Reply #9: It's not just lazy journalism.......

[destes]

Too many "news" people simply know nothing about agriculture. It doesn't take a genius to figure that fewer cows equals less dairy products and more expensive dairy products. When it comes to unit prices for the commodities, the producer(farmer) NEVER gets the same percent of increase as the retailer when prices go up and ALWAYS gets the biggest decrease of the two when there is a downturn. It's the same with corn, wheat, soy beans, beef, cotton or pork.

By far, MOST of the nation's agricultural acres are dedicated to one of those crops. Farmers are quitting and the land is used by corporate farms. This trend, which dramatically accelerated during Reagan/Bush, is a fundamental national security issue. But from the news, one would presume that the profitability of grocery chains was the main concern.

"Journalists" do us no service when they fail to explain the complexities. They do an active dis-service when they bandy terms like "government-mandated ceilings" or government price supports" without definition.