December 31, 2025 • 18 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with a focus of the COOL (Country of Origin Labelling) standards.
Plus, the American Agriculture Alliance released and updated version of the impact report, highlighting progress made to enhance animal welfare practices, reduce environmental impact, and contribute to America’s healthy balanced diet.
Next up, the importance of rural veterinarians and why there seem to be less and less as years go on.
Then, Doug breaks down how much the farmer is actually getting on the rising cost of food and the amazing inequities in our food system.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
Plus, the American Agriculture Alliance released and updated version of the impact report, highlighting progress made to enhance animal welfare practices, reduce environmental impact, and contribute to America’s healthy balanced diet.
Next up, the importance of rural veterinarians and why there seem to be less and less as years go on.
Then, Doug breaks down how much the farmer is actually getting on the rising cost of food and the amazing inequities in our food system.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The American Family Farmer podcast, sponsored in part by Caldron,
The Safe, proven Way to lose weight. Check it all
out at toploss dot com. I'm Doug Stephan. This is
the American Family Farmer as we try to look ahead
to a new year, starting off with the twelve billion
dollars in aid for farmers in our country, and maybe
(00:20):
we can get around how the tariffs are affecting small farmers.
We have talked about that over the last month or
more here on The American Family Farmer. Let's talk about
something else that we hopefully are going to have in
the new year. The news this week is a focus
in part on the cool standards the country of origin labeling.
(00:42):
There are a lot of farmer groups that are trying
to get to Congress to tell them it's time to
reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling. And I wonder whether
you have been thinking about that. American consumers, according to
the American Farm Bureau Federation, deserve honest and transparent labels
so you can make informed food choices, whether it's at
(01:05):
the grocery store or at the farm or wherever. I
guess if you're buying things at the farm, you know
where they're coming from, because you can see where they're
being grown. But don't we deserve the right to choose
whether we want our beef from America or someplace else.
This is where really where the rubber hits the road.
Farmers deserve a fair choice to compete for this preference.
(01:29):
So the story this week is that there's a renewed
interest or renewed energy, and it's mostly because of the
faux pause of the administration and how they've allowed imported
beef to come in to our country. The beef that
comes in here now is repackaged and sometimes sold as
(01:50):
if it's grown in the United States. This is completely
unfair to the farmer, to the consumer. There are a
lot of people who spend a lot of time and
effort and money to raise high quality beef. It may
be that you don't eat beef okay, but don't you
think other things that you're eating do You deserve truth
(02:10):
and fairness in the food system. And this is all
at the hands of the government. So I guess I
would underscore this again, mandatory cool country of origin labeling,
especially when it comes to beef and meat pork, that
sort of thing. Where is it coming from Senate for
(02:30):
twenty one. I don't want to get into the weeds
too much here, but Senate for twenty one is the
Labeling Act, and in the House it's House five eight
one eight, House five eight one eight. You can speak,
send notes to your Senator's office, to your representative's office.
Country of origin. Labeling Enforcement Act is House fifty eight eighteen,
(02:55):
and the Labeling Act that's pretty similar to that is
Senate for twenty one. Act. Now take action, join family
farmers across the country for all of the emphasis is necessary.
Make your voices heard. I would say that's probably the
most important thing I think for the new year. Now,
(03:21):
looking back and looking ahead, I have a report from
the American Agricultural Alliance to report to you. They released
an updated version of the Impact Report. The report highlights
decades of progress made in the US food and farming
community to enhance animal welfare practices, reduce environmental impact, and
(03:47):
contribute to America's healthy balanced diet. So you could say, well,
how come we don't have a healthy balanced diet. Well,
the farmers are working toward that end. But that doesn't
mean that the three or four or five big conglomerates
that control eighty five percent of the food that people
are buying in the grocery stores around the country are
(04:07):
in sync with a farmer. I'm not sure that that
has been part of what's gone on at all, but
to look at what we are doing here, the farm
and food community has been a global leader in efforts
for decades to grow something better and to do it
in a way that is better for everything, for the animals,
(04:30):
for the products, for the people using it, for the environment.
