December 3, 2025 • 19 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting with news the EPA approved a new forever chemical in pesticides that is being used on food. Read that sentence again. The big food processors want the food grown for them to last longer, and the big conglomerate farms want the food to grow bigger and faster. What does that mean for the health of consumers?
Then, Doug shares information of the farmers’ share of Thanksgiving. By the numbers, families paid much more this year for turkeys, stuffing, pumpkins, dinner rolls, cranberries, potatoes, etc. The farmers, however, aren’t seeing an increase in their share of the profit. It’s an outrage and even more important to remind people to work with farmers directly and to support their local farmers.
When rural America does well, we all do well. However, rural America is being squeezed by the administration, by the reality of the big business that control a majority of the source of food. Good news comes from an 8th grader who believes we can transform agriculture’s future. Doug shares her story and the encouragement that comes with it.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
Then, Doug shares information of the farmers’ share of Thanksgiving. By the numbers, families paid much more this year for turkeys, stuffing, pumpkins, dinner rolls, cranberries, potatoes, etc. The farmers, however, aren’t seeing an increase in their share of the profit. It’s an outrage and even more important to remind people to work with farmers directly and to support their local farmers.
When rural America does well, we all do well. However, rural America is being squeezed by the administration, by the reality of the big business that control a majority of the source of food. Good news comes from an 8th grader who believes we can transform agriculture’s future. Doug shares her story and the encouragement that comes with it.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
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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. The EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency,
just this past week approved a new forever chemical in
(00:21):
pesticides that is being used on food. So you know,
you can say what you want to about mister Trump
and the people, as many of you know who listen
to me on this program and on some of the
other programs I do, like Good Day Health. I'm a
big fan of Robert F. Kennedy. I think he's the
best cabinet secretary that mister Trump has and he's doing
(00:43):
a lot of things to straighten out a lot of
misinformation and things that certainly have been questioned. What's the
answer to the question. We're getting answers to the question.
The question here may be why, and I will tell
you why. Because the big the four or five big
huge food processors, I want to have their food that's
(01:04):
grown for them last longer, and the big conglomerates, the
big farms want to have a way to make the
food grow better. So they're on bugs and you get
more money for it, but at what cost? Because the
EPA is moving forward with these approvals for pesticides that
contain the forever chemicals that we've been talking about for
(01:25):
decades as bad, bad bad, But this information and these
chemicals are an active ingredient. So basically what we're getting
from the EPA is that they're dismissing concerns about your
health and the environment. Now, I'm one who believes that
there needs to be a curb on some of the
activists and some of the nonsense that they come up with,
(01:48):
especially at the EPA when it comes to what you
need to have for hers ratings when you're building a
house and protecting the environment. But I just don't see
how these two pesticides that meet the internationally recognized definition
of polyfloral alky the PFA substance the bad stuff fluorinated substances.
(02:15):
There are four additional approvals for these that have come
out this week, and the FDA also announced plans to
relax a rule requiring companies to report all products containing pfas's.
So this is not good for the average person. This
is not good and I'm I guess in a manner
of speaking opining here a little bit. But this is
(02:35):
kind of like Trump this past week saying to the airlines,
you don't have to pay people for your mistakes anymore.
And you know, it's the same kind of thing. It's
not for the average person, it's for big companies. They're
the ones who are benefiting from this sort of thing.
And the light of science and watchdog groups cautioning that
(02:55):
there's so much unknown about the health and the environmental
effects of these pesticides. There have been study on top
of study on top of study linking the PFASs to cancer,
birth defects, damage to your liver, your immune system, and
so many other health problems. So why are they doing this.
(03:17):
One of these pesticides was approved during Biden's administration, but
beyond that, the applications were deprioritized, if you will, because
of concerns about the accumulation of this stuff in your
body the people who are buying the food that you're eating.
So anyway, now the former officials are saying that the
(03:39):
Biden people made a deliberate decision to spend resource on
other pesticides. And I'm not one. I don't like finger pointing.
