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Agriculture isn't your standard Mom and Pop operation anymore. The entire family doesn't work in the back forty anymore. It's big business. Large corporations came along, bought up all the farmland, and have taken on a life force of their very own.

Large corporations brought with them technological advancements and cost cutting ways to save money, that make them more money. No longer are cattle roaming freely on the range, chickens aren't strutting their stuff and crows aren't pecking at the crops in the field. Large corporations that use slash and burn technology to cut costs and lower the bottom line, are pushing out the family farm.

Suburbanites are pushing through the boundaries of green space, cloning look- alike neighborhoods in what used to be beautiful farmland where animals grazed, and crops grew in the great outdoors. Farmers are being forced out not only by new subdivisions, but by entire towns springing up overnight with what seems to be one drop of water, complete with big box stores.

Technology has taken over farming with science joining hands and creating cloned animals for mass food production. Genetic engineering has taken over the cultivation of a long ago era of growing produce the old fashioned way. Do we really want to eat food that is cloned to grow stronger, faster? What happened to a farmer and his family growing crops in the field and producing food that tasted great and was low priced?

Farmers at one time were the very backbone of our society and they are being pushed out of existence. We should go back to letting farmers farm their land the way they know best, instead of large corporations taking over the very heart of the heartland.

Milk doesn't have to be four dollars a gallon. Milk doesn't have to be trucked in from thousands of miles away due to the large corporations having their operations where it is cheaper. Wouldn't we be better off just letting local farmers do their jobs? That way milk wouldn't have to be shipped in from a far- flung area, with diesel fuel being so expensive.

Food doesn't have to be expensive; we'd all like to see it cheaper. By bringing back the family farm, quality of the food goes up, and the price of food goes down. It's a proven fact that when grocery stores buy produce from local farmers that the prices are lower. Local farmers could most certainly use the Internet to create and grow their business. They can advertise their products on the Internet and sell produce on-line. People could bid for food on the Internet utilizing e-bay or even a new website I just thought of called farm-bay.

Big business has brought down the quality of food and raised prices to astronomical levels. Lets' help our local farmers by buying local produce, and creating more community farms. By working together, we can bring back lower prices, more natural, healthier foods, and the very backbone of our society.

Learn more about this author, Kate Johns.
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