Re: Questions on organic livestock standards

Greg & Lei Gunthorp (hey4hogs@kuntrynet.com)
Mon, 5 Jul 1999 09:52:53 -0500

In the end, the only things that are going to work for small farms are
going to be the things that somebody else can not or will not do. My
family has raised hogs for at least four generations. Before the ARS, the
land grants, and even the National Pork Producers Council got in on the
research that has allowed mega scale, factory production a family could
about guarantee that hog production was the mortgage lifters. Now we have
30-40,000 sow units popping up all over the place that I helped pay for the
research to make it possible as well as yours and my taxes subsidised them
to get started (Seaboard is an excellent example!) and we wonder why we
have an extreme oversupply in pork production. It shouldn't take a rocket
scientist to figure out how these economic, social, and environmental
issues are intertwined. I haven't give up on the hogs, its justs this last
year has bankrupted a lot of family hog farms.

I still stand by my original post. Make it extremely difficult and somehow
I have faith that the small farms will figure out a way to support their
family. Besides, if the goal was to get rich wouldn't we do something
besides farming anyhow? (Don't get me wrong, I know a couple of people
that farmed sustainably for decades that were treated very well. Most were
either milk or hogs and we are trying to lose both as commodity markets.)
We are going to end up as organic hog farmers. I just hope that organic
standards do not allow confinement production. Partly because of rural
advocacy issues but primarily because of animal welfare issues. Consumers
purchasing organic products should be receiving animals that have had
access to fresh air and sunlight.

Best wishes,
Greg Gunthorp
Free Range Hog Farmer
Member USDA Small Farm Commission
Supporter of Small Farms and Rural America

----------
> From: Wilson, Dale <WILSONDO@phibred.com>
> To: sanet <sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu>
> Cc: 'Greg & Lei Gunthorp' <hey4hogs@kuntrynet.com>
> Subject: RE: Questions on organic livestock standards
> Date: Monday, July 05, 1999 9:05 AM
>
> Greg,
>
> > Just to let everyone know, I strongly believe the same way as
> > Gene Logsdon on organic production. The standards should be
> > so strong that none of the big companies ever want to join in
> > organic production.
>
> That's an interesting and revealing position. The bottom line in your
> vision of "organic" agriculture is social and political, not biological.
>
> IMO, trying to keep the aggressive entrepreneurs out of the game will be
> counterproductive. If there is money to be made in this business,
> entrepreneurs, small, and maybe large, will be interested. The real
meaning
> of what you are saying is that you want to make the standards restrictive
> and contrived enough to keep real wages of organic farmers at about four
> dollars an hour.
>
> Dale
>

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