I was looking at some of the animal welfare priorities
that are part of this, and as I look at
the graphs and see where animal welfare is most farmers
have a close working relationship with vets. I know I
(04:51):
do on my farm, and I'm very aware I talk
with some of the other farmers around to ensure that
we have good animal feed and a well balanced diet.
This is something that is very, very important. In the
last forty fifty years, the US beef community reduced emissions
(05:14):
per pound of beef by more than forty percent. So
don't let people who are, you know, the environmentalists who
say we have to get rid of the cows because
the methane gas is killing us. That is something we
can debate until the cows come home. There's a lot
of stuff being reported. It's just wrong because there an't
(05:36):
enough people to push the question or to ask the
right questions about methane gas and cows and what happens
with what comes out of the back end of a cow.
That is, when you look at if you've done this,
if you have cows, you raise cows out in the
pasture where they poop, you can look around the area
where the poop is and see the green from the
(05:58):
microbes that come out of the poop that make the
soil that much better. And so's all. It's not one
way as some of these people would have you believe.
All right, So that's my up to date. I want
to talk a little bit more about dairying, especially as
we continue here in the American Family Farmer Program. It's
the holiday season spirit of giving family gatherings. What happens
(06:22):
when your smart TV doesn't connect. We've had a story
that we've told on the air here for most of
the month. Alex Lee is here to update is from Verizon.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
The holidays a time of joy that can turn into
an oh boy moment during a home tech emergency. When
those moments happen. You need Verizon Home Device Protect for
just twenty five dollars a month plus taxes. You'll get
twenty four to seven tech support and professional setup on
eligible home Tech for forty nine dollars per products like
mounting your brand new TV, and if you're a Verizon
Home Internet customer, the installation is on US at zero dollars.
(06:53):
Don't let a Home Tech emergency ruin the Holiday tier.
Get Verizon Home Device Protect. Limitations and exclusions apply. Vis
you to look Verizon Store today.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Curbacheries by plann your contracts and exclusion at Endurancemorty dot com.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
This is an announcement to all United States vehicle owners
who own a two thousand and three or newer vehicle
with a manufacturer's warranty about to expire or no warranty
coverage at all. With a struggling economy and the cost
of living on the rise, Endurance is now offering an affordable,
low cost vehicle coverage plan to the general public. As
of today, you could be one of millions of drivers
(07:25):
that now may qualify to have your vehicle protected under
this coverage and have all future covered auto repairs paid
directly to the repair shop for you. You pick your plan,
you pick your deductible, you even pick the repair shop.
Roadside service, towing and rental coverage is included. Get your
vehicle protected now and save your wallet from costly vehicle repairs.
(07:45):
A toll free number has been established for you to
call for your free five minute quote and to see
if you qualify. The number to call is eight hundred
two ninety five forty six eighty two. Eight hundred two
ninety five forty six eighty two. Again, that's eight hundred
two ninety five eight two.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Back here on the American Family Farmer Program, I'm Doug
Stephan talking about veterinarians and what's going on. The Tech
and Ag Report was released for this year. The Secretary
of Agriculture talking about new actions that are being initiated
to increase the number of food animal veterinarians across the US.
(08:24):
We all know those of us who are in the
cattle dairy business, the veterinarians are few and far between.
Big animal vets are hard to find, at least they
are in my neck of the woods and Ms Rawlins,
The Secretary of Agriculture said, quote, Rural vets are vital
for the agricultural economy. Farmers rely on these critical services
(08:48):
to prevent the transmission of animal diseases, protect our food supply,
and support America's rural economy. Okay, so we hear the
political statement. I'm surprising in that statement there was a
something that blamed the Biden administration for something, because these
guys love to do that. Not that the Biden administration
isn't responsible for lots of the woes that we have,
But in my mind, the new year is time to
(09:10):
move on and talk about something else, like how to
make America's food supply strong, safe and secure. There are
a lot of health threats. There's a lot of food
born illness, the things that are being brought into our countries.
