By Sara Franklin
Just a few days ago, the big wigs of Big Ag tried to rain on Michelle Obama's parade. Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) - a group that represents and is comprised of former executives from Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and DuPont Crop Protection - declared that the first lady, in planting an organic garden on the White House lawn, had not "recognize[d] the role conventional agriculture plays in the US."
And what role would that be, MACA? In a recent lecture at Columbia University, author Michael Pollan noted the baffling irony that he witnessed on his first trip into the heart of American Ag-Land, Idaho. When farmers' computer-controlled watering and spraying systems malfunction, Pollan remembered learning, they won't go out into their fields to fix their equipment for at least five days after the most recent spraying. Why? The soil and plants are so toxic in the initial days after pesticide application that the farmers themselves won't risk their health by venturing out to check out the problem. And if that doesn't give the average American eater pause, Pollan added that most of these farmers grow gardens sans pesticides nearer to their homes in order to provide their own families with produce. Chew on that one for a while.
This is the system the American government has created. The people who produce food at a scale "necessary to feed the nation" are so wary of the chemicals they must use (in order to fertilize their deadened soil, protect their crops from the pests that have capitalized on monocultures and produce high enough yields to turn a profit under our current subsidy system) that they can't step into their own cropland without endangering their bodily health.
So now, what exactly is Michelle Obama doing wrong in trying to exemplify a safer, more localized agricultural system? Seems to me the MACA folks are writing letters out of fear. And afraid they should. Industrial agriculture in this country may finally be on the decline. The American people have had their eyes opened to the dangerous and economically concentrated system of farming in this country. We don't want our farmers or our farm workers to have to fear for their safety when they work to put food on our plates. A movement is brewing to take our land, our food, our jobs and our health back and hold in own hands again. MACA, your days of thickly lined pockets may be coming to an end. And we will back Mrs. Obama in her efforts to raise awareness that undermines your perilous agricultural dealings with a collective might.
