Organic farmer and US Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) appears to have started a food fight…
“Coexistence is not how Mother Nature works…coexistence is a line that agribusiness supports.”
Those are the words of Sen. Tester at the Organic Trade Association luncheon in mid-April where he also threw some jabs at land-grant colleges (like Montana State University), and appeared to blame the food industry as he cited concerns over his own weight.
Photo below courtesy Sen. Tester’s official website. Photo is from another unrelated event.
AgWeek.com reports:
Tester said he thinks farmers follow what the land-grant colleges tell them to do, and the land-grants have not taken a proper interest in organics.
Noting that the country spends a lot of money on health care and that he is 100 pounds overweight, Tester said, “Is food medicine, or something that makes us sick? Those research projects need to be done.”
Of course, the natural follow-up would be…is the Senator suggesting his organic products might be to blame?
It’s one thing to tout the perceived benefits of your organic farm, it’s quite another to appear to be bashing everyone else’s farm in the process.