So of my many classes I am taking right now, my Feeds and Feeding class is of course my favorite. Being that it pertains to the job I'd like to have and because it talks about more than just the feeding of animals but the economics of agriculture. As everyone knows, the US employment is significantly higher than it has been in years..and they're calling this "recession" far worse than The Great Depression. And without pointing the blame at anyone, it is clear that change is needed but as far as I am concerned, not in the way we have been receiving it. The current unemployment rate for January 2010 is 9.7% at the national level (Source: http://www.dol.gov/). Now about three years ago the unemployment rate taken in January 2007 was 4.6% (Source: http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2007/feb/wk1/art02.htm). Living in California is fairly rough right now as we are one of the harder hit states in the nation. Our current unemployment rate sits at 12.4% (Source: http://www.bls.gov/web/laumstrk.htm).
It's a well known fact (and I don't have to even source this), that the US Ag Industry is HUGE. And California itself has the largest and most diverse industry in the nation. Yet, we are suffering. Our dairy industry is in the toilet..why? Because we have too many small time dairy farms. Sadly, many of these farmers are suffering immensely. But what is the solution? To do away with it? Maybe, maybe not. Not to mention recent proposition enactments have also put a major set back on our industry. Namely Proposition 2. The ignorance of our nation's people and our state's people astounds me but also the lack of proper leadership is sad. Media is a tool today that can be used to influence an ill-knowledged mind. Today's world has drifted away from agriculture in favor of other jobs. Most hear the word agriculture and automatically begin to think about farms and ranches by that is simply not always the case. There are a wide-range of ag and ag related jobs in this vast nation. Of a 22 million people employed industry less than 10% are actually farmers or ranchers. I was once asked this "Why do you wanna be a ag teacher? All you do is teach kids to be farmers." Not only is this a display of ignorance..it's an irritating thing to say. It is true that some ag taught students will lead their lives as farmers/ranchers but it is not a limiting industry. There is a call for researchers especially in crop management. People making $100k+ a year on just researching how to make our food safer, more efficient..just better. Then there are educators, human resource personnel, manufacturing companies, analysts. Ag is a book of endless possibilities where you can virtually be anything.
Yet we have officials in Washington DC who think that we should do away with most or all ag production and give it to other countries. Can you imagine the job loss? It is true that in our current time less than 3% of our nation's population is employed in ag, compared to that of the more than 60% 100 years ago but it is a profitable and key part of not only the United State's income but many states as well. California namely would suffer greater than any other region. And with continued unfair regulation..it will only grow worse. Proposition 2 in itself was a joke, a ploy to sway a population by false media advertising. And in result, egg prices have raised and it has had a more than direct effect on the dairy industry. It is hard to combat a false message when the opposing side is poorly funded. Most of the supporting side funds came from the Human Society of the United States.
What people don't understand about proposition two is these few things:
- Caging your chickens is not wrong. In fact it's almost necessary. Uncaged chickens are more susceptible to attack by not only predators but other chickens. And you have never seen either of those you cannot understand how brutal it can be and how uneconomically effective it is on the producer. In direct result you have a loss in production.
- The proposition imposes more regulation (like we need any more) on farmers raising livestock which in turn costs more many to the producer and hikes food prices for the consumer.
- Veil crates are virtually nonexistent in California.
- The gestation crate in pigs are also practically nonexistent in California and the only thing that is closely related are pharrowing crates which the sow is placed in no more than a week before birth and it reduces the chance of harm to not only the sow but her baby piglets.
We are becoming a nation of stupid people and our media is souring it more. But at the same time we have a lack of real leaders as well. Change is needed but not in the way I have seen. Doing away with agriculture and imposing more regulation when we have enough as is will only kill this industry more and in turn will fuel a higher unemployment rate.
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