Blaming the wrong folks

They are doing it again.
I truly believe that if the powers that be had their way, every type of pollution in the state of California could be blamed on agriculture.
From cows who fart too much to pollution from irrigation runoff, the finger has once again been pointed at the farmers and ranchers who grow our food and fiber.
I think I’ve figured out why. We are totally unwilling to give up our big Suburbans and Tahoes, despite the fact that gas is creeping up to $4 a gallon. The millions of cars that clog our highways have got to be putting the majority of goop in the air, not the farting cows and belching pigs.
The air quality folks have tried to go after the cars, but no one will let them. So they turned to the easiest scapegoats--the farmers. The dairymen have been regulated almost to death, and a lot of them are leaving California for other states where the atmosphere is more friendly towards ag.
So what, you say? Let them grow our food in Idaho or Wisconsin. Well, remember that agriculture alone brought more than $2 billion into the county last year. And that’s just the worth of the commodities. Analysts say that we should multiply that number by three in order to get the total impact on the county.
That’s $6 billion, folks. Do you really want to lose that? What will take it’s place? More Wal-Mart distribution centers? Think about it.