Semiotics: Commerce: Brilliant satirical mockery of mega-meat biz ("agri-corporations")

This entry is presented mainly because of its savagely brilliant portrayal of how cows, pigs, chickens, and many other species of domesticated animals are raised in our postmodern world by our advanced capitalist mega-corps. You have to have Flash to view the live animation. As a long time supporter of an association of family-farm owners in Ontario, one of the two unions legally representataive of family farmers in Ontario, the one which is of Christian confession and practice to the best of its ability; I don't mind that the producers of this animated semiotic work of artful propaganda have gone after the Big Boys in the meat industry, but if you have a stock portfolio stuffed with shares from the big meat-corporations (agri-corps), you'll probably have a very difficult time at viewing this work.

Congrats to FreeRangeGraphics. There's no sign I could see of any direct connection with PETA, an organization I abominate and to which any affiliation with the aforementioned on the part of FreeRange would probably (dis)colour my perception of the work I am praising in the absence of any contra-info. Ah, the fraility of human perception and the function of prejudice however honestly come by!

Another page of the site summarizes: "the rapid disappearance of small family farms has not occurred because large industrial operations are more efficient; it is the result of the domination of the agri-food market by a small number of huge corporations able to manipulate market prices paid to farmers, and of government policies that favor the interests of corporate agribusiness over those of farmers and consumers." A technical note for agricultural-economics theory: the writer of the preceding note distinguishes three sizes of business in the agri-field - 1.) small family farms; mid-size farms (either family-owned-and-operated, or otherwise), a category which is assumed but not stated explicitly; and 3.) huge corporate agribusinesses.

The question of the mid-size farms/businesses is the important zone where arise the empirical crux-questions of greater efficiency and roles of scales of magnitude in the creation of more food commodities by fewer human workers per unit produced. I'm proud to say that the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) researches all these parameters carefully with a research staff put in place by the 4,000 family farms (usually married couples - so that's approaching 8,000 souls), but this my favourite org in field is not listed in the Canadian resources or the Ontario resources section of the FreeRangeGraphics website. It's uncertain whether FRG actually meets its own criteria, because its list of orgs conform to an additional ideological framework than the one acknowledged, and my favourite CFFO is on that prejudiced basis silently erased from the list . Another case of neutralist Humanist bigotry, is my reading. Oops! deep into a site listed on the Meatrix-FreeRangeGraphics site, I did find at last a mention of CFFO on a list of friendlies of good report. Okay, I'm not so p-ss-d off now. Quote unquote "Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario > Including policy statements on Intensive Livestock Operations and on the Nutrient Management Act (2002)." A really great organization; click it up!

Thanks to Citizens for the Environment and Future in Eastern Ontario for listing CFFO, and a Hat Tip to Andrea of Porcelain Philes for carrying the Meatrix visual and FreeRangeGraphics portal that Meatrix matrix provides. - Owlb