CALF_News_June_July_2020

23 CALF News • June | July 2020 • www.calfnews.net By Patti Wilson Contributing Editor I am so weary of the daily news, 99 percent of which is COVID related, that one day I did something foolish. No one was looking, so I clicked on a story about the Royals. I do not mean the baseball team from Kansas City; I am referring to the sad and wealthy family from Great Britain whose lives seem to revolve around intense drama. Soon I was trolling through other British-related articles, and accidentally stumbled upon a BBC (British Broad- casting Corporation) piece that ran on April 17, 2020. Upon reading through it, I was stunned. Intending to be an expose’, it was lengthy (and probably heart-wrenching to some). The essay painted a very ugly picture of the Sioux Falls, S.D., Smithfield hog processing plant. It took no time at all to recognize that it depicts an ugly scenario for all livestock harvest facilities, regardless of species. Dairy processing plants fall into the same category. These businesses are the last stop between the livestock producer and the retailer, and are truly essential to the security of our country. We are find- ing out daily just how critical they are, regardless of any other current and unpleasant issues. Instead of pointing out the opportu- nities for employment so many people enjoy (immigrants or not, people of color or not), the plant was portrayed as a money-grubbing monster that underpays and bullies their captive and frightened workforce. A place uncaring about the health of their employees, their connected families and community. Now, I am not saying that I would like to someday work in a packing plant. I have been through several serving beef, pork and lamb producers, and know the work is hard, long and unglamorous. But it is honest work that supports families deserving of respect and gratitude. Folks, my great-grandfather rode a boat here from Czechoslovakia in the late 1800s. He took his little family straight to Omaha, where he went to work in a packing plant. I know that conditions there must have been abysmal compared to the modern facilities we have now. My grandma loved to talk, and never once did I hear sto- ries denigrating the pack- ing plant. Her lessons were always about opportunity. Making good on his plan to farm, Matt Hotovy, immigrant who could not speak English, took his saved wages and struck out. He became his own boss in his own American dream. That is still why immigrants go to work in packing plants. My fear is, although we know these jobs are not perfect, that collectively, this huge employer who processes all of our raw agricultural products will become so vilified among American con- sumers that it will do long-term damage to the livestock and dairy industries. Let’s shut off the TV Our Nebraska PBS station is more frequently coming across as trying to singlehandedly destroy all of agricul- ture. Recently, I have seen programming that directly blames both crop farm- ing and livestock production for every pandemic that has ever moved across the globe – Ebola, Zika, cholera, SARS, bird flu, swine flu, West Nile and now COVID-19. Charts and graphs are included in these presentations. One lady scientist coined a new moniker for our rural facilities – “Slums for Livestock.” It smacked me in the face. Also heard – our lagoons are open, unlined holes full of waste spilling into our streams and rivers. We produce so much manure that it cannot all be spread on farmland any longer; we are over capacity and have no place to put it. It sounds hideous, doesn’t it? They blame Norman Borlaug, Nobel Prize winner who saved the world from starvation with advancement in crop genetics, for enabling population explo- sion. It was suggested he was the original root of global climate change. These are our tax dollars at work. Unfortunately, it does no good to yell at the TV. My takeaway here is, this pandemic may cause yet unseen trouble in a cli- mate that, back in January, was already attempting to lead our valuable consum- ing public down the dangerous path of fake meat. We need to remain vigilant against propaganda. I guess I should have stuck to reading about Mexit and the Sussexes.  GOVERNMENT The author’s great-grandfather, Matt Hotovy, front and center, was an immigrant, packing plant worker and farmer. The author’s grandmother, Anna Dobesh, is directly behind Hotovy. Photo taken in 1934. AreYou Tired of COVID-19? Who's to Blame?