large corporations should be limited on the amount of farmland they can own when their corporations do not directly relate to food. I want to put power into the small farmers hands again I want to make it normal that food at groceries stores come from local farms in their area.
I am not against industrial farming because there are family owned industrial farms that take good care of their animals and do not feed their animals garbage or pump them full of antibiotics. But there needs to be laws that enforce healthy diets for farm animals such as grass fed grass/and or grain finished cows as just one example, as well as laws that enforce the healthiest environmental conditions for the animals. I want to support the small farmers, I want the animals we eat and that produce animals products for us to be happy and at peek health.
I also want strict laws on what meat products can bare the prime USDA label because right now your meat could come from Brazil but if it’s packaged in the USA it can still be labeled USDA
You have made your request too broad … and you have put multiple requests into it. I like your idea of small farmers, (and maybe there should be an incentive); I like your idea of implementing local grown foods at markets (ban imports unless in times of national shortages… our fruits/veggies used to come from
the USA); I like your idea of restricting imports of meat, unless it is specialized and priced accordingly (tariffs); I like your idea of raising grass finished beef, and there already is such a thing (needs the specialized labeling), but you can’t require ALL meat to be grass finished as that reduces the availability of the meat (we had 5,400 acres in Montana where we raised angus cows and alfalpha (higher protein, better for the cows) hay … the hay was needed to feed the cows during the winter since the extreme cold and snow kept the “grass” hay not growing. Your suggestion of only “grass fed” beef would wipe out every rancher in the northern half of the USA. I did not vote since you mixed your requests and included one that is not feasible.
I think there needs to be more discussion on livestock practices. i believe there are people who grow mixed cover crops in the northern part of the US and still graze in winter. Also I think hay is still grass and should be ok but I defer to experts on this. The main point in my mind about beef for example is that we absolutely should not feed them grains especially not industrial corn and soy. Ruminant animals were meant to eat grasses plain and simple. And we absolutely should not import from other countries and call it “made in USA” because that is lying and hurts American ranchers not to mention we don’t know their growing practices.