They Fed A World..But They're Not Important Enough To Save..the Family Farm

Here's another piece of the America most of us have known and loved being allowed to just f-a-a-a-a-a-de away!!  I have many happy memories of spending time on my great-grandparents' farm, which, by the way, to my knowledge is still in operation.  It's been in my family since 1878.  My mom had already told me that, for example, milk didn't come from a carton; it came from a cow.  However, it was on visiting that farm that I learned just how HARD a farmer works to provide us with milk, eggs, cheese, and other food products, as well as, for example, leather and I'm sure some other products.  My great-grandfather was working that farm up until about two or three months before he died at the age of 91.  Yet, I NEVER heard him complain about how hard he worked.  Sure, he complained about the weather, crop prices, possibly that his back hurt, etc.  Farmers do that, especially, I think, as they get on in age.  But I never..and I mean NEVER..heard him complain about how hard the work was..or that he had to work too hard.  NEVER.  I wonder if we will enjoy low food prices and the quality and variety of foods from the corporate farms (foreign-and-domestically-owned) and farms owned by rich foreigners that we have enjoyed courtesy of the American family farmer.  Quality?  Perhaps.  But, is something really "quality" when it is genetically-engineered to be sterile, thus precluding the farmer from "saving over" seed?  Is it "quality" when the farmer is locked into BUYING all his or her (and there are a few FEMALE family farmers!) seed each season, thus raising the farmer's costs?  Is it quality when it tastes like cardboard?  A way of life and a dear ingredient of the American way of life is passing us by and we..and our government..are doing nothing..and I mean NOTHING..to stop it.  A nation can put nothing at risk (except perhaps its' air and water supplies) which is MORE DEAR and MORE BASIC than its' food.  We do so AT OUR PERIL.