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Re: [RC] slaughter Sorry it's so long - Truman PrevattI hadn't been to the Sunnyvale area in quite a few years - since the late 80's when the majority of the Aerospace industry moved out. I have been doing some work for GD lately and have been out to their Mt. View facility a few times in the past few months. What struck me was I had a heck of a time finding it. In the 80's this facility was a huge campus taking up at least a block. This was when it was GTE - before GD bought GTE's Aerospace business.It had shrunk to two building surrounded by either town houses or condos. The GD manager told me they were moving. Mt. View could make a lot more on money on the taxes from the $750,000 town houses than they could off GD and let GD know they would like them to move. Now the GD building are gone and more town houses are sprouting up. It's not just the farms that are being run out by the population growth in CA. There are vast areas of land that supports good pasture where no cows are raised. These grass lands would make great grass fed cattle land. But it just sits there. Our government through subsidies has stimulated a false agricultural economy. Water intensity crops such as tomatoes are grown in the desert using irrigation water from subsidized water projects. Cattle grazing is subsidized in the west (through inexpensive leases for grazing on federal land) while thousands of acres of grass land sits in the midwest and East. In our local markets we are seeing more organic beef and pork and are starting to see organic chicken. We are seeing organic buffalo. These meats are leaner and for my money have a lot more flavor (and a lot less fat). If more people buy these products we will eventually more production. Hopefully the US Government keeps it's hands off and lets the market drive the production. Truman Barbara McCrary wrote: It would be wonderful if all cattle could be pasture-raised and sent to market right off grass. I asked my husband whether there is enough pasture in our county (not country) to raise enough beef to feed all the people in the county and he said no way. Houses are replacing pastures at an alarming rate. Farther south and east of us in CA, vineyards and shopping malls are replacing pastures at an even more alarming rate. And when the vineyards don't make money for the owner, they are abandoned with all their wire trellises, not restored to pasture. -- “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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