--
> Rural Advocates!
>
> This from a hog industry website
>
> COMMENTARY: Do Iowans really hate hog farms? Survey
> says: Maybe
>
> by Dan Murphy on 2/28/03 for www.meatingplace.com
>
> During a high-level briefing late last year at the
> Tokyo offices of the U.S.
> Meat Export Federation, the U.S. Embassy's trade
> liaison got off a great line.
> In outlining the dynamics of the Asian market for
> U.S. agricultural exports,
> she displayed an advertisement for imported
> grapefruit, which were described
> as "enhancing well-being, vitality and virility."
> Hearing that, of course, I had to ask the Chris
> Farley question: "Is that
> true?"
> "Well," she replied, "it's not really presented as a
> health claim the way we
> understand it. The regulations here permit
> advertisers to preface their
> claims by stating, 'It is said . . ' that grapefruit
> improves virility."
> That little vignette neatly illustrates a caution
> that applies to public
> opinion surveys: When survey questions essentially
> begin, "It is said . . . "
> that CAFOs cause pollution, or whatever, the
> respondent is teed up in a way
> that requires cautious interpretation of the
> resulting data.
> That said, a January poll of 612 Iowa residents'
> toward the status of large
> confinement hog production facilities, and toward a
> proposed moratorium on
> further construction of such sites, offers both good
> news and bad.
> The good news -- in addition to the fact that
> pollster Hill Research
> Associates of The Woodlands, Texas, put together a
> vastly more balanced and
> objective series of questions than seen in similar
> polls by PETA and other
> anti-industry groups -- is that much of what the
> pork industry has done in
> terms of improving pork's nutritional value and
> communicating the industry's
> economic value to the farm sector and associated
> rural communities does
> resonate with consumers.
> The bad news is that such issues as the packer ban
> on livestock ownership and
> the (alleged) environmental impact of hog farming
> are finding even greater
> traction among people far from the acknowledged
> disconnect toward the source
> of our food supply that's well-documented among
> residents of both the East
> and Left Coasts.
> The folks responding to this poll are firmly rooted
> in the heartland, and yet
> they're finding a lot of fault with the way pork is
> produced in their state.
> Though the purpose of the poll was to gauge support
> for passage of a
> moratorium on new CAFO sites as a preliminary step
> toward regulating such
> facilities out of existence. However, the group
> behind the effort, the Humane
> Society of the United States, isn't in the same
> anti-everything-associated-with-meat league as some
> of its more radical
> activist kin.
> "We're not a bunch of vegetarian crazies who want
> meat to be totally banned,"
> said Chris Bedford, HSUS's national campaign
> coordinator for farm animal and
> sustainable agriculture programs. "We don't have
> much respect for PETA and
> their goals. This [survey] is about seeking a better
> way to raise livestock,
> a way that respects the animals' nature and the
> independence and
> profitability of the family farmer."
> I doubt if too many industry executives would argue
> that statement on
> principle. It's achieving such goals that poses the
> problem, of course.
> But in reading the results of this poll, there is a
> sobering theme running
> throughout the responses: A significant percentage
> of consumers are not happy
> with certain perceived detrimental effects of modern
> production agriculture.
> Take a look at some of the responses and judge for
> yourself:
>
> *   Do you favor a moratorium on new large hog farms
> while the effects are
> being studied? 65 percent said yes.
> *   Do you favor changing Iowa law to permit
> meatpackers to own hogs raised
> in Iowa instead of limiting ownership to independent
> farmers? 61 percent said
> yes.
> *   Should Iowa voters be concerned about the humane
> treatment of animals
> raised for food? 71 percent said yes.
> *   Do you agree that farm animals were well treated
> by most family farmers
> in the past, before industrial hog corporations took
> over> 75 percent said
> yes.
> *   What is the biggest problem involving
> large-scale hog farms in Iowa
> today? 63 percent said "smell and pollution."
> *   Are you likely to purchase pork products from
> food companies whose
> suppliers raise and process their hogs under humane
> and environmentally sound
> conditions? 77 percent said yes.
> Now, some might be tempted to dismiss any survey of
> Iowans as atypical of
> people's attitudes in other farm states, as Iowa has
> been something of a
> lightning rod for the anti-industry campaigning of
> disgruntled family farm
> activists in the last few years. And without
> question, thousands of Iowa
> farmers have exited hog production in the past 10
> years, though many have
> been marginal operators or simply hobby farmers who
> no longer had ready
> access to local auctions or packinghouses.
> Besides, when was the last time Iowans picked
> someone in their high-profile
> political caucuses who actually won anything?
> But the bottom line is that negative attitudes
> toward production agriculture,
> whether in Des Moines or Dallas or D.C., have an
> equally negative impact on
> meatpackers and processors. Rightly or wrongly, if
> raising livestock raises
> issues for the very customers expected to buy the
> industry's products, the
> prognosis is not good.
> In some cases, countering the results of public
> opinion polls requires
> refuting the ridiculous assertions the sponsors used
> to obtain their data.
> In the case of this HSUS poll, it requires that
> packers and producers alike
> get to work on changing the aspects of their
> business their customers don't
> like.
> says: Maybe
>
>

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