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Hold back the emotionI pride myself in being the most upbeat the entire agricultural industry has too offer. Whether it is true or not doesn't concern me--the more positive vibes the better. But the events in the past few months surrounding the economic conditions in American agriculture are cause for genuine concern about where American citizens are going to get their food. I am not going to tell anyone that the day is coming that we will walk into the grocery store to find empty shelves but, if something doesn't change pretty darn fast, the stores will be stocked with imported food. I hope all people with a farming interest today will at least take the time to read this entire piece. I don't care if you operate a grain farm in Illinois or a blueberry farm in Michigan, this concerns you. Our elected officials have completely lost touch with reality by mandating regulations that increase costs not only in animal agriculture but the general cost of doing business. Stupid sulfur reductions in diesel fuel raise the cost of irrigating crops. Now they are in discussion about increasing the regulatory costs of controlling dust in animal and crop production. Cap and trade bovine fecal matter is being discussed in the name of protecting us against global warming, when there are good scientists documenting that the earth has been cooling for 10 years. I was in a feedlot in Scottsbluff, Neb., two weeks ago, where the owner showed me the latest government-mandated environmental quality protection that is costing him $50 per head to implement. All this, while he was on the phone selling a pen of cattle that he was happy to only lose $100 per head feeding. I then went to the World Pork Expo where I visited with producer after producer who was losing $30 per head for every pig he raised. I have been on three dairies in the past month where they are losing between $50 to $60 per cow per day. Let me do a little cowboy arithmetic for you. A father/son 200-cow dairy will lose $300,000 in the calendar year 2009. Here is the real sad fact: If corn prices are $5 per bushel come fall, I am not sure the corn farmer is going to be profitable either, with sky- high crop inputs. I sure do know what will happen to livestock producers of all species who are forced to buy higher feed inputs. And all of this is before any new "cow tax" is put into place that, according to the New York Farm Bureau, would cost the livestock industry an additional $110 million annually. The current Global Warming Bill being discussed has been analyzed by The Heritage Foundation and they indicate that it would cause a significant decline in farmers' net income. Farm income is expected to drop $8 billion in 2012, $25 billion in 2024, and over $50 billion in 2035. Does this sound like a means of providing domestic food for the people of our nation? The time has come when we must begin asking the question, "Why are all of these attacks coming at American agriculture at the same time?" Henry Kissenger answered that in 1970 but, unfortunately, we have extremely short memories. "Control oil, you control nation;, control food and you control people." The movie Food, Inc. is out right now planting seeds of doubt in the minds of consumers about the modern food system. Today's highly scientific, technologically advanced food system has created the scenario where 76,000 farm families produce 80 percent of the nation's food. It took 100 man-hours to produce 100 bushels of wheat in 1930 and that is accomplished in only one hour today. A gallon of milk required 65 percent more water, 90 percent more landmass and resulted in 63 percent more carbon output in 1944 than it does today. The poultry industry has made tremendous improvements in feed conversions. In the past 15 years, they have taken the caloric requirement for a pound of gain in a chicken from 3,018 calories of feed to only 2,672 calories. Similarly, pork producers have moved from 4 pounds of feed per pound of gain to only 2.8 pounds of feed, a 30 percent improvement in efficiency. Those are examples of sustainable and green, unlike any other segment of our society. If the science and numbers to support American agriculture won't win public sentiment, I will resort to the tactics of the opposition. I want to know the horror stories of everybody out there. If you want me to tell the world what your family is dealing with in this time of crisis, I will be the sounding board to educate our citizens about how part of our nation's security is being forced to leave United States soil, one farm family at a time. And one final thing: Make sure this message gets spread loud and clear. The American agricultural community is not asking for any help whatsoever from Washington, D.C. in correcting this humanitarian ill. They can't run Washington, let alone our farms! Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.
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