The Route to Healthiness

The Route to Healthiness

By: Melissa Brehm

The Route to Healthiness 2

The Route to Healthiness Preface People do not always know what happens to the food items that they are purchasing. Many people do not take the time to stop and think about what they buy or what they put into their bodies. Even though many people are concerned about their health and try to stay fit, they do not think twice about what they purchase at the grocery store. Much of that mindset is due to pricing, time, and availability.

I am passionate about this subject because I am an organic dairy farmer. I believe that organic food products are better and healthier to eat than what many people usually purchase at the grocery store. I strive to help feed and care for my future consumer and my animals. That is why I became an organic farmer; I was made more aware by different accounts from other farmers and media outlets of what was being put into my cattle and the land they were raised on and how my farming practices were harmful. That knowledge led me to become the organic farmer I am today. I have no desire to go back to the conventional way of farming.

My hope is to encourage people to see and understand why this topic is important to the future of the food production industry.

The Route to Healthiness 3 Becoming an organic farmer requires a lot of time and commitment to certain practices. It makes a person more aware of the benefits and consequences of certain processes while farming. An organic farmer has to be consistently up to date with his or her paperwork, products, and procedures used in order to become certified as an organic farmer. One of the main goals in being an organic dairy farmer is to care for and be more humane towards the animals. The cows benefit the land through fertilization, helping to provide a cycle for the food that they consume and produce. This insures better use of land resources because of the re-use of manure to replenish the land.

There have been all types of research showing that organic farming is better than conventional farming.

When it comes to caring for the animals and the land, people need to act more empathetic and humanely towards the animals, not just see them as a product to be used. My hope is to help people understand the benefits of organic farming and the benefits that it contributes to society. Organic farming is not just a job; it is a life style and a life commitment to provide a healthier product to the consumer through being eco-friendly.

This is why I feel the need to express my expertise and concern for the well-being of the consumer. I feel the need to help educate others about the ways in which organic farming is more beneficial for people and for the environment than conventional farming.

The Route to Healthiness 4 Come All Hippies I have lived and breathed dairy all my life. I come from a long line of farmers; it runs in my veins.

Many factors contribute to farming, especially in the dairy industry. that many people cannot grasp an understanding of. Many city-slickers do not know how to milk a cow properly or how to keep the equipment clean while milking a cow. Many people do not know the difference between the everyday conventional farms versus an organic dairy farm. My life on the farm has changed in many different ways throughout the years, while trying to keep up with the twenty-first century.

My family and I recently became organic dairy farmers in 2006. Being an organic dairy farmer means that we

do not use any drugs or chemicals in our farming practices. We became organic because the economy was taking a severe toll on my family’s business. We were also becoming more aware by other farmers and

The Route to Healthiness 5 agricultural media of the side effects of the drugs and pesticides that we were using on the farm. We realized that we had to change our ways in order to be more efficient with our business. We wanted our animals to be healthier and we did not want to worry about constantly coming into contact with toxic chemicals anymore.

I have found since I became an organic dairy farmer that it has paid off for my family and my business. A while ago I was unsure of becoming organic because of the growing devastation of the economy, but I was assured by my cousin that now was the best time than ever to become organic. I was introduced into the idea of becoming organic in 2003 by my cousin, who had been an organic dairy farmer for many years. He was saying that the market for milk prices was getting higher for organic milk than the conventional milk. He knew that I was having trouble with my income, so he told me that he would help set me up with the company he sold his milk to called Organic Valley, but I had to send in an application right away. During this time conventional prices were getting lower and lower every year. My business and my family were hurting bad from this hardship. Many nights my family and I were going to bed with the constant worry of not being able to pay off our bills and wondering if the bank would come and take our farm away. I decided to take his advice and fill out an application so I could become organic while the pricings were still high.

