Ranchers worry about meat packing consolidation. Rocky Barker’s blog, “Letters from the West.” Idaho Statesman
So much of politics is about diverting the attention of those affected by policies onto something not very relevant. The wolf is pointed to in order that hunters won’t see the destruction of habitat by livestock, mining, oil and gas and developers. The efforts by Western Watersheds are pointing to so that livestock producers won’t see the threat of international consolidation of meat packing.
If you turn to other areas of politics, there are thousands of examples.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
On the food channel, a special was done on a restaurant in New York that is owned by Chinese folks. They showed how that “marbled” meat is produced. I had to laugh my butt off at what I saw. Those cattle are living in a spa! I would like the message that they get daily, the fresh food veggies they get also. They get 2 baths a day tool. 2 men give a body message to the cattle each day, and the most funny thing is they get a bottle of BEER a day! I have never seen anything so dumb regarding cattle as that. But, that restaurant has a 6 month waiting list, it is huge too!!! Another sign of the times that Cattle ranching out west is going to be a thing of the past in a few more decades, America is not the leading cattle provider for the world or anywhere else for that matter.
Ranchers seem to worry about everything…
it takes a lot of worry and struggle to defy the conditions of the natural world and of economic viability the rest of us are beholden to.
the price of feed and fuel continues its ascent as well.
i saw a statistic on rainforest destruction in brazil,
and sent to Ralph,
Cattle ranches
60-70%
Small-scale, subsistence agriculture
30-40%
from http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html