I just don't understand why other people preferring something you don't prefer is harmful rhetoric. There are many reasons to prefer not to consume GMO crops, only one of which is to make you feel bad.

*Comment deleted because it was dumb*

When you say "science supports GMOs" do you mean just that it isn't unhealthy to eat GMO crops, or do you also believe the industrial farming system built around GMOs is unequivocally positive and beneficial?

But wouldn’t it be weird to write an alternate history of North America and leave Native Americans out? Or make them all muggles?

While big H Humanity can probably adapt to massive geographic dislocations, little h humans will take a painful hit. That’s why I hate Econ 101. On a large enough scale that individuals don’t exist, and a long enough timeline that the point is moot, sure, the models often look like they work out.

Bishop, I agree and that is how I farm, BUT it’s my large farming neighbor’s who literally feed the world. By all means, everybody, do buy local and support farm to table producers, because we are the backstop in case mass ag fails - and also we produce all the super tasty heirloom carrots and grass fed lamb - but…

Where I farm, commodity growers don’t irrigate. Even if they wanted to, they would not be permitted to dig enough agricultural wells to do so because the aquifer has been drawn down too far, and the state recognizes that people need water to drink. So. If conditions change enough to require that we irrigate to…

Wow. I knew I should have gone into geology.

Small farmer here. In the US laws, regulations and subsidies and market realities favor large, consolidated production. Little farms like me that grow multiple, diverse crops involve lots of work and not a lot of return. As you suggest, this diversity allows us to pivot. Peach trees died in the freeze? That’s bad, but…

But an incremental increase in price won’t necessarily cover the increased costs to plant. For example, if new conditions would require irrigation systems where none exist, the infrastructure investments would be prohibitive for individual farmers. It would take some kind of infrastructure investment to revamp the ag…

I’ve so been in that conversation, too, with other female colleagues dealing with some masher in the office who didn’t give me a glance. The women he was mashing on were, literally, half my size. Not meek, not weak, not asking for it, but physically small in a way that predators find appealing. The littlest one, a…

She really loves the douchebags. I don’t know, maybe he’s not a douchebag but because she’s dated John Mayer so much the douchebag rubs off by association?

True strictly speaking but the ashes symbolize a previous life and existence. Given that he got it right after they divorced I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be offended.

I could have watched another five minutes of that. Jenn, those arms, go girl!

Thank you for saying this. I most frequently (among my very southern relatives and neighbors) hear “bless your heart” as a sincere expression of sympathy or concern. Using it to be arch is a subtlety that’s made funny and effective for just that reason. So, yes, not southern for “fuck you”, because we also have and…

That’s his riches to riches *reality*. His rags to riches *story* seems to be all that matters.

I think it may be the American Success Story. Many believe his rags to riches narrative. I imagine that could be inspiring to some first or even second generation immigrants?

In the US, off-farm income is income completely unrelated to the farm. So yeah, most small farmers don’t make a decent living on farming alone, and also often rely on an employed spouse for health insurance.

I am astonished by 3% of the US population drinking raw milk. That must be very much driven by states with legal sales of raw milk. In most states it’s easier to buy crack than raw milk. However we have had strong grassroots lobbying to make it legal, driven by consumer demand, so maybe I’m living in one of the last…

In the US there’s a lot more illness caused by raw milk than pasteurized. Per capita of raw milk drinkers versus pasteurized. There are so few sources of raw milk and so few drinking it that it never makes the news. It’s not being caused by folks who know what they’re doing and how to sanitize equipment. Most raw milk…