Before even being considered to become organic there has to be a three year waiting process or grace period before you can sell your products as official organic quality. The requirements are that you do not

The Route to Healthiness 6 spray any chemicals on your fields for three years and one year without using drugs on the cows. All drugs and chemicals had to be removed from the farm and replaced with organic products. The organic industry has tighter restrictions because they are focused on the well-being of the quality of the product and the conditions of the animals. They do not focus on how much milk you can produce, but the more milk the better. We had to have good cow facilities to match the number of cows in the herd. Let’s say I have 60 cows that I milk and we have only one building to keep them in that fit up to 40 cows.

This means we would have to make better accommodations for the cow’s needs. My cousin helped us out a great deal during the whole process; we could not have done this without his assistance. He was our go-to guy for organic information; he was able to provide us with extensive insight into the organic world.

After all the hard work we officially became organic in 2006.

During that three-year process we were being paid conventional prices and while having to pay organic prices for feed during the waiting process. My crops suffered some because I was unable to use any chemically treated seeds or pesticides or herbicides on the crops. The weeds had taken over the fields, but I did not have to worry about breathing in the chemicals off of the field or worrying about coming into contact with the chemicals. If I were to come into contact with the chemicals that I used on the fields I could end up with abscess or open sores all over my body. That is one of the dangers I had to worry about while having those chemicals around the farm, not just by touching them,

The Route to Healthiness 7 but by also breathing in the fumes as well.

Stopping the use of chemicals was the start to the process of becoming organic. We had to buy special organic hay to give to our cows from places like: Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. The string that was used to tie the bail together also had to be organic. We had to have organic fencing posts and there needed to be a 10 foot boundary line between our conventional neighbor’s fields and our field. We cannot use fly stickers out in the barn to control our man-eating fly infestation for risk of our cows eat the fly stickers.

We have to be more sanitary in our milking parlor area, in the milk house, cow yard, and calf housing. We cannot spray the weeds around the farm with killing spray. So instead of killing the weeds with chemicals we let the cows eat the weeds instead, which they enjoy.

We have to have two different inspections by the state of Iowa standards. One inspector is a certified official provided by the state of Iowa. The other inspector is from our company we sell our milk to called Organic Valley. Jeez, a double whammy! They both expect different standards that at times can come in conflict with each other. For example, weed control, property line issues, paperwork, equipment quality, and humane issues with the animals.

The Route to Healthiness 8 There was a stringent of requirements on the quality of the milk that we had to produce, such as lowering the bacteria and somatic cell counts. We had to have our milk tested every month by a certified tester.

Every few days our quality control had to be tested under the new organic standards.

We have found that our cows are a lot healthier since we became organic. They have better immune systems since their lives have become more natural for them. This means less stress on us and less worry about whether we accidentally milked a drug cow into the milking system, and contaminating the bulk tank. A drug cow is a cow that has been treated with drugs or other vaccines that should not be cross contaminated with the main milk line; her milk needs to be run on the ground or given to the cats for risk of ruining the main milk supply. We have experienced less milk fever and mastitis since being organic. In organic products there is no need to worry about enhanced cow hormones in the product.

I have found that organic foods are better tasting, better for you, and much safer to eat than conventional foods that contain hormones. That makes organic more practical and efficient to buy since they have such great products. I now have a good feeling when I sell my milk organically because I do not have to worry about having drugs in my dairy. When I was conventional I would worry about the people drinking the milk to get contaminated full of drugs with every sip that they took.

I was surprised at how many people I have come across that appreciate organic produce because not too many

The Route to Healthiness 9 people know the differences between organic and conventional farming. When you are conventional you can keep selling your milk supply even if it is a grade ‘B’ quality producer instead of a grade ‘A’ producer. In the organic industry there is no grade ‘B’ milk, there is only grade ‘A’ or else we get kicked off of the milk truck.

