There is no doubt that our society loves choices. For evidence of this, one only needs to visit a new movie theater that features an ever-expanding number of screens, look at the growing list of options on a car or go to buy a pair of jeans at the shopping mall. I’m not that old, but I can remember the days when jeans were just blue, the local theater just had one movie a week, and people either drove a Ford or a Chevy with manual windows.
Businesses have learned to offer so many more choices through the years because consumers want them. Few places have had a greater response to the desire for expanded choices than the grocery store.
In the past, the milkman brought milk. Now we have so many milk products available in the store, it can make your head spin trying to select one. Plain milk is still an option, but now we have countless brands offering organic, grass fed, all natural, hormone free and just about everything else you can conjure up. All the options are great for the people who want something specific and are willing to pay a little more for the extra effort required to produce it. But, there are some of us who just want safe, low-cost, high quality, “regular” milk.
The same story applies to the eggs and meat that now come in free range, organic, all natural and “regular.” Some people want organic; some people want free range; some people want “regular;” everybody, it seems, wants choices.
Well, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has decided that their anti-meat and pro-vegan agenda is more important than your choices at the grocery store. The group was behind the voter-passed regulations in California that will put many of the family farms that produce California’s “regular” products in the grocery store out of business. The regulations hurt agriculture and consumer choice but do nothing to benefit the animals HSUS claims to be protecting.
While the HSUS emotional appeals resonate with consumers who are not familiar with animal agriculture, the changes advocated by HSUS are contrary to generations of research and experience with regard to animal husbandry. Plus, consumers who favor these animal housing conditions can already purchase the specialty product of their choice at the store.
Last winter, HSUS announced that Ohio was their next target for imposing their rigid, inflexible and impractical rules on how livestock and poultry are housed. If such rules are enacted in Ohio, it would lead to higher costs for consumers, put food safety at risk, increase the amount of food imported to Ohio, cause thousands of farmers to go out of business, and endanger the overall health and well-being of Ohio's flocks and herds.
In a proactive effort, agriculture and Ohio leaders have responded with Issue 2. Issue 2 puts in place the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board that will allow Ohioans (and not an animal rights group) to set standards for livestock and poultry care to enhance food safety, local availability and affordability of food, and farm management practices for animal well being. These standards will be considered in the context of their impact on animal health, farm biosecurity, disease prevention, food safety and food production.
The Board will be chaired by the Director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and will be made up of 13 Ohioans, including: three family farmers; two veterinarians (one of whom is the state veterinarian); a food safety expert; a representative of a local humane society; two members representing statewide farm organizations; the dean of an Ohio agriculture college; and two members representing Ohio consumers.
Issue 2 has broad support from the state’s elected officials and consumer and food-related organizations throughout the state because they understand the importance of agriculture to Ohio’s economy, the value of locally produced consumer choices in the grocery store and the incredible value of safe, high-quality, low-cost food.
Consumers in search of high value and quality can still go out and buy blue jeans, drive a no-frills Ford and watch a movie at a single-screen theater. A “yes” vote on Issue 2 will make sure we can do the same with our food, because sometimes “regular” is the best option.
For more about Issue 2, visit www.safelocalohiofood.org.
Matt Reese writes for Ohio’s Country Journal and lives in Baltimore, Ohio. For questions or comments, please contact him at mkcreese@yahoo.com.
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