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Farm groups lash out at TIME article

By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

DENVER, Colo. — An official with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) says TIME magazine writer Bryan Walsh ignored expert information provided by the NCBA – along with interviews with ranchers and beef industry leaders— when he produced the magazine’s August 31 cover story critical of virtually all aspects of modern food production.

Walsh’s piece, titled “Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food,” asserts that production agriculture feeds “an American addiction to meat that has contributed to an obesity epidemic currently afflicting more than two-thirds of the population.”
Agricultural practices are also blamed for air and water pollution, rural stench, and animal cruelty. In addition, Walsh wrote that “our food is increasingly bad for us, even dangerous” if consumed.
And that’s just on the first page.

The NCBA and other agricultural groups are incensed that such a one-sided attack on food production and farming would grace the cover of an esteemed publication like TIME magazine without offering opposing viewpoints from agriculture in the article.
“Bryan Walsh chose to ignore every word from our experts,” said Daren Williams, executive director of communications for the NCBA in Denver, when contacted by Farm World. 

“I spoke specifically with Bryan Walsh during the development of the article and we at the NCBA really bent over backwards to try and provide him with expert resources and information he could use to provide some balance to what ended up being a very one-sided look at the issues of modern food production.

Unfortunately, he chose to ignore evidence provided by our experts on the role of beef in a healthy diet and the environmental benefits of raising and grazing cattle,” he added.

Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, told Farm World that the author should have been more careful when assigning blame for many of the problems detailed in the article to production agriculture.

“I just think there was sort of an unfair tenor to (the article),” said Johnson.

“It suggested that the whole food system is somehow tainted.
I think that was not a fair reflection of the system as it exists. Certainly there are problems and room for improvement, but the whole system isn’t broken.”

Following the publication of the article, Walsh further angered many in agriculture when he appeared on AgriTalk radio and acknowledged that he had chosen not to include the facts and testimony provided by the NCBA and other ag groups in his writing. Furthermore, Walsh insisted, TIME encourages its writers to choose their story angle rather than present a balanced news story, and he was simply following the magazine’s requirements for writers.

“My jaw hit the floor as I listened to the interview,” said Williams. “(Walsh) unapologetically validated that he chose not to use our information because it did not represent his viewpoint. Frankly, I have great respect for journalists who can put aside personal
biases and write a report on issues with a balanced perspective. That’s not what happened in this case.”

Johnson said he took umbrage with Walsh’s assertion that the nation’s food system is largely responsible for obesity in America. “The last time I checked, it was the amount of food and the type of food you put in your mouth that kind of leads to those things,” Johnson said, laughing.

Williams was more direct on the issue of obesity.

“There are any number of studies showing that beef as a part of a balanced diet actually helps provide the fuel that our bodies need to prevent obesity and chronic diseases.

Williams also feels that TIME violated its readership’s trust by allowing the one-sided article to be presented as a presumably unbiased news article.

“One would expect to see various viewpoints articulated in the article,” he said. “This article was not couched as opinion.”

9/9/2009