Yet because of all these restrictions we are guaranteed a profit at the end of the day. If I would have remained conventional I was not guaranteed a stable price for the milk I was selling. When it comes to being organic there is a reliable and stable market price for the milk I am selling now, and a good milk check. The organic market is not subject to the ups and downs of the conventional market because the company is very in tuned with their producer’s needs. Organic Valley is a cooperation company or what is sometimes called a coop. I own my own little share of the co-op since I am a member of the company because I sell my milk to them.

Organic Valley is a farmer-owned company.

There are hardly enough people around this tristate area to sell organic dairy supplies to. It is essential for me to get to know other people in the organic industry so that I can sell my organic products to them.

It is amazing how by networking with different people in the organic industry, we have met and befriended many Amish and Mennonite farmers and people all over the world. We are considered gods to the hippies that buy our products. We greatly appreciate their high demands.

Peace, bro.

Even though it was not an easy road to become organic, it has paid off tremendously in the long run. My

The Route to Healthiness 10 cows are healthier along with my land being richer in nutrients. I know it is hard to change a certain lifestyle but it is never too late to take on a new change in life to better one’s health and quality of living. Especially, when trying to provide a healthier way of living for one’s family and oneself. I am prouder of the product that I am producing now than I was as a conventional farmer.

The Route to Healthiness 11 Got Milk?

There is an everyday progress that my family and I have to go through in order to milk the cows. When it is time to go milk cows, my dad, my mom, my brother and I go to the barn and get everything ready before we bring the cows in. We go through a doorway to get into the parlor, which is a huge pit or hole in the ground that holds our milkers and where we walk around in during milking. On both sides of the pit is where the cows stand at an angle, pressed together, so they cannot move around loosely in order to hurt us while we milk them from behind. Above the pit on either side are metal splash shields, which are big metal slabs that stop the cows’ poop from landing on us and the milkers, which try to guard us from the smelly mess of despair. Our cows are held in by metal bars that keep them from leaving while being milked. When a row of cows is done we pull on a metal handle that lifts up a gate and lets the cows out. Before that happens we have to walk down the pits stairs and pull the milkers (which looks like an octopus, with a clear round head, and long hoses that look like tentacles that are attached to them to carry the milk away in) out of their holding trays after they go through the wash rinse cycle.

We replace the long washing plug with the small milking plug, which is like a cork that controls the flow speed of the milk. I grab a couple of buckets to catch left over milk with so that we can feed the village of starving kitties that constantly meow and weave through our legs. We also refill our iodine spray bottles, a liquid spray substance that looks like soy sauce, that we use to

The Route to Healthiness 12 spray on the cow’s teats ( correct term for cow utters) before putting the milkers on the cow. The iodine helps to kill the bacteria that hang on the cow’s teats. I constantly get the iodine spray my eyes and mouth. It tastes awful, and it blinds and burns my eyes.

Once the prep work is done in the parlor we crawl out of the pit, go out into the fields and cow yard to wallow in the mud and manure to bring the cows in for their twice a day dose of uncomfortable teats suction. I am glad that I am not a cow. Ha-ha! Hoping that we do not get stuck or fall in the manure, we make our way through the cow yard and into the cow buildings. Sometimes we have to deal with a feisty cow that does not want to go in to have her teats pulled on, and then it becomes a game of catch the cow. Besides the straggler, the rest of the cows go into the barn where we start lining them up in the parlor to get them ready to be milked. We milk over 100 cows twice every day.

We need to be clean and efficient during the process of milking cows. We first go down the row to wash the teats with a water hose if the cow is covered in

The Route to Healthiness 13 mud or manure. We dip the teats with iodine and then wipe the teats with a paper towel so that the cow will bring her milk. This is the signal for the cow that it is time to get milked so that she can have her daily teat squeezing for the day. We start to put milkers on each cow. First, we flip a lever that turns on the milker, and then place the milker under the cow by putting each tentacle on her teats. During this time, we look to see if the cow has a leg band, and if so, what color it is. This shows us what special procedure needs to be completed on that particular cow.