This is where the bottom line, it seems to me,
ought to be. All this stuff that's coming in here.
(09:31):
We've talked about country of origin labels for food. You
know what comes in with the food sometimes is stuff
even you know, we see something as difficult to understand
as the things being shipped over from China on pallets
made out of wood from trees that are diseased. So
(09:52):
the pallets get here, the material that's on them gets
offloaded off of the of the ships put onto trucks
brought around the country, and what's in the wood gets out,
and there's a whole thing the ash trees. There's diseases
for lots of trees that have started in Asia, and
most of it is in China, and now we have
(10:13):
to put up with it here in America. Those are
the kinds of things that are threats not only to
our farming and rural America. But it's alarming is how
it affects pretty much the safety of the food supply
and in our environment all across the board. So what
do they say at the government level. One, we need
(10:35):
to enhance and streamline veterinary grant programs. Now I'm back
to the veterinarians and how they take care of the animals.
I just that anecdotal thing about the pallets and stuff.
It's food for thought, for sure, But I do want
to spend most of my time here talking about veterinary medicine.
There's a loan repayment program that's available from the government.
Now there's a grant program, veterinary services grant program that's available,
(10:59):
and they have streamlined applications so that you can have
an easier way of at least trying to provide for
yourself while you're in school. There also is a move
a foot to analyze rural veterinary shortages and better understand
what is needed by not only the FEDS, but the
(11:20):
state governments. I think it's more of a state thing
because the us DA Economic Research Service is a broader overview.
I think each state, excuse me, has different needs to
recruit and retain veterinarians, and so as we look back
over the past ten twelve years, we've seen the number
(11:42):
of people going down. So the USDA, among others, we
want to have good vets for our farms, but they
also need to have them at port inspections. They provide
a critical role when animals are coming into this country.
You don't realize how many animals are brought into the country.
How much has been shipped over here from China, for example,
(12:02):
by the Chinese of live pork on the hoof, if
you will. So we need people to be included. Special
pay rates for government vets now have been instituted so
that they can get more people in here. And there's
also a federal resource that's being developed for veterinarians to
(12:25):
open clinics not only in rural areas, but in places
where there's the shortest suburban place like where I live.
There's a big, big need for vets. Interesting, most of
the people applying to veterinary schools these days are women.
I find that to be interesting as well. So anyway,
(12:47):
if you go to the USDA and knowse around, you
can find more information about how you can pay for
college veterinary school and where the jobs are. I wish
for a happy new year from Doug here on the
American Family Farmer. Back on the American family farmer. I've
(13:08):
gone through the share of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Dollars are
about the same, the food's about the same that we
needed Christmas time, and so those numbers apply. And I
guess I'm thinking I would like to have the year
end on a positive note that we could look forward
to something better in the next year. And I'm not
(13:31):
quite sure how to do that, frankly, because I'm looking
at all these numbers and what we've done as farmers.
What we you know, we've raised more food with fewer resources. Frankly,
even though the numbers were selling less from twenty twenty two,
I gave you those numbers earlier in the program. To
(13:52):
this year, the numbers are off about a third, and
we don't have the resources to even make all of
that work. We're growing less is in most areas except
for dairy, where we are producing more and enjoying it less.
That's something that I would take up with you at
a different time. I'm just here looking at the way
(14:14):
we are being we're being paid. If you're thinking about
things like turkey, it comes like turkey hash is a sandwich.
