Dear Editor:
In reading Ruth Robertson's letter I find our that small farmers can't afford a licensing fee to sell their wholesome food (debatable) to restaurants. In all my 41 years of farming I have never had to have a license to sell anything from my farm. Where does that little bit of fabrication come from?
I know that there are many grocery stores around here that buy vegetables and fruits that are in season from local farms and there are restaurants that do the same. But even buying local from small farms does not guarantee that it is wholesome.
Meat is another story. All meat - pork, beef, poultry etc. has to be inspected either by the USDA or the Missouri Department of Agriculture to be sold to the public by the pound in grocery stores or by the portion in restaurants. This is a public safety issue, not a way to give preferential treatment to agricultural giants. Animals from small farms and large farms all go through the same plant and the same processes. In the larger processing plants tests are performed to detect antibiotics and bacterial contaminants on animals from all farms.
You may be purchasing meat from a small farmer when you eat out or buy at the grocery store.
I am a small farmer (40 sows farrow-to-finish and 75 cows) and I feel that Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer does support small farmers. A lot of other farmers around the area feel the same way. There are plenty of really large farms in his district that are in fact family farmers so where does he draw the line? Are we going to start telling farmers "If you get too big we won't support you" or "you started out as a small family farmer, but because of your hard work and sound investments you are now too large of a farmer for us to look favorably on?"
It is because of letters like Ruth Robertson's (full of misinformation) and letters like Judy Baumgartner's, Tony Smith's and Phyllis Greenfield's attacks on large farms that have convinced me that agriculture needs some kind of protection from the clueless masses.
By the way I contributed money towards Luetkemeyer's election as a whole lot of small farmers in my area have.
Our faith in him should say it all.
Vote yes on Amendment 1.
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Editor's note: The deadline for timely publication of comments related to Aug. 5 ballot issues has passed. The final batch of letters already received on these topics will be published through Monday. Feel free to leave online comments on our News Tribune editorials (labeled "Our Opinion") related to these and other issues.