If the cow has a yellow band on one leg that means there is a bad teat that needs to be treated. The cow that has the yellow band usually has mastitis which means the milk looks like cottage cheese, but smells nastier. Mastitis is a bacterial infection in the cow’s teat.

That side of her milking bag needs treated by inserting a cannula into her teat to drain the mastitis out. A cannula is a needle that gets inserted into the cow’s teat and drains the milk or fluid that is contaminated. If the cow has a red band she is a dry cow which means that we do not milk her because she is close to having a calf. After a row of cows is finished, we run through the line with the iodine spray again.

While we are milking cows, my mom and I try to pass time by singing songs and creating weird dance moves. Basically acting like a bunch of goofballs because that is the only fun we can have. We sing songs such as: “Old Yellower,” “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog,” “In Seattle,” “Bye-Bye Miss American Pie,” “Single Ladies,” Disney songs and other ridiculous songs. We also make fun of the cow’s teats and come up with theme

The Route to Healthiness 14 songs to go with the cow’s names. Sometimes a cow’s tail will be hanging over the top of the poop shield and it will look like she is waving to us. One time we drew a smiley face on one of the cow’s butts with orange paste, she was never the same after that. All the other cows made fun of her, oh the humiliation. Ha-ha. This makes the time out there go by much faster.

We use to have to take a long time to milk our cows before we became more modernized after becoming organic. Our milking process used to take us two and half to three hours to complete. That was because we had a station barn instead of our modern day parlor that we have now. We built a swing 17 milking parlor to replace the ancient station barn that we had

been using for years. Building the parlor has made our lives less stressful and simpler because it is an easier way and more efficient way to milk the cows. It now takes up to an hour and a half to milk the cows, which cut down on time for us tremendously. We are able to focus better on other areas of the farm that need to be looked after. This way of milking cows also cuts down on infections the cows may get from inefficient

The Route to Healthiness 15 equipment. That is important when we are only allowed to use natural herbs and remedies for our cows. The key is prevention before they get sick.

Instead of using drugs or chemicals on our cows, we use herbal substances. If we were to treat a cow with mastitis, we would need to use herbs, such as garlic or peppermint depending if she had watery mastitis or the cottage cheese looking mastitis. All the products that we use on the farm now are more expensive since they are organic because not many people sell organic products such as corn, soybeans, and hay. We order our special hay from great distant places like Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana.

Being organic is more practical because I do not have to worry about milking a drug cow into the bulk tank and contaminating the rest of the milk. A drug cow is a cow that has been treated with drugs to make her better, but she cannot be milked in with the other cows.

The cows are healthier as organic cows which are better for the cows because it means less stress on us. Plus not too many cows are dropping dead all the time. The cows are living longer since we became organic than if we

were to stay conventional. The life span for a cow that is organic is 10-12 years, but the average age for a cow that

The Route to Healthiness 16 is considered conventional is 2-3 years. They would have a shorter lifespan if we stayed conventional because they are constantly being bombarded with drugs and hormones.

Our herd of cows are all crossbred or known as hybrid-vigor. This makes our cows a better breed of cows because if they are pure bred, the dominant genes would only be expressed, and recessive genes would not be expressed. Crossbred cows have superior qualities than that of a pure bred cow. By crossbreeding the cow to another breed, her recessive genes get expressed better which means she is less susceptible to different genetic disorders or traits that come from a particular breed.

This could mean better milk quality, butter fat, and protein in the milk. This makes for a healthier cow. The quality of nutrition that the cow gives is important to the growth of the American population.

The company that we send our milk to is called Organic Valley, a company in a small town in upper Wisconsin. There are only two organic, dairy farmers in Dubuque County. The other organic dairy farmer is my cousin, Bill Connolly. There are other organic farmers, but we are the only dairy farmers in Dubuque County.

