CAFO Support
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
In reference to the letter written about the Concentrate Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), I am here as an agriculture advocate, 4-H’er, FFA member and part of a voice for the farmers currently harvesting and working to produce quality output for our community.
Every great civilization began because of agriculture; it started with production of crops, livestock and gaining of land. In my English class I wrote a report about Roman agriculture, while researching I came across something I did not already know about operations. During the Roman Empire “latifundia” (also known today as CAFO) were very common due to the growing population of the empire, however their operations were not as structured and didn’t have any rules or regulations that protected that animals, people and environment.
January 2010, I spent the day at the Farm Show in Fort Wayne with my grandpa, we sat through a presentation about new laws, regulations, procedures that operators of CAFO farms had to follow. Not only did this structure protect the people around these farms and the animals but also the environment. Farmers in America supply 75 percent of the nation’s wildlife habitat. And why would they want to ruin the environment when they use the land to produce quality crops and livestock for our community?
Today the average American farmer feeds 155 people a day, in 1960 the average farmer fed only 26 people. Corporate farms account for only 3 percent of U.S. farms and 90 percent are family ran and owned. The importance of these CAFO farms are most important today because in 2050 the population will be eight times it is today and farmers will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than produced 10,000 years ago combined with how much they produce today in less land. Agriculture employs more than 24 million American workers (that is 17 percent of the work force). In Kosciusko County, 89.19 percent of farms are family operated and owned. From the time you have taken to read this article the population has grown by 200 more people and tomorrow by 200,000 people.
CAFO farms are not harmful to our community and country; they are simply an innovative, safer, securer way to produce quality livestock. I have had first-hand experience on a CAFO farm, at first I was too skeptical but once I was educated I became aware they were not bad. These farms are people’s livelihoods, and every single day they are out there working until the job is done right, once the winter comes, unlike me, they don’t have snow days. My family does not make our living from farming, but from my own experiences I have seen the passion and drive producers have to feed our community. I applaud them for that because farmers, my heroes, feed my soul. Kosciusko County is blessed with agriculture in our community. Instead of slandering it, we should support and educate it.
Lindsey O’Hara
Claypool, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
In reference to the letter written about the Concentrate Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), I am here as an agriculture advocate, 4-H’er, FFA member and part of a voice for the farmers currently harvesting and working to produce quality output for our community.
Every great civilization began because of agriculture; it started with production of crops, livestock and gaining of land. In my English class I wrote a report about Roman agriculture, while researching I came across something I did not already know about operations. During the Roman Empire “latifundia” (also known today as CAFO) were very common due to the growing population of the empire, however their operations were not as structured and didn’t have any rules or regulations that protected that animals, people and environment.
January 2010, I spent the day at the Farm Show in Fort Wayne with my grandpa, we sat through a presentation about new laws, regulations, procedures that operators of CAFO farms had to follow. Not only did this structure protect the people around these farms and the animals but also the environment. Farmers in America supply 75 percent of the nation’s wildlife habitat. And why would they want to ruin the environment when they use the land to produce quality crops and livestock for our community?
Today the average American farmer feeds 155 people a day, in 1960 the average farmer fed only 26 people. Corporate farms account for only 3 percent of U.S. farms and 90 percent are family ran and owned. The importance of these CAFO farms are most important today because in 2050 the population will be eight times it is today and farmers will need to produce more food in the next 50 years than produced 10,000 years ago combined with how much they produce today in less land. Agriculture employs more than 24 million American workers (that is 17 percent of the work force). In Kosciusko County, 89.19 percent of farms are family operated and owned. From the time you have taken to read this article the population has grown by 200 more people and tomorrow by 200,000 people.
CAFO farms are not harmful to our community and country; they are simply an innovative, safer, securer way to produce quality livestock. I have had first-hand experience on a CAFO farm, at first I was too skeptical but once I was educated I became aware they were not bad. These farms are people’s livelihoods, and every single day they are out there working until the job is done right, once the winter comes, unlike me, they don’t have snow days. My family does not make our living from farming, but from my own experiences I have seen the passion and drive producers have to feed our community. I applaud them for that because farmers, my heroes, feed my soul. Kosciusko County is blessed with agriculture in our community. Instead of slandering it, we should support and educate it.
Lindsey O’Hara
Claypool, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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