Drones On the Farm Part 2: Rights and Expectations

I wrote last in Part 1 about a Kickstarter campaign to get drones to investigate farms. Here's a link to the main guy being interviewed about his plan. Mr. Potter actually comes across as more farm friendly than the host in that he only assumes farms are guilty until proven innocent where as she condemns them with zeal. For the purpose of the interview I'm pretty sure the phrase factory farm was interchangeable with animal cruelty.

They both agreed that the drone plan to investigate farms would circumvent the so-called ag gag law and that they have the right to see everything that occurs on farms using whatever technology is available.

Rights and Expectations

While we have the right to buy things, I'm not sure we have the right to do everything this campaign wants. On the other hand, I do think consumers have certain expectations. They have expectations that when they purchase a product or service that it will be produced at a certain moral and ethical level. Different things change their expectations, for example the worries that this Kickstarter campaign's backers have in that animal cruelty is happening on farms. That lowers their expectations of food and they are either more reluctant to purchase "common" food, thereby lowering its value, and/or more likely to purchase food they perceive, whether it actually is or not, to be closer to the expectations they want. Farmers markets, Whole Foods, and Chipotle come to mind for places that appeal to consumers' higher expectations.

Farmers, and the ag community, have to work to meet consumers' expectations. In a capitalistic society producers who make the products that consumers want at the right price survive. How are farmers meeting expectations? One way we are doing it in the dairy industry is through certification. We sell our milk through a cooperative called DFA. The processors that DFA sell our milk to have expectations on how it should be produced. DFA started a third party verified farm certification process called Gold Standard Dairy in order to prove the milk they sell meets a certain level of expectations. By doing so they raise the value of all their members' milk.

But this Kickstarter campaign thinks it has the right to come on farms and if farmers don't let them they must have something to hide. There are several reasons a farms might not allow visitors. Some don't allow them because visitors bring diseases with them that could infect the animals. Others worry about liability and lawsuits. For example, our county went without a farm for a farm day tour for several years because no one was willing to risk the liability.

Another reason might be simply that like the kid that is embarrassed that his room isn't clean enough for his mom, some farms might not think their farms are "nice enough" for company. I have to admit we have some weeds and rusty machinery around that I would hate to represent our farm in photos. Maybe some farmers are simply scared of being misrepresented by those whose only goal is to make the farmer look bad. No wonder they oppose the drones.

Regulations

Farms don't get a free pass, however, if they choose not to be open to the general public. As a grade A dairy farm we are inspected by state and federal inspectors. There is no warning when they will arrive to make sure all of our milking equipment is clean and in order. Larger farms have to meet more government regulations and can be inspected by multiple government departments. 

Regulations give us the expectations that businesses are operating at a certain set of standards. While I may not have the right to walk through the kitchen of my favorite restaurant to make sure everything meets my standards, I do have the assurances that it is inspected and has a health department score sheet hanging in public view. If it doesn't meet my expectations I can choose to eat somewhere else. 

Having choices is what the free market is all about. Look at the smartphone market. You can get a phone at various price levels that have varied features and operating systems. No one is telling  Apple or Samsung to make all phones identical and to one particular set of standards because "that's the way I think it should be." No, if you don't like the way one phone is made or works, then you, the consumer, can choose to buy something else. Just like you can choose to buy grass fed beef, free range eggs, or organic milk. 

Part 3: Family or Factory