Maybe open faced turkey sandwiches are something that I like,
And sometimes there's some stuff that gets made after the
holidays that that's pretty disgusting. But turkey is just one
(14:38):
of these things. There have been many In many cities
and towns and states, there's a sales tax on certain
types of food, and one of them that has come
to focus here in Massachusetts is the candy tax. There
are those who are arguing that it is is a
(15:01):
food and others who say no, it's not. But they're
not likely to take the tax off of candy because
it brings in twenty five million dollars a year. The
politicians think about that and money that they can spend
if you look at the taxes. We're not supposed to
be paying taxes on food, but a lot of the
things that we buy for Christmas, that we have around
(15:22):
for Christmas, they aren't like candy and sweets are taxed
in some places. My whole thing about taxes has been curdled,
to use a milk expression, by the reality of the
tariffs and what they have done, and how it's like
(15:43):
everything is against us being successful. Family farmers work around
the clock around the year, and the profits are lower
in all sectors of the industry. The beef prices were
sustaining and doing better until we then were told to
(16:04):
encounter this Argentinian beef thing. There's no fairness for farmers
because the people who run the government don't understand. They
don't seem to care, they're just interested in The President
talks about what it costs you to buy food in
the grocery store, whether it's corn or dinner rolls, or
it's ham or beans or whatever it is, and how
(16:26):
much does the farmer get you pay? For example, for
dinner rolls, the average person buying a package of dinner
rolls pays four dollars forty nine cents. The farmer gets
nine cents out of that. If you're buying corn and
you're paying by the ear the charge, unless you're buying
it at the farm. If you're buying at the grocery
(16:48):
store and you pay a dollar for an ear of corn,
the farmer is getting sixteen cents of that. It's just nuts.
The whole thing is nuts. And then I went through
the most expensive chains, and that holds up for Christmas
and New Year's celebrations as well. Number one most expensive
place to buy food in the country, Whole Foods. The
(17:08):
thing that I didn't talk about the last time is
how much the farmers like. If it's the most expensive place,
you'd think that the farmers who are supplying the food
to Whole Foods were beginning more, and in fact they
are not. The farmer's share of the food dollar shows
just amazing inequities in our food system. We get only
(17:31):
pennies on the dollar for the foods that are consumed
during the holiday celebrations. Small returns for lots of work.
So I guess the Fairness for Farmers campaign that spotlights
how consolidation anti competitive practices in the agriculture supply chain,
(17:54):
the anti trust enforcement that used to be there but
isn't right now, fair Mark, it's the influence of what's
coming into this country. It all is like circling the drain,
and I think you should think about that when you're
thinking about who you supported. The ballad Box. It's not
a Merry Christmas message, but it is a happy New Year.
(18:14):
It's a New Year's message food for thought, important for
the American Family Farmer. This program was produced at bobk
Sound and Recording.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Please visit bobksound dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
The American Family Farmer Podcast sponsored in part by Caldron,
which is the safe way for you to lose weight
and keep it off
The American Family Farmer podcast, sponsored in part by Caldron,
The Safe, proven Way to lose weight. Check it all
out at toploss dot com. I'm Doug Stephan. This is
the American Family Farmer as we try to look ahead
to a new year, starting off with the twelve billion
dollars in aid for farmers in our country, and maybe
(00:20):
we can get around how the tariffs are affecting small farmers.
We have talked about that over the last month or
more here on The American Family Farmer. Let's talk about
something else that we hopefully are going to have in
the new year. The news this week is a focus
in part on the cool standards the country of origin labeling.
(00:42):
There are a lot of farmer groups that are trying
to get to Congress to tell them it's time to
reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling. And I wonder whether
you have been thinking about that. American consumers, according to
the American Farm Bureau Federation, deserve honest and transparent labels
so you can make informed food choices, whether it's at
(01:05):
the grocery store or at the farm or wherever. I
guess if you're buying things at the farm, you know
where they're coming from, because you can see where they're
being grown. But don't we deserve the right to choose
whether we want our beef from America or someplace else.
This is where really where the rubber hits the road.
Farmers deserve a fair choice to compete for this preference.
