Eco Farm Buzzz

Talk talk talk. Everybody came home from Eco Farm a bit in awe. Joe had wider eyes and Alex only said, "I gotta hit the books". By the sounds of it they met a lot of smart people over there.

Hallie, a veteran conference-goer, talked about the heated debate between three well-known farmers, one of which was the CEO of Stonyfields dairy. All were talented public speakers and she said the audience was totally fired up as the three spent a good hour jabbing at each other in their discussions. They talked about such heated issues as: Is small the only beautiful? and, can organics really work on a large scale? 

If only Hallie hadn't mentioned that discussion maybe I wouldn't have those questions swirling around in my head so often. But to complicate matters even more, at lunch a few days ago Judith also brought up one of the workshops she had been to. It was a talk by a woman who discussed the mounting issue of wolves being reintroduced in Montana.

Even a few days ago if anyone had asked me whether or not I was in agreement with the reintroduction of an endangered species I would have said yes without thinking twice, but hearing her talk more I found myself once again in a bit of a pickle:

On the one hand there are the Greenpeacers working eagerly to get more and more wolves brought to rural Montana. At the same time, sheep farmers who have lived in those areas for many years are finding that the wolf population is thriving, at the expense of their flocks.

Here we find ourselves in a sticky situation. Who is in the right? The farmers have built their lives around these sheep and all of a sudden they are being attacked from all sides, with very little help from anybody because everyone is busy trying to bring in more wolves. Everybody says more wolves! don't kill the wolves!, but what can you do when they are killing your livelihood? Driven to an end, some farmers are now even illegally shooting wolves without saying anything. In a matter of years, they have been turned into wolf-killing criminals. 

Having spent a little while on farms now I can more easily understand the farmers' frustration. But at the same time, we must realize that the wolves were really there first, it is us who has invaded their turf. But now, who should move? Will we ever find a happy medium?