Modern Farming

Kevin Miller, an American dairy farmer has been farming since he was a young child. He learned from his father and started working his own farm at 17.

As new technology has been developed, agribusiness corporations have taken over farming, leaving farm like Kevin's close to obsolete.

Kevin Miller's dairy farm is home to ~20-30 Holstein cows. Each year's crops are harvested and partially dried, then shot up into a large silo using specialized machinery and left to ferment. The fermentation produces beneficial bacteria for the cows while preserving the alfalfa.

Modern industrial farms no longer have a use for the massive grain silos of Kevin's era. The thousands of cows industrial farms raise can't be fed fast enough using silos, so instead gargantuan grain warehouses are constructed for rapid access.

This industrialization of farming absolutely obliterates the land these crops are planted on, while making it harder and harder for family farms to continue existing.

As time goes on, Kevin has been forced to grow his operation in order to produce the minimum threshold that dairy companies will drive a truck out to purchase milk.

Before we continue the monopolization of our food production, think about what it means when all the food you eat is in the hands of a few billionaires. Where are the incentives? What are the consequences?

I asked Kevin what he would do when he retires, when he's done farming. He said, "Roll around in my grave, I suppose."