(01:29):
So the story this week is that there's a renewed
interest or renewed energy, and it's mostly because of the
faux pause of the administration and how they've allowed imported
beef to come in to our country. The beef that
comes in here now is repackaged and sometimes sold as
(01:50):
if it's grown in the United States. This is completely
unfair to the farmer, to the consumer. There are a
lot of people who spend a lot of time and
effort and money to raise high quality beef. It may
be that you don't eat beef okay, but don't you
think other things that you're eating do You deserve truth
(02:10):
and fairness in the food system. And this is all
at the hands of the government. So I guess I
would underscore this again, mandatory cool country of origin labeling,
especially when it comes to beef and meat pork, that
sort of thing. Where is it coming from Senate for
(02:30):
twenty one. I don't want to get into the weeds
too much here, but Senate for twenty one is the
Labeling Act, and in the House it's House five eight
one eight, House five eight one eight. You can speak,
send notes to your Senator's office, to your representative's office.
Country of origin. Labeling Enforcement Act is House fifty eight eighteen,
(02:55):
and the Labeling Act that's pretty similar to that is
Senate for twenty one. Act. Now take action, join family
farmers across the country for all of the emphasis is necessary.
Make your voices heard. I would say that's probably the
most important thing I think for the new year. Now,
(03:21):
looking back and looking ahead, I have a report from
the American Agricultural Alliance to report to you. They released
an updated version of the Impact Report. The report highlights
decades of progress made in the US food and farming
community to enhance animal welfare practices, reduce environmental impact, and
(03:47):
contribute to America's healthy balanced diet. So you could say, well,
how come we don't have a healthy balanced diet. Well,
the farmers are working toward that end. But that doesn't
mean that the three or four or five big conglomerates
that control eighty five percent of the food that people
are buying in the grocery stores around the country are
(04:07):
in sync with a farmer. I'm not sure that that
has been part of what's gone on at all, but
to look at what we are doing here, the farm
and food community has been a global leader in efforts
for decades to grow something better and to do it
in a way that is better for everything, for the animals,
(04:30):
for the products, for the people using it, for the environment.
I was looking at some of the animal welfare priorities
that are part of this, and as I look at
the graphs and see where animal welfare is most farmers
have a close working relationship with vets. I know I
(04:51):
do on my farm, and I'm very aware I talk
with some of the other farmers around to ensure that
we have good animal feed and a well balanced diet.
This is something that is very, very important. In the
last forty fifty years, the US beef community reduced emissions
(05:14):
per pound of beef by more than forty percent. So
don't let people who are, you know, the environmentalists who
say we have to get rid of the cows because
the methane gas is killing us. That is something we
can debate until the cows come home. There's a lot
of stuff being reported. It's just wrong because there an't
(05:36):
enough people to push the question or to ask the
right questions about methane gas and cows and what happens
with what comes out of the back end of a cow.
That is, when you look at if you've done this,
if you have cows, you raise cows out in the
pasture where they poop, you can look around the area
where the poop is and see the green from the
(05:58):
microbes that come out of the poop that make the
soil that much better. And so's all. It's not one
way as some of these people would have you believe.
All right, So that's my up to date. I want
to talk a little bit more about dairying, especially as
we continue here in the American Family Farmer Program. It's
the holiday season spirit of giving family gatherings. What happens
(06:22):
when your smart TV doesn't connect. We've had a story
that we've told on the air here for most of
the month. Alex Lee is here to update is from Verizon.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
The holidays a time of joy that can turn into
an oh boy moment during a home tech emergency. When
those moments happen. You need Verizon Home Device Protect for
just twenty five dollars a month plus taxes. You'll get
twenty four to seven tech support and professional setup on
eligible home Tech for forty nine dollars per products like
mounting your brand new TV, and if you're a Verizon
Home Internet customer, the installation is on US at zero dollars.
(06:53):
Don't let a Home Tech emergency ruin the Holiday tier.
Get Verizon Home Device Protect. Limitations and exclusions apply. Vis
you to look Verizon Store today.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Curbacheries by plann your contracts and exclusion at Endurancemorty dot com.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
This is an announcement to all United States vehicle owners
who own a two thousand and three or newer vehicle
with a manufacturer's warranty about to expire or no warranty
coverage at all. With a struggling economy and the cost
of living on the rise, Endurance is now offering an affordable,
low cost vehicle coverage plan to the general public. As
of today, you could be one of millions of drivers
(07:25):
that now may qualify to have your vehicle protected under
this coverage and have all future covered auto repairs paid
directly to the repair shop for you. You pick your plan,
you pick your deductible, you even pick the repair shop.
