Dear Friends,
Door to Freedom is back, furiously working on new projects.
We think that the MAGA and MAHA ideals fit right in with our efforts to improve the food and health of Americans, and repair America's disastrous agricultural system.
I hesitate to say too much about our strategies, as in order to succeed we will have to outsmart and outrun Big Ag, Big Food, and Big Chemical. But we have a great team and we are working hard: so that we can propose exactly the right, win-win solutions that will work for farmers, consumers and Mr. Trump's aspirations for America.
The general idea is to get the federal government off the backs of family farms, and assist small farmers to stanch the grievous loss of family farms.
Can you believe that 141,000 American farms have gone under in the past 5 years?
A more accurate recent accounting is provided by the Farm Bureau:
Between 2017 and 2022, the number of farms in the U.S. declined by 141,733 or 7%, according to USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, released on Feb. 13, 2024. Acres operated by farm operations during the same timeframe declined by 20.1 million (2.2%), a loss equivalent to an area about the size of Maine…
Farmers and ranchers currently face the highest production expenses on record, in addition to increasingly complex local, state and federal regulations and growing competition from lower-cost foreign markets. These dynamics shrink margins for producers and often more significantly impact farms in lower economic classes.
Excessive and inappropriate regulation has aided in the consolidation of the food industry, the loss of small farms and the degradation of our food supply. Door to Freedom explored some of these issues in our 2023 and 2024 symposia, titled "The Attack on Food and Farming, and How to Fight Back." Now we can actually do something about the problems that are keeping Americans sick and destroying rural communities. It is a tremendously exciting time!
What has taken us so long? Simply put, we did not know whether the Trump administration was going to make incremental, small changes in the current system, or bigger changes. Well, now we know: President Trump appears to be willing to make massive changes–which may be the only way to reinvigorate our tremendously complicated system of governance, clean up the complexity and serve the people.
Here is what he signed on Day 1 of his Presidency:
It is the policy of the executive branch to be prudent and financially responsible in the expenditure of funds, from both public and private sources, and to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people.
And so we are jumping in and dreaming big. Join us. (See how you can, below.)
Bird flu
The Trump administration is taking its responsibility seriously to come up with real solutions. I was thrilled to see that the USDA is not going to pursue vaccines as a solution to bird flu. [They have never worked for any avian flu and could make the problem worse.].
I was also gratified to see that the massive culling of chickens has ceased for the past two weeks. At the end of the Biden administration almost a million chickens were being killed (horribly and painfully) each day, in an impossible effort to eradicate bird flu. However, because the bird flu virus is found in the wild bird population, worldwide (and always has been, without harming most of the birds) it is impossible to eradicate. So you really need to learn to live with it. We don't have a choice. I will be offering advice on bird flu to the administration as the bird-cow flu epizootic evolves.
But the good news, which the media never tell you, is that not a single person has gotten sick from consuming the meat, eggs or dairy products from infected cows or poultry. So you can relax.
Don't rush off! We want to hear from you, our constituents, about what you think needs to be done to improve US agriculture and our food supply. We have created a form on the Door to Freedom website where you can tell us what you think needs improvement. If possible, give us the solution. And if you are really sharp, tell us which regulations should be revoked, amended or enacted.
Put your thinking cap on and start writing! This is everyone's opportunity to finally change the system!
Till next time,
Meryl Nass and the Door to Freedom team
