family farms

Editor of the Reformer:

I believe losing family farms affects people, because people who only buy from family farms are having trouble getting their food and supplies because of factory farms. My connection to this, is that, I live on a family farm and trust me, it can be hard, but we work through problems together. That’s what makes us a family, it keeps us close together. I’ve lived on a family farm my whole life, there can be hundreds of problems, these problems are not easy to get through. Some problems that come with family farming are, baby calves dying in the winter, or chickens getting attacked by coyotes.

According to, "The amount of family farms has dropped from 6.8 million, to 3.3 million in 2010. During that same period, the amount of land declined by less than 13 percent." We’re losing a lot of family farms due to bigger farms that have enough money to buy automatic water bowl’s, gutters, or industrial fans for the cows in the summer.

If we don’t do something, in about 16 years there won’t be any family farms left. According to ASPCA, "Small family farms have a lot of problems selling animals for meat, and dairy products because of factory farms." Also, they have a hard time paying bills. This is sometimes due to factory farms, because factory farms get to sell to stores and most of the time family farms only get to sell to people who come to us, like close friends, or relatives.


I know family farms have a hard time selling animals, and products like eggs, milk, syrup, and vegetables. It is hard to compete with factory farms because they have small prices but large amounts of profit each week. According To DoSomething, "Family farms over the last 50 years has dropped. Family farms are disappearing right now because profits are low due to factory farms. Factory farms are taking over family farms.

According to ASPCA, "Two out of every three farm animals are factory farmed." According to ASPCA, "Worldwide, about 70 billion farm animals are factory farmed." Also, according to ASPCA, "In a factory farm, animals are fed huge amounts of pesticides, and antibiotics, which can remain in their body and are passed on to humans who eat them, creating serious health issues." If you went to a factory farm right now and pet an animal, they would probably be shy or run away, because they don’t know what love is. Family farms have better quality food, no preservatives, and the animals are well taken care of.

Without people buying produce and milk or eggs from family farms, they can’t stay in business. For example, people with farm stands might have a cash box that farmers trust people to grab what they need, and pay the right amount for it, and put the money in the box. Sometimes people just try to steal the box and take the money and then the farmers won’t get the money they deserve.

People don’t think losing family farms is a big issue because there are bigger farms that make up 98 percent of the food supply, so people who get their food from smaller farms are the only ones who want to help this matter. I think we need to have more people buy from family farms, and maybe they won’t keep disappearing. It just may help enough to save a couple of these family farms.

I think soon we won’t have family farms and soon every farm animal will be neglected and tortured unless we help to solve this problem. Some people say they don’t notice family farms disappearing, but it’s happening right in front of their eyes.

Another problem is small family farms can’t sell their animals or equipment because people think they’re asking too much money for it. They need more money and help from the federal government, but if you look at how much bigger corporations ask for and receive from the government, the smaller farms are not asking much.

Help us. You can go to a small farm and maybe buy some vegetables, meat, milk and eggs, that you would otherwise get from the store. They would appreciate it if you would support them. Mention to your grocery store to buy from family farms. All you have to do to see what I’m talking about is to go to and type in factory farms. To help, go to a family farm and buy some of their meat and taste it, its less chewier and tough because they’re treated well and get fed vitamins.

By reading this, I hope you understand that this is a big issue and we need your help. I believe we are a strong community, and if we work together, we can stop our family farms from becoming obsolete. Thank you for helping family farms, they appreciate it, and I do too.

Olivia Rhodes,

Academy School, April 21

Even children
get cancer

Editor of the Reformer:

It’s hard to believe that cancer is the second most common cause of deaths in the U.S. Cancer is very bad and it can spread through your body. According to the American Cancer Society, "About 580,350 people died from cancer in 2013." The reason I chose this topic is, because my 15-year-old cousin died of lung and liver cancer on Nov. 12, 2013.

A lot of people die from cancer each year and more people should try to put more money towards researching cancer. I also read on the American Cancer Society website, "Cancer remains the second most common cause of deaths in the U.S accounting for nearly one out of every four deaths." The American Cancer Society also said, "About 1,660,290 new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed in 2013."

Cancer is a name for many diseases that can affect anyone at any age and scientists still haven’t found a cure for most types of cancers.

According to National Cancer Institute, "Cancer is not just one disease but many diseases. There are more than one-hundred types of cancer." There are lots of kinds of cancer such as, breast cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, skin cancer etc.

According to Everyday Health, "Skin cancer is affecting more than one million people a year, skin cancer can form on skin cells on any part of your body." Skin cancer is very common kind of cancer along with lung and liver cancer. Everyday Health also wrote "Roughly 219,440 cases of lung cancer were diagnosed in 2009." Many people have been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 and the numbers are going up each year. I read off of the National Cancer Institute website, "Breast cancer: This type of cancer affected 194,280 people in 2009." Breast cancer is also a very common kind of cancer that affected a lot of people in 2009 but it is affecting more and more people each year. Cancer is way more common than most people think.

You may think that not many people have cancer and the money towards it should be spent on more common diseases. But, 50,000 kids are fighting cancer today. You may also say that there are not that many kinds of cancer and not many people have to worry about getting cancer. Maybe you thought there are less and less people getting cancer each year. If you do, you are incorrect. Instead, each year the numbers of people getting cancer are getting larger. 577,190 deaths from cancer were projected to occur in the United States in 2012. In 2013 The American Cancer Society projected 580,350 deaths were to occur in the U.S because they knew, instead of the numbers of cases getting smaller they were going to get larger.

To help this problem more people could get involved in trying to raise money to support cancer research. To make sure this problem gets help people could avoid things that might cause cancer such as, smoking, too much sun exposure, and alcohol. Instead of the numbers of people with cancer decreasing each year, they are increasing. To lower the numbers we could put more money into finding a cure for cancer, and make sure everyone that has cancer has a chance to be cured. Another way to help is, people could try to donate money to the American Cancer Society.

I hope from reading this you have learned how deadly a disease cancer is, and some things you can do to prevent you, or the people around you from getting cancer. I believe that if more people get involved in donating money towards organizations that research cancer, instead of more, and more people dying of cancer there will be less because they could find a cure for other kinds of cancer. Thanks for reading my letter. I hope you can donate to organizations that raise awareness, or research cancer.

Savanna Aither,

Academy School, April 21