Illinois Farm Coalition Thinks Sustainable Foodies Are Brainwashed

Well, sustainable foodies, apparently we've been brainwashed. At least that's what a coalition of Illinois farm organizations claims. The coalition, which calls themselves "Illinois Farmers," announced a new public relations campaign Wednesday to convince state consumers they've been indoctrinated by Michael Pollan, farmer's markets, and elite universities to hate farmers. All Illinois farms are really run by friendly, hard-working Farmer Joes whose farms are full of happy, bleating animals, grazing cows, and pesticide-free produce. Sustainable foodies just made up accounts of all those waste-producing, chemical-using animal, corn, soybean, and wheat farms.

Illinois residents "are misinformed about the family farmers who really grow and raise the majority of food produced in Illinois," according to the coalition, whose members include The Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB), Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Pork Producers Association, and Illinois Soybean Association (ISA). It cites a statewide poll that 54 percent of Illinois residents believe farm products come from "corporate farms," versus 46 percent from family farms. But they're wrong, the coalition claims, spinning new USDA statistics that say 94 percent of Illinois farms are family farms or partnerships. ISA chairman Ron Moore said, "The American family farm should be the most trusted food-producing enterprise in the world."

Unfortunately, Illinois residents are pretty informed, and the farmer coalition is just full of manure. Yes, 94 percent of Illinois farms are run by family farmers or partnerships, but this doesn't mean what the Bureau wants us to think. These aren't small, organic, mom-and-pop joints, but rather heavily subsidized, corporate farms. In its survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines family farm as “any farm organized as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or family corporation." So 94 percent of Illinois farms are owned by one person, a partnership, or a family corporation, which doesn't mean anything special or sustainable. "As farming in the United States becomes increasingly consolidated and industrialized, the face of agriculture is rapidly changing," writes Alicia Harvie of Civil Eats. "Terms like 'family farm' and 'factory farm' are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and the lines distinguishing between one kind of farming and another are readily blurred."

The USDA's 2010 Family Farm Report states that small family farms make up 88 percent of all U.S. farms. However, this "majority" of farms produces a very small chunk of the nation's total farm output — in other words,  the average Illinois consumer ain't getting most of his or her food from a small, sustainable farmer. So then where does it come from?

About six percent of farms produce an incredible three-quarters of America's food. Large family farms — any farm that makes $250,000 to $500,000 or more — make up less than 10 percent of all farms, but account for a whopping 66 percent share of the value of production. The nation's richest farms account for 50 percent, though they only make up two percent of all farms. Big corporate farms produce even more in the hog and poultry industries, producing 95 and 97 percent respectively — the great majority of our meat comes from them. While the coalition may not like it, residents have reason to worry about these huge, unsustainable factory farms for health, environment, and economic reasons.

An accurate media campaign promoting small, humane, sustainable farms sounds great. But the Illinois farmer coalition's campaign serves as a front for Big Ag, not only tricking consumers to think they're buying and eating foods grown on small, family farms, but explicitly lying to people about the real problems of large, corporate farms. So, coalition members, who's brainwashing who?

Photo credit: The Next Web via Flickr