The process of getting food from farm
to table has grown in concern substantially over the last ten years. Increasing
consumer distress over the quality, safety and overall animal well-being in
which their food originates from has continued to fill the newspapers,
magazines, headlines, and good ‘ol social media taglines. It is nearly
impossible to log onto your Facebook today and scroll through your newsfeed
without coming across some video, article, or picture suggesting that livestock
producers and farmers today “shouldn’t be trusted.” The distrust in food
production presently is unlike anything we have ever seen before in the United
States… or is it?
Upton Sinclair’s 1905 book, “The Jungle” acted as the vehicle that
put motion into getting consumers to think about where their food comes from,
how it is processed and raised, as well as the safety of the overall product.
The book created an uproar and filled headlines of newspapers, consumed radio
broadcast conversations, and soon led to an overall policy change a mere year
later. The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 became a law much credited to
the heightened awareness surrounding food safety and sanitary conditions throughout
harvest facilities within the United States. ”The Jungle” in a lot of ways can be compared to that of social media
today. Social media has driven a heightened concern for consumers, driving them
to ask and seek to understand the “who, what, when, where, why, and how” of
their food’s production. We have all seen the gruesome and disheartening animal
activists videos in which expose and depict the mistreatment of animals,
inadequate housing conditions, etc. Social media is a powerful tool and has
proven to be highly influential when it comes to getting people to think, but
the sad thing about social media is that those viral videos that swarm our
newsfeeds don’t tell the whole story. There are always going to be things that
go wrong in any sort of system and there is no excuse for mistreatment of
animals or inadequate quality of life, but the world never wants to read about
what we in the agricultural community do right. Do you ever read about the
livestock producer that was up at three in the morning pulling a calf because
the first calf heifer couldn’t do it alone and without his assistance the cow
and calf would have died? No. The world is so obsessed with the things that
occasionally go wrong and lacks to see the behind the scenes, everyday
activities in which farmers and livestock producers alike do in order to care
for the animals that will eventually end up on your table. Stay tuned for explanations,
opinions, and some not so headlined stories from the perspective of a proud
modern agriculture enthusiast.