Things Are Tough All Over

Read this little item and you'll realize how things like this could happen right here in America and how they are probably already happening anyway.

In England, the pork industry is currently facing a crisis. This is due to massive increases in feed prices caused by rocketing world wheat prices. The majority of farmers are now selling every pig they rear at a loss of up to £26. Anyone knows that you can't take such a loss as that and stay in business for very long. The industry as a whole faces potential losses of £200 million in the next year. A recent National Pig Association survey showed that 95% of pig farmers in England are considering stopping production if the price they receive does not improve. This will lead, ultimately, to a shortage of pig meat in the long term and potentially steep rises in the retail price of pork, sausages, bacon and ham.

Consumers there also benefit from the most stringent food safety requirements of any in the world. If their homegrown pork supply was to disappear, it would have to be supplanted by imports from the European Union, where a whopping 70% of their goods would fail the British standards. Does this sound familiar? We here in America are seeing more and more food import items supplanting the familiar brands we've grown to know and trust on our own supermarket shelves. And how many news stories have there been in the last year about recalled food items, which are shipped predominantly from China? Ask yourself this: Why are the standards for food quality and safety going down the drain in places all over the world? That is the $64,000 question.

To read more about the plight of the English pig farmer and hear a song that 30 members of their farming community got together and recorded to bring attention to this problem by clicking here. The group that did the recording of this song are pictured above. It is a delightful takeoff on the old Tammy Wynette song, Stand By Your Man. They have rewritten it with pig-influenced lyrics and titled it, Stand By Your Ham. You can also sign a petition there to register your support of their cause. Or you can download the song from this handy link right here. Either way, this is an important issue for any citizen of Planet Earth. Make a difference by becoming informed.