This, in my opinion, is one of the most insightful statements ever. The only part of it which which I cannot fully agree is that of the retail price being sufficient. I think it is too low - why else should the consumer be spending only 9 or 10 percent of their disposable income on food? Farmers and ranchers should be able to make a living from the land alone.

As far as food producers uniting - don't hold your breath. Thanks to human greed, there will always be those who will try to beat the system for their own benefit.

A while back I started a thread about numbers and off farm income and decided at that point, based on the responses, that things will never change. Because we never buckle down and improve our lot as food producers by working to increase prices. Rather, we have fallen hook, line and sinker for strategies like "improving efficiency", "bigger is better", taking that job in town or the nearest employment opportunity, etc.

IMHO, the die is cast and what you see is what you get. So either work with it or get out because it ain't gonna change. Too many of the parameters in this business are set by the rich, the stupid and the unscrupulous. I guess I'm one of the stupid ones because I don't seem to know how to quit! :lol2: