2.+On+the+Range

=Chapter 6: On the Range=

Today, many ranchers are being taken advantage of since big restaurant chains like KFC and McDonald's are beginning to 'enslave' its meat producers. Meat prices have been dropping sharply, plunging many ranchers into uncontrollable debts. The mass production of chicken has driven industrial standards to be nearly impossible for anyone to afford. As soon as a farmer is not able to produce the meat quota, everything is taken away-even their animals. They are just left in the dust with humongous debts on their ranches and many eventually declare bankruptcy. Cow producers also are finding it difficult to keep up with the meat industry, since it is very costly to buy and maintain the land to raise cattle naturally and have them graze. This creates the need for American farmers to use unnatural growth hormones to produce the biggest, meatiest cows all so that a big meatpacking company can deny their cattle, since they only accept the 'perfect cow' for a dirt-cheap price.

The west is not as cliche as the average American would assume. Instead of having cowboys running around in saloons, we have large cities filled with doctors, lawyers, and dentists. The west as we know it has already diminished and government has had to step in to preserve its farmland. One incredible statistic that I found is that over 90,000 acres of farmland is destroyed each year in the U.S. for the cause of industrialization. Although there are many benefits in place for people who own farmland like tax deductions, many find that it is not worth all the risk, so many people are trying to sell out. Many feel as though suicide is the only escape, while others have financial security. The future of the American meat industry has shifted from private to corporate control. = = =OPPOSING VIEW:= On the other hand, big corporations are generating a lot of money. Their customers demand low prices for good meat, which makes the large food processing companies become more competitive, making their business impersonal, without care about the effect. When people are willing to sell their animals at extremely low prices, there is no crime against this treatment. It is just competitive business. On the topic of industrialization destroying land, it is not necessarily all the meat packing companies' fault. The only reason why the land is being industrialized is because the farmers are selling out their farms to make money. They decide on what land is sold. Also, since government has created laws about conserving land, there is no need to worry.

=Extra Info from the Internet:= When I say that fast food companies are getting tons of money, consider this: McDonalds alone banked 4.5 billion in 2009. How do they do it? They use their low prices as an attraction to get people to the restaurants. It seems impossible for anyone to be able to make a burger for only one dollar, but it is getting easier than we would think. Actually, in Texas, one could purchase a cow for only $450-less than most people pay for their pet chihuahuas. When you consider how dirt-cheap cattle are nowadays, it is difficult to disagree with the meat-packers' reasoning for not choosing the small farms that must sell their cattle at high prices in order to make money. On the note of the environment, there are entire districts set up that operate solely for meatpacking, like Manhattan. The environmental effect has to be massive, as all this terrain is being used up. The question here is whether enough is enough, or if humans need areas like this to survive.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093298660 http://www.cattlerange.com/111C490-415/111C490-415.html http://www.meatpacking-district.com/locations