Food Wars, Again

I'm baaaaacccckkkk.

Well, not really, I just happen to be at home on a preschool day, and my little man is happily playing by himself. So, instead of cleaning the swampy bathroom or unloading the dishwasher/dryer/washing machine (you pick), I'm blogging.

All for you, dear readers.

All for you.

Anyway, did you know the Food Wars are waging on? Still? I know, I know, this again... but they won't go away. Have you seen the latest anti-agriculture, not correct in the slightest commercial?  Chipotle has taken to the marketing waves ala Panera, and has put out this product, and, consequently, put-off, a lot of agricultural folks. Through the same methods of fear and misinformation, Chipotle tells the tale of Big Burrito and the Big Ag industry and the lovely Scarecrow who loves the earth and feeds the world, one burrito at a time.

And while I know I should have more of a knee jerk, "That's not RIGHT!" reaction, I find myself just sighing. Because, honestly, I'm tired of this fight. I don't feel like it's fair, and obviously, what we're doing to advocate is not working. And while this argument is frustrating and the information is incorrect, it's STILL HAPPENING, and apparently, people are STILL BELIEVING IT.

Thus, I become frustrated.

I can't change anyone's mind, but the food wars wage on, and thanks to social media, information overload, over-consumerism, and obviously the NEED for healthy burritos (is this an oxymoron?), the American public seems to just go with whatever is "trending." Which reminds me...did you know the Today Show has a hard-hitting news segment every morning of "What's Trending Today," which includes all things that seemingly were scrounged from the pages of the National Inquirer.

I'm digressing.

What I began to say was that although I cannot change anyone's mind, and because I refuse to chain myself to Chipotle's doors with a picture of my hardworking husband on a t-shirt and get some publicity, my story won't be told, and those of the lovely small-farmer Scarecrow in Chipotle's ads will get more air time than Joe and Anna working calves on a Sunday afternoon.

Because that's BORING! We're boring. We're not money grubbing Big Ag producers. We're BORING people who work like dogs during the day and fall asleep watching the Big Bang Theory at night. Life around here isn't sensationalized like what you see on ridiculous 20/20 investigative reports or in stupid commercials depicting farmers as corporate big head, arrogant and greedy men. We're folks who want it to rain to put our crop out of danger so we can pay for preschool, and the operating loan, and our increasing grocery bill.

So, I'm tired of this fight, because I'm starting to think our angle is wrong. I'm wondering if because the American public believes advertising more than a personal story, maybe I should chain myself to a Chipotle door (date night, honey!). Maybe I should sensationalize our farm lifestyle to get some more press.

Or maybe I should just get back to cleaning the bathroom and folding laundry, because that's more up my alley.

I'm tired of this fight, because it's not fair. In light of the message Chipotle is trying to send of kindness and loving and caring farmers, they're actually being kind of jerks to farmers. They are a profit based company, which is fine by me, but don't attack another's livelihood to make a bigger bang and thus bigger bucks. That's not fair, and neither kind nor loving nor nice.

If we'd all let each other do our own jobs, the ones that we are good at, trained for, and care about, wouldn't life be a lot easier?

With that, I should get back to what I do the best...and clean the bathroom.