ridiculous. For-
cing a small hatchery that produces several thousand chicks a week to have the same
type of ventilation system required of a place that produces several million a week is
also not realistic. These laws are forcing unnecessary and harmful change to the Amer-
ican lifestyle and are destroying the creative and niche markets of the country.
FOOD SAFETY THREATENED
BY FACTORY FARMING
Although corporate farm shareholders claim that such a system can be easily mon-
itored for safety, the history of egg recalls tells a different story. The birds in these
facilities are so closely confined that they must be vaccinated for many different dis-
eases and have antibiotics added to the feed to control bacterial outbreaks. We now
know that the more we use antibiotics, the more the bacteria build up resistance and
cause more harm.
Why didn't we have massive egg recalls in days gone by? Some people claim
it's because we didn't have the technology then to determine if eggs were unsafe. A
growing number of others believe the problem of salmonella sickening consumers
was easier to control when an entire region of the country did not get its eggs from
