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American Food Production is Our National Security Trust June 29, 2007

By Julie Murphree

Yesterday’s defeat of the immigration reform bill in the Senate goes beyond an attempt to reform our immigration system and address the challenge of the often-quoted 12 million illegal immigrants now residing within our borders.

The immigration reform bill should have had people talking about food production security. Unlike a group of rogue countries having a lock on our energy supply where their unscrupulous control of oil supplies (if they so choose) would be a blow to our economy, if a bunch of controlling rogue countries are the main source of our food production and supply and they decide to cut off food supplies, the blow would be to our survival.

So many Americans take such a casual view of our food production in America that they can mock Homeland Security’s Michael Chertoff by sending him a head of lettuce because of one of his recent statements: “We’re living in a world in which lettuce and fruit is not being picked because we are enforcing the law.”

Such behavior discredits and cheapens the high-value endeavor of agriculture production in America. Maybe our food prices should be higher. They’ll get that way if our food supply tightens. Imagine paying $40 for one cantaloupe. They already do in Japan.

In conversation I even get, “Well I’m willing to pay more for my food, just keep the illegals out.” Yeah, right. Okay, farmers and ranchers will attempt to raise prices by a few percentage points. We’ll be yelled at for that too.

But no matter how raucous the debate has gotten, the simple fact is that our food production in America should not be used as a prop to mock someone’s weak statement or disregard the challenges of getting labor to harvest crops.

That head of lettuce sent to Chertoff was picked by someone that would do the job you and I won’t do. That head of lettuce feeds a nation of 300 million. That head of lettuce represents the bounty of this country. That head of lettuce needs to continue to grow on American soil. And last, that head of lettuce represents the success of the greatest country in all of the world.