I thought Joe Biden was a horrible president, and it
made that clear. But you know, why can't we find
somebody who at least is kind of in the middle. Here,
the vice president of science policy at Crop Life America,
(04:02):
which is a group representing pesticide companies, praise the EPA's
commitment to the gold standard of science. Yes, what do
you think they're all about. They are run by the
big companies that are processors. So anyway, about two and
a half million pounds of pesticides, which have these forever chemicals,
(04:24):
have been sprayed in the last twelve months on California
crop land. Just think about that, right, two and a
half million pounds of pesticides in California alone, And then
in the last few years, if you go back the
last about twelve years, it looks like I'm looking at
the scale here, nearly fifteen million pounds of pesticides from
(04:47):
fifty two different fluorinated ingredients were sprayed across California on almonds, pistachios, tomatoes,
and grapes. So this is doing nothing, in my mind,
but creating new path for more of this bad stuff
to get into the environment, to get into the food
we eat. And so here we go, there are a
(05:09):
lot of shifting federal regulations with the new president. For sure,
Maine and Minnesota have moved to ban these pesticides altogether. Massachusetts,
I think is heading in that direction, Minnesota as well.
So we'll see how all of this just shapes out.
But information that I thought you should have in the
moments that remain here. In the first part of our program,
(05:30):
all about the news, we're going to talk about the
expensive Thanksgiving and how much you get out of it
or did you get much out of it? First, however,
it's a reminder about calatrim and the sale going on
this weekend. It was Black Friday and then it's Thanksgiving weekend,
and what do you get for your trouble by going
(05:51):
to toploss dot com to find out how America's number
one weight loss program that is non toxic, it's all natural,
how does it work well? For the next five days,
you're going to get Blackfriday deals at toploss dot com.
So you go in there and you examine the reviews
and the science and all that good stuff, and then
(06:11):
you get the Black Friday deals all weekend long. This
is one of their most beloved bundles, the two month
Powerpack a deal that they run only once a year,
and that's right now. Two bottles of Caltron, two bottles
of Garcini appetite control so you get better sleep, reduced inflammation,
all the things that you don't get when you take
the drugs for weight loss. The Black Friday deals this
(06:34):
weekend only four total products special Black Friday pricing and
get at it. Claim the deal at top looss dot com.
Check out using the DOUG code to get the deal
dug and you don't have to pay for shipping either.
That's all the benefit of the deal at top loss
dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
For Caldron, Guys, don't propose with a ring that she
didn't pick out. Trust us, she already has a ring
in mind. So engage with Gauge Diamonds in person or online,
where gauges skilled ring designers will work with her to
create the perfect setting matched with the perfect stone. Gauge
(07:14):
specializes in exquisite lab grown diamonds. Financing available Gauge Diamonds
dot Com. We're Engagement's middle name.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Wesley Financial Group is not a law firm, and Chuck
McDowell definitely not an attorney. This is Chuck. If someone
taught you into bond something really silly, and you want
to get out of that silly little thing. My advice,
get the facts. Call me and I'll send you our
Tomshare exit kit, absolutely free. Inside you'll learn how Tomshaff
works and all your options for cancelation.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Call Wesley now for your free exit infoKit eight hundred
eight three seven nineteen nineteen. Eight hundred eight three seven
nineteen nineteen. We continue here on the American Family Farmer
with highlights of the news Thanksgiving weekend, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. So I have some info that affects farms, farming, families,
food in general, the farmer's share of Thanksgiving. You've probably
(08:08):
heard all of this, or maybe you've figured it out
on your own. In terms of this ridiculous situation, I
chuckle about it because I want to get angry, and
I find when I look at some of this stuff,
it just makes me nuts. Because we hear from politicians
how much better things are. There's just so full of
(08:29):
the stuff that comes out of the back end of
my cows. It just is amazing, really it is. It's
amazing what we're being told about prices, et cetera. Et cetera,
et cetera. So by the numbers, families are paying much
more this year for Thanksgiving turkeys, pumpkins, dinner, rolls, cranberries, potatoes.
