Posted by alexandra_k on October 31, 2018, at 18:35:14
In reply to Re: climate refugees » alexandra_k, posted by beckett2 on October 30, 2018, at 14:53:43
Actually, now that I think on it, I suppose it is possible that asbestos killed my Father, too. He was a builder. Residential low rise houses. He may have done sawing of asbestos boards or whatever over the years. Then things don't feel right and smoking becomes a way of numbing the region.
It's hard to believe in many of the words used in the food production industry because there are a lack of laws around appropriate vs inappropriate use of certain terms. And / or there is a lack of regulation where people regularly take independent samples or do factory or farm on site insepections to ensure compliance.
We have this problem in New Zealand where people (often by way of a small start up) claim to be producing a product that is superior with respect to quality in some way which is supposed to justify why we would pay premium price for their product.
For example 'organic' carrots (that aren't treated with chemicals that means surface weeds require them to be manually harvested which is labour intensive). milk that comes from a single source (a particular farm that doesn't use fertiliser on the fields). So on... 'Free range eggs' that come from 'smaller flock sizes' where the chickens have access to scratch litter and can roam outside...
And then it turns out that they are a subsidary of some monopoly and the product is simply a sample from some bigger, already pooled supply chain. So there is no difference in the product. It was just a way of extracting more money out of people for same-old product.
But it was also a way of undermining any smaller scale producers who just want to produce a smaller amount of product well, at a fair price, so they have a decent way of life for themselves. They are forced out of business either because people refuse to pay more for their premium product (because the lable lisencing and internet website promotion is all b*llsh*t) or (if they don't agree to allow surplus production to be produced by one of the bigger companies) they are forced out of business some other way.
That appears to be what growth is. Growing a smaller business to be eaten by the large one. Feeding the board of directors, primarily.
I don't know what 'organic' is supposed to mean.
Information so people can make an informed decision would be good. That's how come local is best, typically. Because you are more likely to be able to assess the production process. If local people (people who consume the product) are involved in the production of the product and so on, you are more likely to have a concern with quality.
If you are working for some nameless distant person who doesn't pay you a living wage you are more likely to be spitting (or worse) in teh food...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1101528
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20180816/msgs/1101735.html