We constantly joke that we are the heart of the organic, dairy industry in Dubuque County. Ha-ha. Or we call ourselves the organic, family, dairy industry of Dubuque, so that we feel more important. The reasoning behind there being so few of us dairy farmers in Dubuque County is because not too many people want to go into the organic industry. They are set in their ways as conventional farmers. There is also the extensive amount of paperwork, expenses, and regulations that one

The Route to Healthiness 17 has to go through in order to be certified in the organic industry. Not everyone gets certified because the company is so strict with their guidelines for being organic.

Outside the farming community many people do not realize how important the dairy industry is in everyday life and how much work is put into farming.

There are many protocols that we follow as organic farmers in order to stay as a high quality milk producer.

This is an important job and a lifestyle. Since I was born and raised on a farm, it is important for me to show my expertise in this field of my life. I also find it more important to support the local farmers markets to help out the other smaller farm owners that are organic like me.

The Route to Healthiness 18

Detecting a Rip in the Marketplace: Reasons to buy locally grown products Everyday members of the Dubuque community look to their closest supermarket in order to load up on food for their pantries, but some people do not stop to think about the importance of supporting the local organic farming community. Some are misinformed on the hazards of buying a food product that has been repeatedly exposed to numerous chemicals and harmful pesticides or even worse genetically altered hormones.

Many of these members might lack any knowledge of who is actually pick-pocketing their hard earned cash, when they buy these products. A strong need to inform and support the public has been developed by none other than Organic Valley and the local farmers’ markets along with HY-VEE and other local organic stores. Because of these severe matters in the farming industries, the organic way of farming was created in order to step away from the conventional ways of farming that is used by mostly owned by factory farmers as opposed to the small family farmers.

Many people fail to recognize the importance of buying organic-based food products to better his or her health and to send a message to all farming communities that organic offers a more practical way to go, and that the organic products are in higher demand. The food products that are distributed in mega supermarkets continue to constantly being carelessly handled and packaged. Many of the packaging plants that the food

The Route to Healthiness 19 products are transported to distribute the food around the whole U.S.A. Those products get stuffed into warehouses along with other contaminated foods. The processors send the farmers’ hard-earned food products to distributors that ship the products across the country.

While the food is being transported, it is picking up hazardous bacteria that harm humans. Other examples of contaminates coming into contact with the food products consist of lead, mercury, genetically modified substances, artificial dyes and coloring, preservatives, and food products from different countries with hardly any food regulations.

Many times on the TV or in the newspaper there will appear a case of an outbreak of e-coli, food poisoning, salmonella, or boctchilism. This is caused because of the harmful contaminations that a regular mega supermarket food comes in contact with. Most of the time this is caused because the fertilizer the factory farmers are using for their crops comes from waste treatment planets human wastes. Factory farmers also use cow manure when fertilizing their crops, but there are different ways in which the manure is handled that leads to a bigger problem than it needed to end up becoming. An article goes on stating: Manure is generally stored in one of two ways: either in underground pits or in lagoons. From the storage units it can be piped to fields and spread on the earth or, in some cases, injected directly into the ground. But manure that is stored in lagoons, a very popular method, observers note, often leaks out or overflows and can contaminate local rivers and drinking water. A faulty lagoon

The Route to Healthiness 20 can leak manure, but even a well-built one can overflow after a particularly heavy rain (Environmental Impact of Factory Farms).

It could also result in the workers on these farms are not practicing the needed precautions of remaining sanitary when they are harvesting the products. One of the main reasons of the need for these precautions happens because of the harmful: pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals that the factory farmers are using on their cash crops.

