forget gigantic ice maids sword of damocles not only gonna get longer Pitt
is freezing cold today but I wanted to talk to you guys about
something that I saw last night that made me really really mad so last night
I was scrolling through Facebook as I am pruned to do wasting so much time scroll
Scroll scroll Scroll scroll as I was scrolling I stumbled upon this what
looked to be a very interesting story and a story very relevant to me it was
for this site called modern agriculture and had all these pictures of
interesting old farms and talking about today's farms versus the farms of old
times you know so for a guy like me who's trying to start up a farm here in
northern Vermont it's pretty spot on well targeted advertising so I clicked
on it and as I click on it it links to this essay about the imaginary farm and
it starts talking about the idyllic picture of a farmer who has a classic
white farmhouse and a old red barn but as I continued to read it it started to
talk about how hey this is all just one big fantasy this farm you'll find it on
the side of an ice cream carton or a can of green beans children's toys mimic
this fiction and it feels authentic in the big screen you'll hear all about it
in popular country blues or folk music in farm-to-table restaurants have a
knack for serving up a taste of this rural myth you'll be hard-pressed at
however to find this farm at work in the real world the farm most Americans love
isn't the one we actually have it's part of the long history of romanticizing
agrarian life it's got a point um you know it is
making a good point that that myth of the agrarian lifestyle you know you
think of this picture where the living is easy and all everything is nice and
simple and the farmer is able to work out in the field and sell what he grows
and make a healthy living and all is good and and you know the point that the
articles making that that's not the case is very true you're talking to a guy
right now who just got up at the crack of dawn in negative six degree weather
to haul buckets of water to a bunch of ducks that aren't even laying eggs farm
life can be tough but as I kept reading I noticed a couple of interesting little
cues within the article they start talking about how margins in the
commodity markets are shrinking and it's hard to remain profitable there's lots
of equipment costs and as I kept reading more and more I started to realize that
this whole website was actually an advertisement for big AG
and you know I said wait a minute who's putting this website out and as I looked
at it I started to notice in like the tiniest tiniest lettering yeah I can't
even get the camera to focus on it like right up here it says sponsored by
Monsanto Monsanto Oh Monsanto you've probably heard about
them before you can describe most Monsanto is a pseudo drug pusher the
worldwide march against Monsanto has drawn hundreds they are now the world's
number one supplier of seeds the hashtag march against Monsanto has been trending
around the world be part of the conversation I discovered dot Monsanto
com Monsanto then if you like go through the website more and you click on the
legal notice what you'll find is that that legal notice takes you to
Monsanto's website and they have all these cooking notices and there's all
sorts of this legal mumbo-jumbo and you start to realize that this whole
story in this whole advertising campaign was cooked up by Monsanto and my
reaction to that was well number one oh my gosh I'm starting to agree with
Monsanto and then wait a minute this is a sneaky underhanded pick I mean if this
company has some messages that they want to put out there about the importance of
big egg and how they don't believe small farming is a viable model and that the
traditional agrarian model just doesn't work you know what go for it have at it
spend all your advertising money doing it whatever but you know be honest and
upfront about it don't conceal your identity don't bury it in there make
sure that as people are clicking on that ad link and they're trying to explore
who's putting that out there that they know who that advertiser is be
transparent and as I started to think about it even more than that what I
really started to come to terms with is this the argument in the article is that
small farming doesn't work at a commodity crop level and you know what
that's actually true small farms trying to work in the commodity market where
they are price takers and not price makers just doesn't make any sense but
small farming at a scale where the farmer knows their customers and the
farmer is direct selling or the farmer is doing some sort of value-add activity
to what they're raising and growing and providing real value to the people who
are buying from and there are customers who are out
there who want a deeper closer connection with their food that type of
model can work I'm not gonna be the one to stand up here right now and say that
hey look we are a profitable small farm we are absolutely not that but what I
will say is that there are different business models that can work for small
farmers and as we are trying to stand up this farm as we are trying to tell our
story that to me is an important story to tell and I feel like it's the other
side of an equation for anybody who's out there who's considering you know
commercial enterprises within their homestead or larger scale farming I
think it's important for them to know that the commodity markets aren't their
only option and that there are other ways to market and sell their products
and there are ways to become profitable I know farmers who are doing this at a
small scale and who are profitable you just have to be very focused on thinking
about several things and it's not just about raising and growing the crops it's
about thinking about your marketing it's about thinking about your sales it's
thinking about your relationships with your customers and it's about thinking
about how to manage your farm in a sustainable manner where you're treating
the land in a respectful way that's going to be sustainable when we're
treating yourself in a way that's respectful and sustainable and you're
treating your community and customers in a way that's respectful and sustainable
if you can get those things to match up I personally believe that a small-scale
sustainable farm is possible so I just want to say shame on you Monsanto for
putting out this sneaky propaganda I really wish you could be more honest
with people if you have something to say be honest and be forthright with who
it's coming from and the agenda that you have as you communicate that message I
hope there's somebody out there who sees this video at Monsanto and I would be
very curious to you understand their point of view I don't consider myself a
person who's a zealot I don't consider myself a person who has a closed mind
and so if they have a point of view I'd be curious to really understand it and
if they have a counterpoint I would want to hear it yeah at the same time right
now they're just hiding behind a fake identity so that's all I've got to say
on this matter if you guys want to see what we're doing on our farm watch one
of our other videos or you can subscribe and I will see you guys over in that
next video as we continue to try to build a farm here in northern Vermont