A few month back I offered my opinion on CAFOs. I suggested all CAFOs (hog confinements) be moved to Mexico. I spoke to one of the Mexican trade specialists at the Mexican Trade Council in Chicago on Michigan Avenue concerning this issue. The specialist I spoke with wanted every CAFO they could get their hands on.
“We have the land, we have the labor and the knowledge to implement the needs and care of these hogs.” Then she went on to tell me what China was already doing. We are finishing hogs for the Chinese to the point of delivering freshly dressed carcasses hung on racks then loaded into refrigerated ships staffed with personnel that process these carcasses familiar to the needs of their population. All of this is completed within fully equipped butchering facilities aboard the ships during the time the ocean voyage back to China takes. Did you know that just the city of Hong Kong consumes over 50,000 hogs a day?
The Future
I see a time when Supervalu (3,400 locations), Winn- Dixie (1,000 stores), Food Giant (1,000 plus stores) and the list gets bigger… will put entities like Prestage Foods out of business… they will become obsolete.
The meat buyers could travel directly to Mexico, sit down with a large hog processor and place custom orders down to how many ounces each pork chop should weigh. This meat will be packaged using their own packaging identification. Overall the supermarket’s cost per pound would drop like a rock….plus all the meat can be 100% organic…..no steroids. All they need to do is place orders enough in advance to allow natural growth.
If you multiply what I described by just a dozen supermarket chains there would be no need to build CAFOs in rural Iowa or anywhere else in America. Aren’t we the people who walked on the moon? Didn’t we come out with computers before anyone else….and now we think it’s OK to engulf Iowa communities in pig shit and destroy the entire town….I don’t think so. Mexico is open for business, there are no roadblocks, there’s no wall yet.
(Contact information for Mexican Consultant: 312-855-1380)
Peter Children
Mason City, Iowa
Send your letter to the editor to NorthIowaToday@gmail.com
NOTE: The opinions expressed in letters to the editor are not necessarily those of NorthIowaToday.com.
Does anyone want Mexico controlling our pork supply? That is insane.
Mason City dodged a bullet by not allowing the hog rendering plant to be built nearby. Eagle Grove got suckered. During the clean cold air of winter time Iowa get’s southern winds.The pig plant in Eagle Grove is just southwest of Eagle Grove so they will be receiving this stench. The only thing between Eagle Grove and the rendering plant is the Boone river which dumps into the Des Monies River. There are seven times more pigs right now in the US than people. Where will all this diluted blood be going? And hog sewage is way worst than human sewage. Do Americans real eat that much pork? And last but no any the least is the massive hordes of flies pig waste creates. Poor little old Webster City down stream will be experiencing this invasion in 20 fold fashion. And all for $14 a hour for the worker. And will the people who benefit by the wealth be living there mired in flies and stench?
Dodged a bullet?!?!?! Have you looked around this town recently?!?!?! Mason city is in sad, sad shape. Derelict property everywhere, severe issues with poverty, and no meaningful job growth. We missed a great opportunity to add badly needed jobs and economic vitality into this community.
Some of the best consumer produced pork is found in California by way of Iowa’s naturally produced pig program. It costs a pretty penny but the ham sandwiches are from another world in terms of taste and satisfaction. One suspects for every couple trucks loads of soybeans goes along a pig to…China. In return we get cheaply made goods in the trade off. And China’s a polluted hell hole for it.
South of the border they have different bacteria in their guts. They can drink the water but if northern’s do they get sick. Strange things grow down that way in living things. Hence a lot of hot peppers to ward of illness. Pigs would come in contact with all sorts of bottom dwelling scum. Porky’s better off in US just not in Iowa. Beside do you really believe the farmer eats his industrial produced pigs. They feed their families the all natural hog 4sure. ‘oink oink’.. lol
Just what to think are the consequences of having two pens sitting side by side contains 5,000 hogs. You can forget about turning on the faucet….that’s over. The flies are so thick you can walk across them. That front porch you built on the house, the one you often barbecue on….well that’s over, the stench is just too bad.
And you think a ham sandwich that is “ out of this world” can replace what I just said? I don’t think so.
And imagine hanging out clothes to dry on a clothesline. The stench would follow you where ever you go. Bed sheets, pillowcases, coats, the list goes on. It would be a nightmare.
They have food inspectors there are no mass death reported in Mexico due to food poisoning
The Mexican’s are used to the bacteria in their water and food. They have built up a tolerance to it. We have not and it WILL make you very sick. If the pigs drink the water (and they have to) they will have the bacteria. Inspectors will not prevent this. Keep control of our food supply by keeping it in the U,S.
I visited Mexico on several occasions for up to 2 weeks at a time. I ate Mexican food everyday and never got sick. I ate off food carts and cafe’s where the native population ate, I like ethic food and sought it out….never had adverse consequences. That dog won’t hunt.
You are full of shit. You ate at tourist hotels where they prepare the food differently. You can eat anything that is cooked, but if it is raw it will make you sick. You can drink coffee, tea or canned drinks but never the water unless it is in a good cafe’s that caters to tourist. I lived there for two years and was on the border for another year an a half, so don’t try to tell me anything about Mexico.
It’s true I stayed at high end hotels but I asked my waiter where he ate…..he gave me directions and the next day I ate there. It was on the beach near my hotel. Never got sick.
Do you really think he would tell you to eat somewhere where you would get sick? Stupid Gringo!
Peter has more class and smarts than you pal
Where I do agree that something needs to be done to reduce CAFO’s, do we really want to put our food supply in Mexico?
To kill the Cafos you need to destroy their market. The end seller of pork has to arrange buying this commodity in Mexico…..that is the supermarket. People are resident to change.
Iowa is the FLY SWATTER STATE!
And you wonder why kids immune systems along with the elderly are so compromised. The last 100 years of the industrial age has wreak havoc on the human cell in the body. Perhaps the future will look back on us and call us the age of the ‘Dum dums’. In the mean time lets get some chemicals and go kill some dandelions so we can have a nice green lawn. Organic spray my ass.
Drive by a modest pig farm everyday and it stinks in a really bad way. Good luck Eagle Grove on that. It will permeate the leaves on the trees, the grass, and everything else. But hey we need to feed China right. Let then take care of their own pork needs. Chemicals and pigs go hand in hand nowadays. Goes into the water no doubt about it. A flash flood comes and there is no stopping it.
Flooding comes it washes into the ditch, then the field tiles, then the creeks and on into the rivers. Water always finds a way. Industrial byproducts such as chemicals leaching into the waterways is and will always be not safe for all living things. It poison.
This concept is already in place and functioning with China….which moves it from a concept to a actuality? There are trade specialists who will welcome your call.
Peter, once again a brilliant idea. Iowa stinks from all the hog crap. Probably giving us all cancer, too. Send em all to mayheko.