Producers do not deserve to be attacked
It was a mistake to print the opinions of Olam founder Sunny Verghese in the story “Modern Agriculture Must Reinvent” on the front page of the Oct. 27 Western Producer.
Your readers are hardworking agricultural producers, yet your front page article tells us, “we cannot continue to produce and consume foods the way we are doing now because it will destroy the planet.”
Verghese attacks the ranching and livestock industries, telling farmers and ranchers “the problem is too much land is devoted to producing livestock. This has to change.” He had no solution to offer other than forcing people to eat more plant-based protein, which he admits does not taste good.
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God designed our bodies and all the amazing foods we grow, raise and eat. Yet Mr. Verghese is hopeful for a scientific breakthrough so we can all be forced to eat lab-produced proteins while saving the planet. The suggestion is an insult to the farmers who feed the world, who are the most innovative and practical souls on Earth.
My in-laws have jokingly called your publication the Western Depresser for years. It is truly depressing that when I read the front page, I am told that my livelihood and passion, agriculture as we know it, is destroying the planet. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Trish Boese,
Linden, Alta.
