Welcome to Modern Agriculture!
As the mom of three young children, I watch more cartoons than I’d care to admit. Many of them include episodes related to agriculture. Sometimes they are accurate, sometimes they are a little off, and sometimes they are just plain wrong.
I can handle my kids watching an episode where popcorn was harvested, put in a silo, and then pops, blowing the top off the silo and raining down on everyone. We talk about how that doesn’t happen on farms in our world.
I can accept talking animals, knowing my kids understand that doesn’t happen in real life.
What I can’t accept is when a cartoon targeting my preschooler clearly takes a position on farming that is not only inaccurate but also designed to support one method of farming while criticizing another.
My boys were watching television when a new cartoon came on. It’s the story of five girls, each with unique skills they use to care for the planet.
Sounds great, right? I’m in agriculture, so taking care of the land and planet is important to me. As a woman, it’s nice to see a cartoon that has girls (they are to young to be called women) leading this charge.
Turns out, the show is not so great, at least if you are a farmer. In the first episode I saw, the girls were called to the aid of cows being forced to wear masks and tanks that captured the methane released when they burped. The villainous farmer made them do this so he could use the methane to power his farm. In his words, “burps are energy and energy is money.”
This same farmer, dressed in a suit and an ascot, shows up in quite a few episodes. In one, he is poisoning a stream with pesticides. In another, his chickens are pulling out their feathers because he forces them to go inside and lay their eggs in crowded cages. There’s the episode where he destroys the local vegetation, leaving the wildlife hungry. The reasons behind his treatment of the animals and land is always tied to money, and the show makes it clear that making money is all he cares about.
I understand the heroes in cartoons have rivals and enemies: Batman has the Joker. The Road Runner has Wile E. Coyote. PJ Masks has Romeo. Paw Patrol has Mayor Humdinger.
To me, this cartoon goes a step beyond heroes overcoming their enemy. Maybe it’s because we are farmers and this cartoon hits too close to home. Farmers are not the enemy. The way we farm is not villainous.
I’ve been on many cattle farms and have never seen a cow wearing a tank. I’ve read the Environmental Protection Agency’s report on greenhouse gases which clearly states that ALL of agriculture is responsible for only 9% of the emissions with livestock responsible for half of that.
In the chicken episode, the heroes convinced the farmer the birds would be happier laying eggs outside, not in cages, and he would make more money. The truth is there are different ways to raise egg-laying chickens, and animal welfare is important in all of them.
My sons may be too young to understand the cartoon they are watching is meant to teach them one way of farming is better than the other, but I’m not. It was a good reminder that I need to pay attention to what shows they watch. When that show comes on now, they know we turn the channel.