(08:53):
So this is the bottom line here. When we get
down to turkey's the price per pound in some parts
of the country's up seventy percent from last year. Price
of potatoes up fourteen percent from last year. The price
of pumpkins is up twelve percent from last year, cranberry's
(09:17):
thirty three percent, boneless hams up fourteen percent, corn and
other and peas and vegetables in general up sixteen to
seventeen percent from last year. Actually, green beans are up
almost twenty five percent from last year. And so how
much more did you get? You didn't get. If you
(09:39):
got more, you didn't get much more. As a matter
of fact, according to the National Farmers Union and the
American Farm Bureau Federation, who every year go through the
Thanksgiving Foods and the Farmer's Share Report, the economy is
fragile and uncompetitive. As we know, corporate consul validation has
(10:00):
been screwing the family farmer for decades. Monopolies now dominate
everything food processing, food distribution, seeds, farm equipment. So what's
the advantage there is no family farmers are getting screwed.
Consumers face fewer choices and yes, higher prices. So what
(10:22):
are we doing about this? The inequality in our food
system and agriculture. That's really the bottom line. Family farmers
and folks that are working year round to provide you
with what you need to be healthy. Consumers paying unsustainably
high prices at grocery stores, and the profits in the
(10:43):
farm sector are historically low. So would you like to
know the most expensive chains where you spend more money
and you question what you get, But yet these are
all very popular chains, and I'm going to identify where
they are around the country. The most expensive chains, that
(11:04):
is food stores food chains for Thanksgiving meals, though at
number one. Most expensive place in the country to buy
your Thanksgiving meal and the fixings is Whole Foods all
over the country. Whole Foods number one almost by far,
although Fresh Market, which is on both coasts pretty much.
(11:26):
I think they're heavier on the East Coast than the
West coast. They have fabulous, very good, all kinds of
great produce, but they're the number two most expensive place
to get Thanksgiving meals. In generally fresh food in general.
Number three an East Coast chain called Air one E
(11:48):
R E.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
W H O N.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I think they're around, excuse me, a few other places
in the country, but they are number three. Number four
on our list Gelson's the food store, located for the
most part in southern California.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Number four.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Most expensive place to get your Thanksgiving meal Italy in
big cities around the country. They have restaurants and produce facilities.
Number five on the list. Number six National Grocers or
in the mid South, the Southwest, the upper Midwest, Rocky
Mountain States there are number six on the list. Number
(12:24):
seven PCC Community Markets, mostly located in the northwest. And
then the Giant Stores. That chain is in the mid
central Pennsylvania and south of there in Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.
In most areas that's where the Giant store is. So
(12:44):
those are the most expensive places to get your Thanksgiving
meal and where you came out on the short end
of the stick. Doug Steffen. Here in the American family,
farmer Elizabeth Miller comes to us from the folks at Caltron.
This is the time of year when I advise people
to be defensive the best defense is a good offense.
(13:04):
So I say to those of you who are eating
well Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, the best way to not
gain weight is to get on Caldron now and not
wait until you've already put the weight on. Well.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You know, I know a lot of people would just
expect to gain weight over the holidays and then they
want to start January on losing it. But like you said,
if you're taking Caldron, not only are you going to
be losing weight during the holidays, but you're going to
be having more energy to get things done. And who
doesn't need that during the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
One of the best ways of getting the best out
of Caltron is as you check out to use the
Doug code DOUG on all orders. You'll be able to
have free shipping and you also get the best deal
at that moment, no matter what it is you're taking
care of. Use Doug at toplass dot com. Back on
(13:58):
the American Family Farmer, what brings you hope? We're in
the holiday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, New Years especially,
I have in this program talked about how badly you're
getting paid compensated for what you're doing. And how the
big companies, whether they be food store chains, whether they
be distributors, are basically screwing you. There's no fairness for you,
(14:22):
and frankly, there's no fairness for the consumer either. When
rural America does well, we all do well. And rural
America is being squeezed by the administration, by the reality
of the big businesses that control eighty four eighty five
percent of the source of food. So with all of
(14:43):
that negative news, can we find some hope. I think
I saw something from an eighth grader that really felt
to me very empowering. Frankly, it's a way this eighth
grader thinks that we can transform agriculture's future. This young lady,
(15:05):
your name is Tessa Evans. She was looking for a
way to help her family. I guess her family raises
cattle and crops, and she found herself trying to capture
the idea of how we can be hopeful at this
time of year. And I thought this is kind of cool.
She said the best this sounds like me doing a
(15:26):
commercial for Caldron. The best offense is a good defense,
and maybe that's true in terms of the farm. You
hear people my guests every week. They're really pretty optimistic.
