Saturday, August 22, 2009

Letter to Time Magazine on Bryan Walsh Food Article

The following was sent to the editor of Time Magazine at: letters@time.com

To Time Magazine,

The recent article by Bryan Walsh, “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food,” August 20th, was a poor choice to serve as the cover article. Covers should be objective, factually based and lead to an educated and productive discussion to solve an issue or simply inform in an unbiased manner. Bryan Walsh’s article was none of these.

His attempt at journalism was obviously slanted, utilized biased science, and lacked truthful, well researched information. If he was attempting to mislead the public through misinformation and scare tactics, he was successful.

As it was written, it served no productive purpose in aiding in the growing and successful dialogue between family farmers and ranchers and the consumers, taking place in social media. Attempts by Walsh and others sharing his agenda and motives to paint American Agriculture with wide brush strokes of assumptions and accusations only hinder a productive outcome.

Family farmers and ranchers across the country encourage honest dialogue to educate the public and have them share in the process of solving challenges with an end objective being able to continue to provide the world with the safest and healthiest food supply.

I look forward to seeing another article by Mr. Walsh that points out, item by item, the misinformation that was printed and enlightens the public as to the facts and returns responsibility to the individual. If he needs help locating unbiased, real-life, real farm & ranch conditions and information, I would encourage him to contact one of the family famers and ranchers from across the nation on this list: http://www.dataforag.com/followfarmer.a5w. We will tell it as it is, what works and what does not. We utilize science and modern technology every day to provide you with an affordable, safe and wholesome product. Our only motive is to keep the environment clean and healthy, enhance wildlife habitat, encourage conservation, provide for future generations and feed people.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey N. Fowle
Family Farmer & Rancher from CA

3 comments:

  1. I thought the article was a fantastic expose on industrial agribusiness and the true costs of cheap food. I am curious what facts you found to be false?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Take a look at the previous blog entry titled "Time Article Gets It Wrong Again." I briefly hit on 13 items of misrepresentation. American agriculture can not be accurately represented by a broad brush of assumptions and falsehoods. Family farmers and ranchers are the life blood of this country, pooring their blood, sweat and tears into the earth in order to clothe and feed the world. Thanks for checking out my blog. Feel free to use your real name next time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BRAVO JEFF! That article was most definitely biased....hands down.....all research and credible references prove that.....notice anonymous can't even post their name!

    Amanda Tiemeyer

    ReplyDelete

About Me

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Jeff Fowle is a fourth generation family farmer and rancher from Etna, California. He and his wife Erin and son Kyle raise registered Angus cattle, Percheron draft horses, warmbloods, alfalfa and alfalfa-grass hay. They also start and train horses for riding, jumping, and driving. Their family run ranch has incorporated many environmentally beneficial and water efficient technologies and management strategies. Jeff attended college at Colorado State University for two years and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for four and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science. Following college, he worked in Washington State for a year as a herdsman for BB Cattle Company and then returned to Etna, California in 1995 to own and operate KK Bar Ranch and Siskiyou Percherons. The latter was started by his grandfather, Clarence Dudley, who devoted much of his time to the Percheron Horse Association of America, specifically to developing their youth education program.