Where's your food come from?

     So much of my news feed today is filled with news about freight costs and security. Washington DC rolls out new information everyday about preparedness while saying everything is OKAY and getting better. This blog post was inspired by One of Washington DC's newest claims. Yesterday the USDA, with much fanfare rolled out it's new PRODUCT OF THE USA label. Brooke Rollins secretary of Agriculture along side Bobby Kennedy  Secretary of HHS both gleefully announced the new Label and what it meant for consumers buying this labeled food product. Industry leaders lined up to clap and cheer for the new label. Agriculture news media put out news stories saying how this was a bold move showing true leadership and promoting USA food production.

     I was less than impressed.

      Since I switched over from being a commodity ag producer to a food producer I see the world through the eyes of both my customer and my farm. A unique perspective that many farmers do not have. I hear your concerns and I see the damage that commodity ag production has done to our rural communities and to our overall food system. Now during this AG week celebration I am not bashing my fellow farmers. God knows they've had little choice but to move in this direction of maximum caloric output instead of an emphasis on nutrition. But we are largely driven by these multi national globalist corporations who value the dollar over anything else. That's what makes this announcement so bizzarro to me.

For years the beef industry has pushed for Mandatory Country of origin Labeling. up until 2015 we did have that. It got swept away under the congress because they were afraid of it violated World Trade Organization agreements and they would lose the ability to trade with China, particularly. Since then they have allowed all kinds of food to have a USA label if it was partially processed here in the good old USofA. Many organizations have tried to lobby for changes to this rule that penalized food processors and grocery stores from misleading the public with product of the USofA labels with no success. 

This leads us to yesterday. Amidst the fanfare, the flashing lights and the adoring fans dressed in cowboy hats and the flagged back drop the new rules surrounding the Product of the USofA label were dropped. The rules were exactly what so many had hoped for. Clarity on what it means to produce an American made food all the way from the fields to the table. Then one word changed it all for me. 

Voluntary!

There are no teeth if you mislabel. There is no penalty for plagiarism. You can green wash this all you want and get no punishment for it. I'm not surprised. I've been watching us get sold out to globalist multi nationals my whole life. But what surprised me was that MAHA took this as a win. That groups who I support like R-CALF USA laud it as a great first step and are glad to take credit for providing "input" into this rule.

So its a new administration, new faces but same result. The old bait and switch. It's like that MEME from the pawn shop were the guy says "best I can do is" and you get deflated when  you realize the golden ticket is seats in the nose bleed section of your favorite venue to watch your favorite team. Just not what you were hoping for.

So what can you do? support local farms. Shake the hand of the farmer who produces your food. Support the heck out of these guys and gals. Everything we do here is 100% American made. Heck it's Missouri made! We used to be glad for labels. Now we are finding out they lie on the labels and get away with it. If you want to know for sure your pork is American produced, your dairy products are American made, or any of the other things we sell traveled the fewest miles from the field to your table, buy from a farmer near you. When you find a farmer to buy your families food from ask questions of him or her. Don't just randomly accept it be inquisitive. I appreciate that.

If you click on the QR code of most labels they take you to a cold tab that is a link for analytics of the food pyramid. Ours takes us to our most recent family picture.  Our labels aren't voluntary they are a simple thankyou written to each of you for purchasing our farm products. They are contract of trust and our commitment to you to help care for your family. If you buy from a local farmer you don't need a label because you have a relationship.