They cut out a niche, they've created something that is
really cool and they're making it work. So you know,
(15:47):
you can look at social media and you can be
down in the dumps, or you can emulate the positivity
that comes from some of these folks. If you go
back over the history of the program, go back to
americanfamilyfarmershow dot com, some of our podcasts and listen to
some of the guests that we've had tell their stories
(16:08):
and how they've helped so many farmers do what they
have been successful doing. That's the plan here. That's why
we do what I do and what we do what
we do so we'll know each other what we have
and what's going well and what isn't going well. And
so this is something that you may want to think about.
Next generation is thinking about it. They're not afraid to
(16:31):
share their vision. And it could be somebody that's in
high school, it could be somebody in college, could be
somebody growing up on the farm. There's just there's so
much hope, but yet we have let it fade. It's
been a tough year for most of us in agriculture,
and the years keep getting tougher and tougher, so it's
hard to find hope. It seems elusive sometimes, but I
(16:54):
think if you look, you can see in the next
generation the plan to reaching to the farm. There are
a lot of people that are finding hope in their
drive to shape the future of agriculture. That's kind of cool.
There are a lot of When you look at the
holiday celebrations, the parades, the dinners, going to church, the tours,
(17:15):
I don't know, there's a lot of stuff. I think
that you need to get out and about this time
of year. If you're not a dairy person, most of
your work is done until after Christmas when you can
go work on your equipment and get ready for the spring.
This is one of the best callings in the world
for me. It makes me feel like I really am
doing something. I watch stuff grow.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
You can do that with your children, watch them grow.
You can do it with your animals, watch them grow.
You can do it with the food, the seeds that
you planted. You can watch the hay grow. Every inch
of your farm when you look at it that way
is hope. And again, it doesn't make a difference whether
it's crops or livestock. It doesn't make a difference. It's
(17:58):
growing and you see the growth. And so if you
have not had faith, I do at least speaking to you,
I encourage you to try these ideas out. If you
don't have any hope, what's the point if you say
do you? If I asked you, do you have hope
and you say no? Then why do you keep doing
(18:19):
what you're doing? Why do so many people stay on
the farm. Why do next generations want to come back
to the farm? Newsflash? Because it's good, it's healthy. It's
just the best certain of seasons and life and death
and watching things grow. There's a certainty to it. And
I hope you never learn as some have unfortunately, to
(18:42):
lose that hope. The holiday is the best time of
year to have that hope. So please continue to exercise
the good will that you have, the hard work that
you do, and be hopeful for next year. Imagine that
twenty twenty six is only a little over a month away.
Doug Stefan was some thoughts here on this week's American
Family Farmer.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
This program was produced at Bobksound and Recording. Please visit
bobksound dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
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. The EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency,
just this past week approved a new forever chemical in
(00:21):
pesticides that is being used on food. So you know,
you can say what you want to about mister Trump
and the people, as many of you know who listen
to me on this program and on some of the
other programs I do, like Good Day Health. I'm a
big fan of Robert F. Kennedy. I think he's the
best cabinet secretary that mister Trump has and he's doing
(00:43):
a lot of things to straighten out a lot of
misinformation and things that certainly have been questioned. What's the
answer to the question. We're getting answers to the question.
The question here may be why, and I will tell
you why. Because the big the four or five big
huge food processors, I want to have their food that's
(01:04):
grown for them last longer, and the big conglomerates, the
big farms want to have a way to make the
food grow better. So they're on bugs and you get
more money for it, but at what cost? Because the
EPA is moving forward with these approvals for pesticides that
contain the forever chemicals that we've been talking about for
(01:25):
decades as bad, bad bad, But this information and these
chemicals are an active ingredient. So basically what we're getting
from the EPA is that they're dismissing concerns about your
health and the environment. Now, I'm one who believes that
there needs to be a curb on some of the
activists and some of the nonsense that they come up with,
(01:48):
especially at the EPA when it comes to what you
need to have for hers ratings when you're building a
house and protecting the environment. But I just don't see
how these two pesticides that meet the internationally recognized definition
of polyfloral alky the PFA substance the bad stuff fluorinated substances.
