Great civilizations such as the United States have grown on the backs of such industries as manufacturing and agriculture. I’m going to take a quick glance at agriculture. If you listen to public radio, no doubt you will hear Jim Hightower say “…9 million shiploads of foreign food came into our ports last year…“, he also makes mention of the lack of food safety on imported products.

The real question I am puzzled with is why this isn’t a higher priority for most Americans. We need food to survive, yet we so are precariously disconnected from its source in most cases, and we don’t seem to care. At home, smaller farms are being swallowed up by factory farms and this has been happening at alarming rates, for a long time. Factory farming is less efficient. One large farm will typically produce far less food than several smaller farms.

This factored into a growing population and growing demand just doesn’t cut it. How do we supplement this system? We import tons of food and have a growing dependency on foreign nations like china. We have duct taped the problem and are taking uneccesary risks with the American people. The government needs to take action to support more localized and independent farming operations. Washington should be heavily promoting small scale agriculture and investing in America.