All of these little factors contribute to a bigger picture that needs to be looked at under a microscope better by food producing companies so that the American people can become more aware of the harm that these added factors contribute to the health of America. These added ingredients and chemicals in the food are causing people to get sick almost every time they eat a food product. More and more case studies are showing the possibilities of more consumers are developing more food allergies especially in children because of these harmful drugs and chemicals in the food. Besides the allergies, children are developing into puberty at earlier ages at an excessive rate. Another case study showed that breast cancer could be possibly linked to the use of certain drugs used in order to enhance the cow’s milk production performance. The reasoning behind the possibilities of the hormones and chemical that are contaminated in the food products are greatly affecting humans is because there has not been an affective study to prove it otherwise. A particular article report goes on to explain: The central thesis of this report is that the FDA’s basic

The Route to Healthiness 21 rBGH human safety presumptions are faulty. Rather than perform the legally mandated role as the overseer of the safety of veterinary drugs and the nation’s food supply, FDA employees have served as ‘pom-pom girls’ —cheering on the approval and marketing of this powerful synthetic hormone drug. Failed oversight of human and veterinary drugs has, unfortunately, become ‘business as usual’ at FDA. Public confidence is at an all-time low, following repeated revelations of inadequate safety-testing of drugs by the agency (Hardin).

The FDA has repeatedly failed to guarantee the proper tests for the safety of the consumers and the well-being of the actual products being sold.

Consumers are continuously being lied to about the products which they are purchasing. Many companies lay false claims about their products supposedly being sold as ‘organic’ products when the actual product is based on a conventional market. Many food products claim to be sold as organic when the actual product consists of conventional products. By allowing this by the government and mega supermarkets, the organic farmers are consistently being cheated out of a good paycheck and consumers are repeatedly being manipulated into thinking that they are paying for organic products, when buying groceries. This remains not only a cheap parlor trick; it also can result in an extremely dangerous practice. One of the main disruptors of this constant problem is Wal-Mart. "We first noticed that Wal-Mart was using in-store signage to misidentify conventional, non-organic food as organic in their upscale-market test store in Plano, Texas,’ said Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute” (City Business Staff Report).

The Route to Healthiness 22 If some consumers only consume organic products and they consume a product such as milk that is claiming to be sold as “organic,” but is actually based as a conventionally made product, they can become severely sick. The individual may not contain the antibodies to fight the harmful bacteria in the milk or not accustomed to the chemicals or hormones in the milk.

This is disturbing and a serious problem,’ Kastel said. ‘Organic farmers adopt and follow a rigorous range of management practices, with audit trails, to ensure that the food they sell to processors and retailers is organic and produced in accordance with federal organic regulations.

Consumers, who are paying premium prices in the marketplace for organic food, deserve to get what they are paying for (City Business Staff Report).

Many consumers are being deceived into paying for “high quality” products, but they can stay alert to the red flags that sign the falsehood of the quality of the product so that consumers can watch out for these tricks up the sleeves for future purchases.

Not only are the farming and factory industries adding additional ingredients; these employers are also lying about the nutrients in the food they produce that are not present in the food. They are called “phantom nutrients.” Many of the cereals or nutrition bars sold in mega supermarkets do not contain the amount of vitamins and nutrients that the product claim to contain.

Or sometimes the product will be labeled under a different name or category on a product sold in a mega supermarket. For example if a product states that it

The Route to Healthiness 23 contains “natural” ingredients then the product is ok.

Wrong! The labeling of a product being called “natural” is commonly used in conventional marketing, there remains no clear definition to what “natural” implies. It remains whatever the consumer believes it to contain. A dirty, but clever trick used by the mega supermarkets and factory farmers around the country. In Hoard’s Dairyman magazine there contained an article about this particular matter which states: Ben & Jerry’s…agreed to phase out its use of the term ‘All Natural’ for ice creams and frozen yogurts that contain processed or artificial ingredients, according to the Washington Post.

The move comes a month after a Washingtonbased public health watchdog, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, sent a letter to Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream requesting new labeling practices. The letter identified nearly 50 products that it said were improperly labeled: Thirty-six flavors… contained cocoa that was processed with alkali which cuts acidity and nutrition-boosting flavanols. Others…included malt dextrin, a sweetener produced from cornstarch and corn syrup (Hoarder’s Dairyman 704).

