Fighting for the independent traditional family farm. Producing nutrient dense food-farmer, processor-pigs, poultry, sheep. Opinions my own. @gunthorpfarms
Apr 5, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
I talk about the need for subsidy reform, anti trust enforcement, labeling reform, and inspection reform. On the topic of inspection reform, USDA treats very small plants different than big plants. An interesting scenario of events is unfolding. /1
I found out about it cause we got a phone call from a farmer in Virginia that would like us to process pigs for him. As his back up processor has been closed by @USDAFoodSafety since December. /2
Jan 4, 2022 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
I've spent a huge amount of my time and resources since 2015 working to get @USDAFoodSafety to fix one of the most egregious mislabeling of food in the United States.
Its legal to put foreign meat in its final package in the US and label it "Product of USA". That is wrong! /1
I flew to DC, had USDA officials out to the farm, met with FTC, etc. All on my dime. I'm not a paid lobbyist, I'm not even a beef farmer or producer.
I was naive to believe if we fix the most egregious labeling problems we could start to address the others. /2
Jan 4, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
I had an op-ed in @capitalpress a couple months ago asking @SecVilsack to not divert allocated funds for little processors to "mid scale" plants. Today, he did exactly that. Diverted funds to build facilities and brands the bigs will buy for pennies on the dollar in a few year.1
And they did announcement with a beautiful picture of a small family farm with 50 so beef cows as the background. The very farms being run out of business by concentration and consolidation. I'd recommend 50 organic dairy cows on grass next time for the background picture. 2
Jul 27, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
In the US, small businesses that do anything that requires manual labor, and tends to be essential businesses, are really struggling to find employees. Lots of small businesses are really struggling to charge enough to justify covering cost increases in everything. /1
Its an over simplification, especially in agriculture and farming, to just tell business owners to raise wages and make jobs more enjoyable. Farming livestock and fruits/veggies has always been hard work. I think we are in trouble long term feeding ourselves domestically. /2
