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s home cooking, gourmet dinners and cooking shows come back into vogue; one might expect that food growers — agriculture — would be a pretty popular community. The mere fact that American agriculture feeds and clothes our nation and some of the rest of the world should be grounds for a cozy relationship with anyone and everyone who eats. But we well know that we missed that boat sometime ago. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop these “foodies” from trying to reframe the conversation on food production around their personal biases and from claiming that they represent agriculture as a whole. In New Mexico a statewide Food & Ag Policy Council was established several years ago. There was appropriate concern from those
W MEXICO NE C A TT L E
Io the Point
Why Don’t Foodies Like Agriculture?
S W E R S' A S
by Caren Cowan, Exec. Director, New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Assn.
who work in the field(s) of agriculture everyday and have for generations. However, because we were asked to participate, we did the polite thing and went to the table with the group…for all the good it did. It wasn’t long before a shiny brochure was produced and distributed to state and federal elected officials hammering traditional/conventional agricultural practices in favor of small local operations. Hysteria ensued and the brochure disappeared, but not before the damage was done. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with small, local operations. There is a desire, need and place for them in our nation’s food system. But it is sheer fantasy to believe that millions and billions can be fed totally with small local opera-
Otero County Cattleman’s Association Enchilada Dinner & Dance Everyone is invited
June 27, 2015 Weed Community Center, Weed, New Mexico Auction, Silent Auction, Raffles & Door Prizes Music by Preston Eldridge & Corner Pocket DINNER $10 – DANCE $10 – CHILDREN 12 & UNDER $5 ATI Omni 223/5.56 16" AR rifle w/red dot sight will be raffled off – get your tickets now! Corriente Saddle Company saddle will also be raffled For more information
575.491.9255 ... 575.687.3648 ... 575.687.4189
www.OteroCountyCattlemansAssociation.com
tions. When this country was fed by small local operations, the population was much smaller and there was little career choice. It was families who tended to their own gardens and livestock to feed themselves. If they had a little extra they were able to barter that for things others had produced. Today even growing a garden is out of reach for many. They don’t have the space, the time or the money that it takes to make food grow. Additionally, it is much easier and cheaper to go the grocery store and pick up our needs and wants. The cost of food is a factor that many don’t consider. This nation has had a cheap food policy for generations. Americans pay about 11 percent of their disposable income for their food, so there is little incentive to grow their own food. Thus there is little incentive to even understand where their food comes from. The number of people who do want to know more about their food and its source is growing but with that desire comes responsibility. It is pretty easy to sit in an apartment or a suburb of any major city in the United States and around the world and make demands and criticize conventional production practices. We have found first-hand that when you take people to ground on ranches, dairies, farms, auction markets and all the other places that are part of the food system in New Mexico, they walk away with a completely different perspective of their food and the people who grow it. But it is difficult to create that experience for everyone. Over the years the Food & Ag Policy Council idea has grown to local communities. While agriculture has attempted to stay abreast of their actions and inform them about the realities on the ground, we were stunned a few weeks ago when it was reported at the state meeting that the Santa Fe Food & Ag Policy group plan on taking a resolution to the City of Santa Fe in support of the recently proposed dietary guidelines that advise against eating meat! As a reminder, these guidelines are not continued on page 35
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MAY 2015