American Farming and Safe Products

In spite of recent safety scares in the media, Americans enjoy the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world, due in large part to the productivity and responsibility of American farmers. Recent stories about disturbingly inadequate safety and purity standards for food and other consumable products originating in other countries should remind us how important it is to maintain vigorous and competitive agricultural operations here at home where quality and safety can be better monitored.

Food is only part of the story. Many non-food products we use in our everyday lives come from plant and animal products produced by American Farmers. Health care products like many pharmaceuticals, surgical sutures, latex gloves, even x-ray film include farm-produced materials. The same is true for personal care products like shampoo, soap, cosmetics, and toothpaste. The ink in many newspapers, perhaps this one, most likely originated on a farm. Schools could not operate as they do without farm-produced materials in crayons, textbooks, chalk, pencils, and paper. Manufacturing depends on adhesives, lubricants, solvents, and detergents based on farm-produced crops.

Yes, even the palm trees that shade our homes and do their part to reduce greenhouse gases in our neighborhoods are grown on farms, several here in Borrego.

We rightly associate American farms with outstanding and abundant food. But food is only part of the story. Farming is simply too important to “outsource” to other countries.