Roadside service, towing and rental coverage is included. Get your
vehicle protected now and save your wallet from costly vehicle repairs.
(07:45):
A toll free number has been established for you to
call for your free five minute quote and to see
if you qualify. The number to call is eight hundred
two ninety five forty six eighty two. Eight hundred two
ninety five forty six eighty two. Again, that's eight hundred
two ninety five eight two.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Back here on the American Family Farmer Program, I'm Doug
Stephan talking about veterinarians and what's going on. The Tech
and Ag Report was released for this year. The Secretary
of Agriculture talking about new actions that are being initiated
to increase the number of food animal veterinarians across the US.
(08:24):
We all know those of us who are in the
cattle dairy business, the veterinarians are few and far between.
Big animal vets are hard to find, at least they
are in my neck of the woods and Ms Rawlins,
The Secretary of Agriculture said, quote, Rural vets are vital
for the agricultural economy. Farmers rely on these critical services
(08:48):
to prevent the transmission of animal diseases, protect our food supply,
and support America's rural economy. Okay, so we hear the
political statement. I'm surprising in that statement there was a
something that blamed the Biden administration for something, because these
guys love to do that. Not that the Biden administration
isn't responsible for lots of the woes that we have,
But in my mind, the new year is time to
(09:10):
move on and talk about something else, like how to
make America's food supply strong, safe and secure. There are
a lot of health threats. There's a lot of food
born illness, the things that are being brought into our countries.
This is where the bottom line, it seems to me,
ought to be. All this stuff that's coming in here.
(09:31):
We've talked about country of origin labels for food. You
know what comes in with the food sometimes is stuff
even you know, we see something as difficult to understand
as the things being shipped over from China on pallets
made out of wood from trees that are diseased. So
(09:52):
the pallets get here, the material that's on them gets
offloaded off of the of the ships put onto trucks
brought around the country, and what's in the wood gets out,
and there's a whole thing the ash trees. There's diseases
for lots of trees that have started in Asia, and
most of it is in China, and now we have
(10:13):
to put up with it here in America. Those are
the kinds of things that are threats not only to
our farming and rural America. But it's alarming is how
it affects pretty much the safety of the food supply
and in our environment all across the board. So what
do they say at the government level. One, we need
(10:35):
to enhance and streamline veterinary grant programs. Now I'm back
to the veterinarians and how they take care of the animals.
I just that anecdotal thing about the pallets and stuff.
It's food for thought, for sure, But I do want
to spend most of my time here talking about veterinary medicine.
There's a loan repayment program that's available from the government.
Now there's a grant program, veterinary services grant program that's available,
(10:59):
and they have streamlined applications so that you can have
an easier way of at least trying to provide for
yourself while you're in school. There also is a move
a foot to analyze rural veterinary shortages and better understand
what is needed by not only the FEDS, but the
(11:20):
state governments. I think it's more of a state thing
because the us DA Economic Research Service is a broader overview.
I think each state, excuse me, has different needs to
recruit and retain veterinarians, and so as we look back
over the past ten twelve years, we've seen the number
(11:42):
of people going down. So the USDA, among others, we
want to have good vets for our farms, but they
also need to have them at port inspections. They provide
a critical role when animals are coming into this country.
You don't realize how many animals are brought into the country.
How much has been shipped over here from China, for example,
(12:02):
by the Chinese of live pork on the hoof, if
you will. So we need people to be included. Special
pay rates for government vets now have been instituted so
that they can get more people in here. And there's
also a federal resource that's being developed for veterinarians to
(12:25):
open clinics not only in rural areas, but in places
where there's the shortest suburban place like where I live.
There's a big, big need for vets. Interesting, most of
the people applying to veterinary schools these days are women.
