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AGRICULTURE
TAX DOLLARS
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Without water
subsidies to feedlots and slaughterhouses, beef would cost $30
per pound.
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Over $20 billion
tax dollars are appropriated as annual price support to
monoculture farming, i.e., wheat, corn, soybean.
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70% of the grain
grown in the U.S. is fed to beef (high consumption of animal
products is linked to heart diseases - the number 1 killer in
the U.S.
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Tens of millions
of dollars are spent researching, testing and developing
pesticides, BUT crop loss per acre has doubled since the
inception of insecticides, AND the E.P.A. ranks pesticide
residues in food as the number three cancer risk.
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Pesticide
production generates 350 million tons of toxic waste per year.
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THE FREE MARKET
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Gallo Wines has implemented integrated pest
management (ladybugs, bats, hedgerows for birds, etc.) and
tractor weeding (vs. herbicides) on their 10,000 acre vineyards,
i.e., ORGANIC FARMING - because it's cost effective.
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Organic food, completely UNSUBSIDIZED, is now a more than $17 billion a
year industry (15% - 20% annual growth).
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Many
small organic farms (less than 100 acres, largely UNSUBSIDIZED)
report annual incomes of $50,000 - $75,000.
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Some
analysts predict that five out of six small monoculture farms
(largely SUBSIDIZED) will fail by the end of the decade.
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Goodness Greeness, a Midwest organic produce
distributor now has sales of more than $22 million annually.
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Whole Foods, an organic/natural food store chain came to
Chicago in 1992; local annual sales are currently more than $200
million.
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