(02:15):
There are four additional approvals for these that have come
out this week, and the FDA also announced plans to
relax a rule requiring companies to report all products containing pfas's.
So this is not good for the average person. This
is not good and I'm I guess in a manner
of speaking opining here a little bit. But this is
(02:35):
kind of like Trump this past week saying to the airlines,
you don't have to pay people for your mistakes anymore.
And you know, it's the same kind of thing. It's
not for the average person, it's for big companies. They're
the ones who are benefiting from this sort of thing.
And the light of science and watchdog groups cautioning that
(02:55):
there's so much unknown about the health and the environmental
effects of these pesticides. There have been study on top
of study on top of study linking the PFASs to cancer,
birth defects, damage to your liver, your immune system, and
so many other health problems. So why are they doing this.
(03:17):
One of these pesticides was approved during Biden's administration, but
beyond that, the applications were deprioritized, if you will, because
of concerns about the accumulation of this stuff in your
body the people who are buying the food that you're eating.
So anyway, now the former officials are saying that the
(03:39):
Biden people made a deliberate decision to spend resource on
other pesticides. And I'm not one. I don't like finger pointing.
I thought Joe Biden was a horrible president, and it
made that clear. But you know, why can't we find
somebody who at least is kind of in the middle. Here,
the vice president of science policy at Crop Life America,
(04:02):
which is a group representing pesticide companies, praise the EPA's
commitment to the gold standard of science. Yes, what do
you think they're all about. They are run by the
big companies that are processors. So anyway, about two and
a half million pounds of pesticides, which have these forever chemicals,
(04:24):
have been sprayed in the last twelve months on California
crop land. Just think about that, right, two and a
half million pounds of pesticides in California alone, And then
in the last few years, if you go back the
last about twelve years, it looks like I'm looking at
the scale here, nearly fifteen million pounds of pesticides from
(04:47):
fifty two different fluorinated ingredients were sprayed across California on almonds, pistachios, tomatoes,
and grapes. So this is doing nothing, in my mind,
but creating new path for more of this bad stuff
to get into the environment, to get into the food
we eat. And so here we go, there are a
(05:09):
lot of shifting federal regulations with the new president. For sure,
Maine and Minnesota have moved to ban these pesticides altogether. Massachusetts,
I think is heading in that direction, Minnesota as well.
So we'll see how all of this just shapes out.
But information that I thought you should have in the
moments that remain here. In the first part of our program,
(05:30):
all about the news, we're going to talk about the
expensive Thanksgiving and how much you get out of it
or did you get much out of it? First, however,
it's a reminder about calatrim and the sale going on
this weekend. It was Black Friday and then it's Thanksgiving weekend,
and what do you get for your trouble by going
(05:51):
to toploss dot com to find out how America's number
one weight loss program that is non toxic, it's all natural,
how does it work well? For the next five days,
you're going to get Blackfriday deals at toploss dot com.
So you go in there and you examine the reviews
and the science and all that good stuff, and then
(06:11):
you get the Black Friday deals all weekend long. This
is one of their most beloved bundles, the two month
Powerpack a deal that they run only once a year,
and that's right now. Two bottles of Caltron, two bottles
of Garcini appetite control so you get better sleep, reduced inflammation,
all the things that you don't get when you take
the drugs for weight loss. The Black Friday deals this
(06:34):
weekend only four total products special Black Friday pricing and
get at it. Claim the deal at top looss dot com.
Check out using the DOUG code to get the deal
dug and you don't have to pay for shipping either.