A great example of the hazards of all labeling products ‘all natural.’ “The new labeling standards were expected to help organic food producers export their products.

There was a strong demand for organic foods abroad, but the lack of a national standard had thus far hindered their exportation” (Agriculture: Organic Food-Labeling Standards Set; Other Development).

The Route to Healthiness 24 Organic products refuse to use words like “natural” on the labeling of their products. Organic farmers use grade “A”, ultra-pasteurized, healthier, USDA ORGANIC approved, or farmer owned slogans to label their products.

The environment also plays an important role in the aspect of farming and the distribution of food products across the country. Organic farmers do not use chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, or drugs on their animals or crops. The organic industry keeps its products naturally pure and fresh unlike the conventional industry. In the mega supermarkets, food is overwhelming contaminated with these nasty added ingredients. The conventional farmers are damaging our ecosystem and the environment. The conventional farmers are also being harmed by being constantly exposed to those harmful chemicals. They can easily develop different types of cancers or other harmful diseases. The effect of adding all of these harmful chemicals and injecting the animal with drugs is starting to show up in humans in the form of rapid growth spurt and allergy related disorders. “Concerns are growing about pesticides, hormones, and genetically modified organisms (GMO), antibiotic resistance, mad-cow disease, and other adverse consequences of industrial farming” (Cedar Circle Farm). Since my family and I sell organic milk we cannot use these harmful products, but instead we use herbs to treat our animals, such garlic or peppermint, and we do not spray our crops with chemicals. The environment is experiencing more and more hypoxia, or “dead zones,” in different water supplies in the western hemisphere. This can be

The Route to Healthiness 25 attributed to not only industrial factories polluting the environment, but the conventional farmers who dump commercial nitrogen into the water supply.

The way that the food is transported also affects the environment. The food products that are sold in mega supermarkets are constantly being transported in semi-trucks that need to drive across the country. Which are driving around to the different mega supermarkets throughout the U.S.A. The semi-trucks are continuously polluting the air with the gas and diesel fumes the trucks are putting back into the air. The semi-trucks are burning away hard-earned cash for the amount the driver of the truck paid for gas while driving around “the planet� to deliver a simple order. Organic farmers ensure a healthier environment by work with the soil and raising healthier farm animals. The organic industry is also stricter about the rules and regulations that need to be followed to ensure safer and healthier food products and a better environment. I realize from experience, sense I am an organic dairy farmer, the importance of keeping our food products safe and fresh for the public to enjoy. The organic farmers are required to be inspected more frequently than conventional farmers in order to keep up with the high demands of a high-quality product and vicinity. An article goes on to explain and an example of this high demand which states: Sales of Organic Cow milk increased dramatically in February, 1993 when the federal government approved the use of BST (bovine somatotropin), commonly called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone), a synthetic growth hormone that increases milk

The Route to Healthiness 26 production in dairy cows. ‘Our sales increased 25 percent in one month when BGH was introduced,’ says Bunny. ‘Unfortunately, it's a double-edged sword because sales went up for a negative reason. BGH raised people's awareness and made them suspicious of food sources (Farrell).

This remains one of the soul reasons why organic is in higher demand it happened because of the constant use and abuse of drugs being injected into the animals that later ends up in the milk.

Members of the Dubuque community need to support the local organic farming community.

Supporting the local organic farming community provides many benefits that need to be considered anytime someone from the community needs to load up on his or her pantry. By supporting local farmers, the economy will benefit in the long run. Jobs will start to spring up like daisies. By supporting local farmers, the community is ensuring that the farmers can keep their jobs and supply for the community. Not supporting the local farmers means the farmers will be deprived off his or her job which will lead to the disappearance of the farming community in smaller towns. This would be devastating and would ruin a town’s chance for better income. Farmers help to build a community and a base of support for the community. By not buying food products from the mega supermarkets, consumers are ensuring that the middle man who pockets most of the cash does not receive another falsely earned paycheck.

