Political Quotes

“American agriculture now stands at a crossroads. The question that we as a society have to answer is do we want an agricultural system that is comprised of very few, very large corporate producers--probably owned by one of the largest supermarket chains and probably overseas--or do we want a decentralized system of family based agriculture that produces food in rural communities across the nation. Foe me, the answer is clear. We need to support and preserve family based agriculture throughout the Nation in all commodities. Why do I say this? Why should Americans care that their food is produced overseas on large corporate farms? While overseas producers are not as efficient as US farmers, they are in many cases lower cost producers because the cost of land and labor are, to excuse the pun, dirt cheap. And the health and safety standards and environmental standards are far more lax than ours, if they exist at all. So, Americans may get food that is produced more cheaply overseas. But is that the only consideration that should dictate the shape of American agriculture. I don't think so. For a host of reasons it is increasingly clear that corporate controlled farming is bad for the Nation.”