AMI Urges State Agriculture Leaders and Rural America to Respond to Biased Time Magazine Cover Story
Friday, August 28, 2009(American Meat Institute)
AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle is
urging state agriculture commissioners,
secretaries and directors to contact the
editors of Time magazine to express their
disappointment with this week’s biased and
damaging Time magazine cover story,
“America’s Food Crisis and How to Fix
It,” by Bryan Walsh (http://bit.ly/ghO0s)
and to demand a balanced story written by an
unbiased reporter.
“I’m sure you
will agree this article makes a complete
mockery of the modern miracle that happens
every day in America’s agricultural sector
and completely distorts a range of issues,
including large-scale animal operations, food
safety, nutritional data, ‘the hidden
costs’ of corn, the use of antibiotics in
livestock, climate change and the virtues of
eating organic,” Boyle wrote in a letter sent
today to members of the National Association of
State Departments of
Agriculture.
Boyle noted that Time
magazine neglected to mention the number of
successes demonstrated by the efficient
agricultural system in the United States,
preferring instead to spin a one-sided yarn
that romanticizes about a return to peasant
agricultural production practices. Boyle
also noted that it should be no surprise to the
Editorial Board at Time that this story was
one-sided and biased, as the reporter they
commissioned to write this piece has written
other scathing articles about U.S. agriculture
and its exaggerated impact on climate
change. In addition, it is known that
industry, academia experts and feedlot
operators were interviewed by Walsh for the
piece, only having their comments
ignored.
“Given the amount of
time a story like this stays in circulation,
this article has the potential to have
long-term negative repercussions. I urge
you to contact the editors of Time magazine at
www.letters@time.com to express your
disappointment and demand a balanced story
written by an unbiased reporter. This article
is not only an insult to the accomplishments of
today’s American farmer, but to the
intelligence of Time readers, who certainly
deserve better,” Boyle concluded.
To
view a complete copy of Boyle’s letter in its
entirety, click here: (http://bit.ly/TAeqD)
In
addition to the letter, Boyle took AMI’s
opposition to the Time article to the airwaves
in a radio feed on the National Association of
Farm Broadcaster’s radio network, whose
audience includes rural Americans, meat
producers and packers, and farmers, whom this
article so errantly
demeans.
In the
segment, Boyle “encouraged all listeners,
both producers and consumers alike, to write to
Time magazine at http:///and express your
outrage at this one-sided cover story that
degrades an American way of life and our
bountiful food
supply.”
Within 12
hours, the radio spot aired on over two dozen
radio stations across the country.
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