The middle man determines the prices at which the products can be sold. An article from Newsweek

The Route to Healthiness 27 magazine discusses about the founder of the Organic Valley Company, George Siemon, and his decision on cutting out the middleman which states: George Siemon and other farmers realized that allowing the middlemen who sold their milk to determine prices left many farmers broke. So they cut them out, and went straight to consumers. They found that consumers who wanted organic milk were willing to pay a fair price for it and that connection led to Organic Valley’s success (Newsweek 50).

Even though organic products cost a little bit more than conventional products, many consumers are willing to pay more for the higher-quality products. The organic farmers will be guaranteed to receive better paychecks for his or her hard work. Money will go back into the community and cycle repeats itself over again.

The community will start to rapidly create more job opportunities. If more members of the Dubuque community buy more food products from local farmers' markets. Buying food products from the farmers’ market will also bring about more tourism for the town. Many people love to visit the local farmers’ market or fleamarket. The farmers' market continues to offer a great way to use networking in order to get in touch with other businesses. This could help out another business and a great way to meet new and different people. For example, if a farmer needs something for his or her farm such as hay or corn, at a farmers' market the farmer will more than likely to run into someone who will deliver or can provide what the farmer needs. Embracing new experiences provides another great reason to visit the

The Route to Healthiness 28 local farmers' market. The food at a farmers’ market remains fresher and healthier than the products sold at a mega supermarket. Most of the time, the food is beginning to rot and has been sitting around in a warehouse for an extended period of time. The food tastes better and healthier, so it provides a more practical choice. The food comes straight from the farm to the consumer, no long road trips or extensive handling of the product. The all natural grade “A� quality food products taste a lot better; it offers healthier ingredients.

The Route to Healthiness 29 The Dubuque community offers great resources into further educating the public about the food products that are being sold throughout the community. The Dubuque and Asbury Hy-Vee’s are working to help provide clubs and organization that help establish a better understanding for the public on the health benefits of purchasing organically grown products. Hy-Vee Dietitians provide great resources in order to help the public better understand the importance of establishing a healthy lifestyle that can be accomplished by purchasing organic products and exercising on a regular basis. The Dubuque HY-VEE stores are employee owned and truly care about the well-being and health of its consumers.

HY-VEE remains as the main big business that works to educate the public towards purchasing organically grown products and supporting farmers’ markets, but it is not the only business in the whole Dubuque County that strives for the same belief system. The Dubuque community holds different programs, seminars, tastestings, and organic grocery stores to help further educate the public if much of the public would take the time to look closer at their surroundings.

It remains extremely important for members of a community to support their local organic farming industries and markets so that the farmer can produce a high-quality and healthy product for the community that greatly appreciates their local farmers. This ends up resulting in chain reaction and a continuous cycle around the community. Much of the Dubuque community remains left in the dark as to the whole processes that the mega supermarkets and conventional farms handle the food commonly bought and sold in mega supermarkets.

The Route to Healthiness 30 Of course, everything that stays organic or bought at a farmers' market tastes better and stays fresher longer than the average groceries sold at the mega supermarkets. The consumer need not worry about buying a product that will make him or her ill as soon as it is consumed.

After reading my story I hope that I was able to give insight into my life as a farmer and the organic world. Farming is not just an occupation it is a way of life. Having a connection with the animals and with the land; working together side by side. Caring and working the land and animals in a more natural way. I hope I have given some insight into the importance of supporting the organic community along with the local farmer’s markets community. I am proud to be the organic farmer that I am today, I would not change a thing.

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Hardin, Pete. "…Because FDA Says It’s Safe?" The Milkweed. Milkweed, Sept. 2007. Web. 31 Oct. 2010 Kallen, Stuart A, Book Editor. Is Factory Farming Harming America? Farmington Hills: Greenhaven, 2006. Northeast Iowa Community College Burton Payne Library. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.

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