What is a Factory Farm? And why are local farms SO much better?

Does the picture here remind you of ANY farm you have ever seen in Connecticut? These massive

Factory Farms and Feedlots have no connection to the land or the environment. They are simply ‘industrial feeding’ operations to produce animals with a maximum amount of weight before sales.

In a healthy farming system, as in CT, farmers work with the natural environment and they rotate crops, graze animals in pastureland, and do not use growth hormones or large amounts of unnecessary antibiotics. In the case of cows in these huge feedlots, they are fed corn and soy, and this pushes large farms to produce only one or two crops in order to maintain this industrial feeding system. Therefore, we are losing the concept of crop rotation as a way of strengthening the land and sustaining the nutrients needed for new crops.

The growth hormones and large amounts of antibiotics (mixed in the feed) are not the only problems with this industrialized food. There are other issues we should be aware of that can affect our health. The two most serious problems are animal manure and waste getting into our water supply, and the overuse of chemical fertilizers that add to both water and land pollution.

What can you do?

Buy LOCAL. Every time you shop and buy products from these factory farming operations you are making a ‘food statement’. That scanning machine is your way of telling them to ‘keep doing this’.  However, each time you buy local products (Connecticut made, or New England made) your message is even more powerful. Now the message says ‘I support locally grown food'.

Visit the South Windsor Farmers Market and support CT GROWN Products.

Eat Well…Shop Wisely….Stay Healthy!

Shop at the South Windsor Farmers Market 2013  EVERY SATURDAY

10am to 1pm, AT: the South Windsor Community Center (150 Nevers Rd.)

Webpage: swfood.org      Facebook: South Windsor Farmers Market