Big Government and Small Farms

One of the most interesting chapters in the book Crunchy Con, was the one about food and the revelation by a number of small, organic and free-range farmers that it is actually government regulation that is making it hard for small farms to prosper or, in some cases, even start up.

This fact flies in the face of the oft given response to my call for smaller government on this blog: Big Business is worse than Big Government and we need Big Government to protect us from Big Business.

Here's the bottom line: Big Government is Big Business's best friend. Without Big Government - the tangle of red tape "protecting" us from evil corporations - Big Business would not have the level of competitive advantage over small business that is now has.

I blogged about this here, with reference to a column by John Stossel .

I am reminded of the power of government to snuff out family farms and quash the local food movement by this article about NAIS (link opens government website) in today's Burlington Free Press.

The premise registration and animal identification idea, which is aimed at tracking animals to help prevent the spread of mad cow disease, avian flu and other diseases, has divided the nation's livestock farmers. Some see it as necessary for disease prevention, others say it would be onerous and an unwarranted intrusion by government.

Not surprisingly, Big Meat supports NAIS.

"We believe the program should be mandatory, because if it's not mandatory, it's not really going to work," said Dave Warner, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council.

But what do the small farmers think?

"We do not need the government forcing this discriminatory program on producers who will gain nothing from it, but will lose their ability to produce locally grown wholesome food for their customers," said Richard Bean, president of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association. "This program has the potential to destroy the sustainable agriculture and local food movement at the very moment that consumers are clamoring for our products."

But we need government to protect us from business.

No, we don't. The government is allowing mega-corporations, with the money and lawyers to navigate the bureaucratic nightmare that is our government, to continue to determine what we can buy and sell. Those of us who care about choice and want the choice to buy small and local are being slowly driven out by the government.

Unfortunately, a majority of the small and local-loving, the Wal-Mart-hating left, are the very same people shouting from the rooftops that we need government to protect us from business.

While we are fighting each other, the Big Government and Big Corporations are both coming out winners.

For more on NAIS, visit NoNAIS.org - a site started by Vermont homesteader, and homeschooler, Walter Jeffries

Side note: I know I never got around to posting about last month's show about the book Crunchy Con. I actually dug out my notes from the show this weekend, so I would remember to do it. I will get to it. Meanwhile, the podcast of the program is available here.