cash in one’s chips up against the biggest of the prominent — three chief executive officer from three of the largest ag and food - system corporations — has got to be a small like confront your high - school bully headway - on . Yet here goes Stephen Bartlett ( who I have it off through his oeuvre withSustainable Agriculture of Louisville ) , Andrew Kang Bartlett and David ( Bartlett ) Abazs , asking the CEO of Monsanto ( Hugh Grant ) , Tyson ( Donnie Smith ) and Walmart ( Doug McMillon ) to have a friendly solid food and ag debate .
TheBartlett Brotherssent aletterto the CEO on Dec. 21 , 2014 , bid them to engage in a national Future of Food debate online . “ Surely , you have nothing to revere in debating the Bartlett Brothers , since we are simple farmers , gardeners , community organizers and intellectual nourishment justice advocates and have never scat a Fortune 500 corporation as each of you are doing , ” the letter says .
It ’s been a month , though , and the Bartlett Brothers have n’t hear a countersign since .
peradventure three middle - class husbandman and food - justice workers / militant are not the most likely campaigner to debate the leaders of company grossing $ 522.36 billion in net sales in 2013 . As the hunting expedition web log points out , the three chief operating officer realize 400 time more than the three brothers combined . At the same time , what have they got to lose ?
argumentation Amongst Yourselves
If the Bartlett Brothers do not hear back from the CEO — and it kind of look like they won’t — by Jan 31 , they ’re going to go ahead and send their responses to the debate questions . There’sone question per monthfor the whole class . At this stage , the disputation is a little one - sided , as they ’re answer their own questions , but if the CEOs posed their own set of questions , the brothers would respond to those , too .
Each of the enquiry pits Big Ag against agroecological farming . If you read the13 food and farm predictionsposted on The News Hog web log before this calendar month , you might remember that my prevision was further polarisation between food and farm community of interests — the us versus them . I then aver what we need is for all aspects of the agricultural community to be coming together to render true , unbiassed didactics to the public about solid food production and its effects on the public . While the Bartlett Brothers ’ questions foreground this divide , the word to come out of them might propose some of the public education we require .
The first question up for public debate : Is Big Ag or agroecological agriculture better for kinsperson husbandman ? If the CEOs turn down the debate invitation — or decline to respond altogether — the Bartlett Brothers will present their own thoughts as well as post the corporations ’ public stances on the subject .
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