not sure I get it yet
For some months now a Missouri family has been in the news for "illegally" selling raw milk (for the uninitiated - the stuff that comes straight from the cow into some sort of cooling tank before it gets pasteurized, processed etc. and makes it way to Wal Mart shelves) Missouri law restricts how and where you may sell such raw milk. I can understand the need for some safety and other regs on anything we eat or drink but I think most people would agree this one went too far. The Missouri Attorney General seems to have taken a personal interest in this case. Apart from my opinion that he could have simply told the family "Stop selling your milk in this way or that way or else", slapped their wrists and went about doing more important AG stuff, I didn't think much about his role or agenda.
Today on a site I've been frequenting The Rural Blog is a link to a Wall St. Journal article that once again mentions our state's AG, Mr. Koster. This time he is involved in a case that originally prohibited a farmer from setting up a large hog farm in a tiny MO town. The locals won the battle to keep the large farm away but Mr. Koster feels the need to appeal the ruling.
Here's a quote from the article:
"Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed the decision in state court, vowing to roll back a thicket of local obstacles to big farms that largely began in "The Show Me State" and rippled across the Farm Belt in recent years.
"In the eyes of the agricultural community, this is starting to spin out of control," said Mr. Koster, a former state senator whose pending appeal has the backing of the Missouri Farm Bureau, one of the biggest farm groups in the state."
Now I see where he is going. Maybe I'm connecting the wrong dots but here in two very unrelated cases, he is promoting big farms. It is more obvious in the second story about pigs because he says it but in the first milk story, wonder what large dairies (or groups like DFA) are behind any prior (or future) campaigns of his?
On final piggy thought: If this sort of thing interests you I suggest you read Righteous Pork Chop by Nicolette Niman. And interesting look at corporate hog farming and what it can do to small towns and communities.
Today on a site I've been frequenting The Rural Blog is a link to a Wall St. Journal article that once again mentions our state's AG, Mr. Koster. This time he is involved in a case that originally prohibited a farmer from setting up a large hog farm in a tiny MO town. The locals won the battle to keep the large farm away but Mr. Koster feels the need to appeal the ruling.
Here's a quote from the article:
"Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed the decision in state court, vowing to roll back a thicket of local obstacles to big farms that largely began in "The Show Me State" and rippled across the Farm Belt in recent years.
"In the eyes of the agricultural community, this is starting to spin out of control," said Mr. Koster, a former state senator whose pending appeal has the backing of the Missouri Farm Bureau, one of the biggest farm groups in the state."
Now I see where he is going. Maybe I'm connecting the wrong dots but here in two very unrelated cases, he is promoting big farms. It is more obvious in the second story about pigs because he says it but in the first milk story, wonder what large dairies (or groups like DFA) are behind any prior (or future) campaigns of his?
On final piggy thought: If this sort of thing interests you I suggest you read Righteous Pork Chop by Nicolette Niman. And interesting look at corporate hog farming and what it can do to small towns and communities.
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