Happy Farms?

In recent years the movie "Food Inc." exposed where much of American meat came from. It showed the public where our chicken, beef, and pork came from and it was appalling. The sunny idea of "farm raised" animals was shattered by the cold, hard facts presented in "Food Inc.". The free range chicken and the farm raised beef that we buy in the supermarket often did not live the same life that the "free range" and "farm raised" animals we picture.

Our perception on where our meat comes from was just as distorted as our perception on where our fruits and vegetables come from. American growers are now "painfully aware that there are not enough U.S. born citizens and legal immigrants to do all the labor intensive work they require" (Wall Street Journal) and this is the reason for the 60 to 70 percent of illegal immigrants supporting our agriculture industry. A shocking percentage, given the public support for crack down on illegal immigrants.

Most people do not know where their produce comes from and in my opinion it is because of story book that later turn into interactive games such as "Farmville" and "Happy Farm". Both games paint a picture of a happy farm with happy animals and in both games there are no workers featured harvesting fields. I find the fact the people still want to believe America is made up of millions of little farmers with little farms that safely and humanely supply our meat and produce so interesting. It is not true yet people still want to believe that games like this and labels that say "farm raised" or "free range" are an indication of our farming industry.

Why do you think people feel more comfortable believing that our farming industry looks like "Farmville" or "Happy Farm"?