A government big enough to control your food prices and choices is a Government out of control

 Egg prices and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits have been in the news lately. Especially egg prices.

The egg price increase is a Doctorate level class in mismanagement, over management and plain stupidity! The Avian bird flu is and has been a problem but the solutions can be found in basic husbandry and our ancestorial farming practices.  Instead of wholesale killing flocks of birds because 1% have bird flu why not allow for natural immunity and the survival of the fittest be the underlying management scheme?  Not putting all your eggs in one basket should be practiced when it comes to farm size, geographic concentration and proximity to natural bird flyways. 

As bad as our management of Avian influenzas or "bird Flu" has been by the previous administrators the new administrators are taking a chance on a cure that could be worse than the disease. In the past month we have been told by our new AG secretary Brooke Rollins that we will use purchases of eggs from 3 foreign countries, Turkey, Brazil ,and South Korea in an effort to increase supply quickly to lower egg prices. Other measures to combat the disease itself include increased spending on bio security, new or advanced medications including possible new vaccines and education for workers to better understand the impacts of best management practices to curtail the spread of the disease. The language is very managerial and academic but while instilling confidence in people it will not do anything to change the course of agriculture that has allowed us to get to the point where chickens are  raised on extremely large farms with illegal labor.  Owned by multi national conglomerates with profits as the largest concern and concern for the neighbors forgotten long ago. 

Many are glad for this government involvement because it directly effects them and this is a net positive for them. Lets look at something else the Government is doing with all of it's unconstitutional power. 

 

At the same time Secretary Rollins notified us of the plan to reduce the price of eggs by sheer government involvement in market manipulation she also declared potential changes to SNAP benefits which would go along with the MAHA movements desire to see less sugar, seed oils, dyes, preservatives and other foreign things in our food. Namely she put the cross hairs of the federal purchasing power on soft drinks or pop, depending on what region you're in , by stating that no longer could EBT cards be used to buy the sugary drinks. 

Well the high fructose corn syrup, aluminum manufacturers and nearly any other industry remotely involved in receiving revenue from pop sales went on an all out campaign to push back on this health conscious move by the Secretary of AG. They enlisted the support of various online influencers and also the media darlings to warn against this egregious encroachment on freedom of choice and basic civil rights granted to us by the new dealers and big government types.

Yep FDR was rolling over in his grave I'm sure!

As I juxtaposed the two proposals I saw the same thing. Big Government invading a space it was neither given the right to involve itself in nor having the ability to fully manage the potential issues it would cause.

You see what you fund you get.

Government distributing money for food purchases would necessarily cause the beneficiaries to gravitate towards the cheapest most short term gratifying foods. Value and thriftiness for the most healthy calories doesn't enter the mind.

After all if you don't earn the money you don't value the money. It becomes experiential even momentary.  Food is for the belly instead of for the body.  And if you think money fixes everything (like our Government does) You think you can buy your way out of every problem. 

The egg prices may come down in the near term and sugary drinks may be off the menu for now but are these the solutions to the problem of either high egg prices or obesity?

NO!

As President Grover Cleveland said "the people should support the government but the government should not support the people" Meaning we should be patriotic and dutiful towards our government but the government should not be a crutch to the people.  

Both of these uses of Government are egregious and miss the mark.  They also miss the mark of helping the intended persons. Sugary drinks are a problem but so is sitting around all day with no or little work waiting for the next meal to show up on your card balance may be a bigger problem.  The Apostle Paul said if you don't work you shouldn't eat. This would seem to be a far better solution to addressing the health concerns of a nation than banning sugary drinks. 

Inversely the use of government to artificially lower the price of eggs is just as much an egregious use of power.  As the public was facing the reality that food costs something and shouldn't be taken for granted, Our fearless leaders decided it was best to use the almighty dollar to buy from the less fortunate to keep our masses happy. The purchases will inevitably raise the prices of eggs in the native countries we buy from further increasing the food instability in those nations. Hurting the poorest in the world so an egg consumer in  KC won't have to cut back one expensive coffee a week.  Nor does this government plan encourage the startup of small egg farms in rural America which would be in the interest of small farmers, and provide adequate food security not to mention enhanced bio security for all egg consumers. I remember farms that had 50-100,000 laying hens. These farms usually supplied a small local grocery store or two or maybe a small chain. All of these were overrun by the multi nationals who cried they were more efficient while paying poor wages and providing even poorer care to the animals. Our government in all it's wisdom and with the almighty buck has decided that it knows best and instead of taking this as an opportunity to build resiliency and redundancy into our food system along with offering a renewed chance at prosperity in Rural America it is again proving it will take the quick fix instead of the hard work we are so desperately needing. 

 I genuinely believe both of these stunts will back fire. Eggs will become more expensive and we will be hated around the world for causing food insecurity among the most insecure, and people will find a way to get pop. 

SO in the end the two issues that are front and center on the minds of our AG Secretary will eventually lead to substantial amounts of crow being eaten. Instead of doing the hard things like those who built this country we look for the quick fixes and immediate gratification. 

When I heard the news of Secretary Rollins plan I told Kristy we need to get some egg layers again. So we just bought some baby chicks. They are a ways off from giving us eggs but you can't have the egg without the chicken. That's a lesson Secretary Rollins is about to learn the hard way.

The application to you the reader of this blog and also hopefully a customer of Nourishing Family farm is have a plan,

Know your farmer.

 A good relationship with someone who grows good food is going to be critical going forward. We are excited to be expanding what we offer soon. We are hoping to have some ground beef available soon as well as several hogs to be available either by the whole hog or the cut. We will be sending out an e mail to our existing customers soon with a time line of when these meat products will be ready and how much they will cost. Anything not spoken for then will be offered on our website.

Thanks again for your loyalty. You will never know how much it means to us. 

JR Burdick