I find that to be interesting as well. So anyway,
(12:47):
if you go to the USDA and knowse around, you
can find more information about how you can pay for
college veterinary school and where the jobs are. I wish
for a happy new year from Doug here on the
American Family Farmer. Back on the American family farmer. I've
(13:08):
gone through the share of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Dollars are
about the same, the food's about the same that we
needed Christmas time, and so those numbers apply. And I
guess I'm thinking I would like to have the year
end on a positive note that we could look forward
to something better in the next year. And I'm not
(13:31):
quite sure how to do that, frankly, because I'm looking
at all these numbers and what we've done as farmers.
What we you know, we've raised more food with fewer resources. Frankly,
even though the numbers were selling less from twenty twenty two,
I gave you those numbers earlier in the program. To
(13:52):
this year, the numbers are off about a third, and
we don't have the resources to even make all of
that work. We're growing less is in most areas except
for dairy, where we are producing more and enjoying it less.
That's something that I would take up with you at
a different time. I'm just here looking at the way
(14:14):
we are being we're being paid. If you're thinking about
things like turkey, it comes like turkey hash is a sandwich.
Maybe open faced turkey sandwiches are something that I like,
And sometimes there's some stuff that gets made after the
holidays that that's pretty disgusting. But turkey is just one
(14:38):
of these things. There have been many In many cities
and towns and states, there's a sales tax on certain
types of food, and one of them that has come
to focus here in Massachusetts is the candy tax. There
are those who are arguing that it is is a
(15:01):
food and others who say no, it's not. But they're
not likely to take the tax off of candy because
it brings in twenty five million dollars a year. The
politicians think about that and money that they can spend
if you look at the taxes. We're not supposed to
be paying taxes on food, but a lot of the
things that we buy for Christmas, that we have around
(15:22):
for Christmas, they aren't like candy and sweets are taxed
in some places. My whole thing about taxes has been curdled,
to use a milk expression, by the reality of the
tariffs and what they have done, and how it's like
(15:43):
everything is against us being successful. Family farmers work around
the clock around the year, and the profits are lower
in all sectors of the industry. The beef prices were
sustaining and doing better until we then were told to
(16:04):
encounter this Argentinian beef thing. There's no fairness for farmers
because the people who run the government don't understand. They
don't seem to care, they're just interested in The President
talks about what it costs you to buy food in
the grocery store, whether it's corn or dinner rolls, or
it's ham or beans or whatever it is, and how
(16:26):
much does the farmer get you pay? For example, for
dinner rolls, the average person buying a package of dinner
rolls pays four dollars forty nine cents. The farmer gets
nine cents out of that. If you're buying corn and
you're paying by the ear the charge, unless you're buying
it at the farm. If you're buying at the grocery
(16:48):
store and you pay a dollar for an ear of corn,
the farmer is getting sixteen cents of that. It's just nuts.
The whole thing is nuts. And then I went through
the most expensive chains, and that holds up for Christmas
and New Year's celebrations as well. Number one most expensive
place to buy food in the country, Whole Foods. The
(17:08):
thing that I didn't talk about the last time is
how much the farmers like. If it's the most expensive place,
you'd think that the farmers who are supplying the food
to Whole Foods were beginning more, and in fact they
are not. The farmer's share of the food dollar shows
just amazing inequities in our food system. We get only
(17:31):
pennies on the dollar for the foods that are consumed
during the holiday celebrations. Small returns for lots of work.
So I guess the Fairness for Farmers campaign that spotlights
how consolidation anti competitive practices in the agriculture supply chain,
(17:54):
the anti trust enforcement that used to be there but
isn't right now, fair Mark, it's the influence of what's
coming into this country. It all is like circling the drain,
and I think you should think about that when you're
thinking about who you supported. The ballad Box. It's not
a Merry Christmas message, but it is a happy New Year.
(18:14):
It's a New Year's message food for thought, important for
the American Family Farmer. This program was produced at bobk
Sound and Recording.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Please visit bobksound dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
The American Family Farmer Podcast sponsored in part by Caldron,
which is the safe way for you to lose weight
and keep it off
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