That's all the benefit of the deal at top loss
dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
For Caldron, Guys, don't propose with a ring that she
didn't pick out. Trust us, she already has a ring
in mind. So engage with Gauge Diamonds in person or online,
where gauges skilled ring designers will work with her to
create the perfect setting matched with the perfect stone. Gauge
(07:14):
specializes in exquisite lab grown diamonds. Financing available Gauge Diamonds
dot Com. We're Engagement's middle name.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Wesley Financial Group is not a law firm, and Chuck
McDowell definitely not an attorney. This is Chuck. If someone
taught you into bond something really silly, and you want
to get out of that silly little thing. My advice,
get the facts. Call me and I'll send you our
Tomshare exit kit, absolutely free. Inside you'll learn how Tomshaff
works and all your options for cancelation.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Call Wesley now for your free exit infoKit eight hundred
eight three seven nineteen nineteen. Eight hundred eight three seven
nineteen nineteen. We continue here on the American Family Farmer
with highlights of the news Thanksgiving weekend, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. So I have some info that affects farms, farming, families,
food in general, the farmer's share of Thanksgiving. You've probably
(08:08):
heard all of this, or maybe you've figured it out
on your own. In terms of this ridiculous situation, I
chuckle about it because I want to get angry, and
I find when I look at some of this stuff,
it just makes me nuts. Because we hear from politicians
how much better things are. There's just so full of
(08:29):
the stuff that comes out of the back end of
my cows. It just is amazing, really it is. It's
amazing what we're being told about prices, et cetera. Et cetera,
et cetera. So by the numbers, families are paying much
more this year for Thanksgiving turkeys, pumpkins, dinner, rolls, cranberries, potatoes.
(08:53):
So this is the bottom line here. When we get
down to turkey's the price per pound in some parts
of the country's up seventy percent from last year. Price
of potatoes up fourteen percent from last year. The price
of pumpkins is up twelve percent from last year, cranberry's
(09:17):
thirty three percent, boneless hams up fourteen percent, corn and
other and peas and vegetables in general up sixteen to
seventeen percent from last year. Actually, green beans are up
almost twenty five percent from last year. And so how
much more did you get? You didn't get. If you
(09:39):
got more, you didn't get much more. As a matter
of fact, according to the National Farmers Union and the
American Farm Bureau Federation, who every year go through the
Thanksgiving Foods and the Farmer's Share Report, the economy is
fragile and uncompetitive. As we know, corporate consul validation has
(10:00):
been screwing the family farmer for decades. Monopolies now dominate
everything food processing, food distribution, seeds, farm equipment. So what's
the advantage there is no family farmers are getting screwed.
Consumers face fewer choices and yes, higher prices. So what
(10:22):
are we doing about this? The inequality in our food
system and agriculture. That's really the bottom line. Family farmers
and folks that are working year round to provide you
with what you need to be healthy. Consumers paying unsustainably
high prices at grocery stores, and the profits in the
(10:43):
farm sector are historically low. So would you like to
know the most expensive chains where you spend more money
and you question what you get, But yet these are
all very popular chains, and I'm going to identify where
they are around the country. The most expensive chains, that
(11:04):
is food stores food chains for Thanksgiving meals, though at
number one. Most expensive place in the country to buy
your Thanksgiving meal and the fixings is Whole Foods all
over the country. Whole Foods number one almost by far,
although Fresh Market, which is on both coasts pretty much.
(11:26):
I think they're heavier on the East Coast than the
West coast. They have fabulous, very good, all kinds of
great produce, but they're the number two most expensive place
to get Thanksgiving meals. In generally fresh food in general.
Number three an East Coast chain called Air one E
(11:48):
R E.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
W H O N.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
I think they're around, excuse me, a few other places
in the country, but they are number three. Number four
on our list Gelson's the food store, located for the
most part in southern California.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Number four.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Most expensive place to get your Thanksgiving meal Italy in
big cities around the country. They have restaurants and produce facilities.
Number five on the list. Number six National Grocers or
in the mid South, the Southwest, the upper Midwest, Rocky
Mountain States there are number six on the list. Number
(12:24):
seven PCC Community Markets, mostly located in the northwest. And
then the Giant Stores. That chain is in the mid
central Pennsylvania and south of there in Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland.
In most areas that's where the Giant store is. So
(12:44):
those are the most expensive places to get your Thanksgiving
meal and where you came out on the short end
of the stick. Doug Steffen. Here in the American family,
farmer Elizabeth Miller comes to us from the folks at Caltron.
This is the time of year when I advise people
to be defensive the best defense is a good offense.
