Don’t Confuse Agri-Business With Family Farms

(Posted by Fred Tutman.)

I am deeply upset about what appears to be an unavoidable collision course brewing between Chesapeake Bay advocates and a relatively small segment of the agricultural community that has a big footprint in Maryland and in the Chesapeake Bay. It is a confrontation that is causing huge rifts between champions for water quality and advocates for the future of “true” agriculture in the state. It is a fight that is fast making enemies of those who really should be allies.

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Chesapeake Bay: An Open Toilet

(Posted by Scott Edwards.)

The old grey mare just ain’t what she used to be. And for that matter, neither are those chickens. Or the cows. And you just wouldn’t recognize the pigs. Even if you could see them. But you can’t. Because they spend their entire, short life in darkened, crowded, filthy sheds. Nope, farms just aren’t what they used to be. In fact, they aren’t really even farms anymore. They’re factories. Every bit as much a factory as a papermill. Or a chemical processing plant. Put away your pastoral picture book – there’s nothing quaint or country about them.

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