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Grand Rapids, MI | Ok, I am going to try to steer this thread into a positive discussion, because I think there is a good discussion to be had. If it turns into simply more hating and baiting...I will quickly bow out, I don't care to waste my time on that.
So..the question is what is a family farm? I am asking not in the "Family Farms" company context, but in its traditional usage. For example I have a specialty crop operation that hires over 500 employees in harvest season, yet all the owners are family, and it is managed by the family members who are there everyday. In fact the wife of one of the partners brought us in a home cooked lunch the other day when I had a meeting with her husband. Is this not a family farm? Is there a limit on sales? on employees? # of acres? # of animals? Does some rate of growth stop the farm from being a family farm?
Certainly I would argue that in other sectors of agriculture, there are non-family farms. Lets look at Tyson, or Smithfield. These companies make ILFF and the other dozen or so farms their size I work with look like small potatoes. Could it be that Mr. Rosentrater was thinking of the threat of that sort of consolidation when he wrote his statement? Should the rest of the Corn/Soybean industry be considering the threat of these sorts of huge corporations taking over one day like has happened in many other sectors of agriculture?
Edited by lorenk 4/13/2009 16:22
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Wait just a minute Mr. Illff