(13:04):
So I say to those of you who are eating
well Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, the best way to not
gain weight is to get on Caldron now and not
wait until you've already put the weight on. Well.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
You know, I know a lot of people would just
expect to gain weight over the holidays and then they
want to start January on losing it. But like you said,
if you're taking Caldron, not only are you going to
be losing weight during the holidays, but you're going to
be having more energy to get things done. And who
doesn't need that during the holiday season.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
One of the best ways of getting the best out
of Caltron is as you check out to use the
Doug code DOUG on all orders. You'll be able to
have free shipping and you also get the best deal
at that moment, no matter what it is you're taking
care of. Use Doug at toplass dot com. Back on
(13:58):
the American Family Farmer, what brings you hope? We're in
the holiday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, New Years especially,
I have in this program talked about how badly you're
getting paid compensated for what you're doing. And how the
big companies, whether they be food store chains, whether they
be distributors, are basically screwing you. There's no fairness for you,
(14:22):
and frankly, there's no fairness for the consumer either. When
rural America does well, we all do well. And rural
America is being squeezed by the administration, by the reality
of the big businesses that control eighty four eighty five
percent of the source of food. So with all of
(14:43):
that negative news, can we find some hope. I think
I saw something from an eighth grader that really felt
to me very empowering. Frankly, it's a way this eighth
grader thinks that we can transform agriculture's future. This young lady,
(15:05):
your name is Tessa Evans. She was looking for a
way to help her family. I guess her family raises
cattle and crops, and she found herself trying to capture
the idea of how we can be hopeful at this
time of year. And I thought this is kind of cool.
She said the best this sounds like me doing a
(15:26):
commercial for Caldron. The best offense is a good defense,
and maybe that's true in terms of the farm. You
hear people my guests every week. They're really pretty optimistic.
They cut out a niche, they've created something that is
really cool and they're making it work. So you know,
(15:47):
you can look at social media and you can be
down in the dumps, or you can emulate the positivity
that comes from some of these folks. If you go
back over the history of the program, go back to
americanfamilyfarmershow dot com, some of our podcasts and listen to
some of the guests that we've had tell their stories
(16:08):
and how they've helped so many farmers do what they
have been successful doing. That's the plan here. That's why
we do what I do and what we do what
we do so we'll know each other what we have
and what's going well and what isn't going well. And
so this is something that you may want to think about.
Next generation is thinking about it. They're not afraid to
(16:31):
share their vision. And it could be somebody that's in
high school, it could be somebody in college, could be
somebody growing up on the farm. There's just there's so
much hope, but yet we have let it fade. It's
been a tough year for most of us in agriculture,
and the years keep getting tougher and tougher, so it's
hard to find hope. It seems elusive sometimes, but I
(16:54):
think if you look, you can see in the next
generation the plan to reaching to the farm. There are
a lot of people that are finding hope in their
drive to shape the future of agriculture. That's kind of cool.
There are a lot of When you look at the
holiday celebrations, the parades, the dinners, going to church, the tours,
(17:15):
I don't know, there's a lot of stuff. I think
that you need to get out and about this time
of year. If you're not a dairy person, most of
your work is done until after Christmas when you can
go work on your equipment and get ready for the spring.
This is one of the best callings in the world
for me. It makes me feel like I really am
doing something. I watch stuff grow.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
You can do that with your children, watch them grow.
You can do it with your animals, watch them grow.
You can do it with the food, the seeds that
you planted. You can watch the hay grow. Every inch
of your farm when you look at it that way
is hope. And again, it doesn't make a difference whether
it's crops or livestock. It doesn't make a difference. It's
(17:58):
growing and you see the growth. And so if you
have not had faith, I do at least speaking to you,
I encourage you to try these ideas out. If you
don't have any hope, what's the point if you say
do you? If I asked you, do you have hope
and you say no? Then why do you keep doing
(18:19):
what you're doing? Why do so many people stay on
the farm. Why do next generations want to come back
to the farm? Newsflash? Because it's good, it's healthy. It's
just the best certain of seasons and life and death
and watching things grow. There's a certainty to it. And
I hope you never learn as some have unfortunately, to
(18:42):
lose that hope. The holiday is the best time of
year to have that hope. So please continue to exercise
the good will that you have, the hard work that
you do, and be hopeful for next year. Imagine that
twenty twenty six is only a little over a month away.
Doug Stefan was some thoughts here on this week's American
Family Farmer.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
This program was produced at Bobksound and Recording. Please visit
bobksound dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
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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