While Kit and I were on our way home from the Nebraska Bull Sale, I grabbed a meal on the road. As I browsed through the convenience store options, I saw some breakfast burritos. Surely, that would be healthier than most options in a convenience store, right? After making the purchase, however, I took a look at the ingredient label. The length of the ingredient list was shocking!
Does packing a burrito with seed oils, starch, preservatives and ingredients like disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate sound healthy to you? It’s quite a deviation from the ingredient list for a much better burrito I could make at home: flour, baking powder, salt, lard, water, pork, spices, eggs and cheese – all things I can spell and pronounce.
If only the “givernment” (as Kit calls it) could help fix this. Don’t get me wrong, hearing things like this from the incoming administration gives me hope. However, what the government might fix, we the people can fix more quickly and efficiently. This needs to start with those of us in production agriculture!
Family farmers and ranchers must be passionate about producing healthy food – not only because their survival depends on it, but because it is the right thing to do! Obviously, this needs to starts with our choices when we purchase food. Look at the ingredient list before you make a purchase.
We also need to be proactive in educating ourselves, our family, our friends and our neighbors about the long-term benefits of “healthy” food. Finally, we need to admit that many of the status quo ways of producing food are no longer good enough or healthy enough for us, our kids and our grandkids.