In article ,
"Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote:

"Billy" wrote in message
...
There are other arguments against "industrial" agriculture but this is
the first I came up with.


When General Mills decides to do a production run of
Coca Crispies cereal, they order the box printing by the
hundred thousand units, to get the cheapest price from the
printer, they order the plastic bag for the cereal by the
hundred thousand units, to get the cheapest price for the
bag, and they want to order the corn by the hundred
tons, because when their production line gets going they
are slamming those boxes out at a box a second at the
end of the assembly line, and they have to feed the
corn into the assembly line at a tremendous rate.

They do not want to go out and separately negotiate
orders of corn of this magnitude from 100 separate small
farmers who can each only supply a ton of corn.
You didn't read the chapter. Chem ferts kill top soil. The less top
soil, the more chem ferts, and more pollution of ground water and
fishing areas. Who pays to remediate the land and the water? The tax
payer does. It is called "privatize the profits and socialize
the costs". The price of the box is only part of the price.

This is why the big agribusinesses thrive, it is the
presence of a market.
And the 34 billion dollars of advertising for products we don't need.
The American farmer produces 600 calories/consumer more than we need.
Adverti$ing --- consumption --- over weight --- medical bills.

If you want to get rid of large farms and go back to
a lot of small farms, you need to figure out an efficient
marketing and distribution system.
It is being done with no help from Washington. The 2008 Farm Bill
is same ol', same ol'.

Ted

Price of corn in a box of corn flakes: 4 cents
Price of a box of corn flakes: $4
**** 'em.
--

Billy
Bush and Pelosi Behind Bars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTf...ef=patrick.net
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016232.html