Fake News in Agriculture

Believe it or not, fake news exists around agriculture, just as it does around politics and other topics. The purpose of this post is to help you spot fake news as it pertains to the folks who grow your food and fiber. There are certain obvious ways to tell, and I'll explain these briefly below.

1) Talk to Farmers, not Activists

This is probably the most important tip, in my opinion. The fight for the right to tell their story properly is important to farmers. Activist groups such as PETA, the HSUS, Greenpeace, and the March Against Monsanto will do or say anything to make sure you listen to them, even if it's false or not entirely accurate. And if that means they get to throw farmers under the bus and ruin their reputation, even better. In addition, most of them have literally no idea how farming production systems work. In the case of GMOs, they rail against farmers who use pesticide resistant crops, but what they don't realize is that organic crops use pesticides, too, and organic pesticides are at least as toxic, if not more toxic, as conventional pesticides. In fact, half of organic pesticides were found to be carcinogenic, the exact proportion of conventional pesticides that is carcinogenic. It also takes larger concentrations of organic pesticides to have the same pest protecting effects as synthetic pesticides.
Just because something is organic does not mean it's healthy, and if someone tells you this is true, it's fake news. Hydrogen Cyanide (HCN) is organic, and yet it's extremely toxic. In the case of animal agriculture, there are numerous things I could harp on, but this is one of them:

Uh, no. Fake news. Pulling calves is not a "reason to go vegan." This post is technically factual, because anyone who breeds cattle will have to pull a calf at some point. It's fake news because the connotation of this post is negative. This looks and sounds extremely cruel and unnecessary to Joe Smith who lives in downtown L.A. and works at Starbucks. What Joe doesn't realize, however, is that if farmers didn't do this for cows with dystocia (difficulty calving due to high birth weight of the calf or small pelvic area in the cow), not only would the calf die, but the cow would probably also die of sepsis or internal bleeding. Does PETA tell you this side of the story? Of course not. That would mean admitting that farmers actually care about their animals enough to help prevent them from dying an extremely painful death. Conclusion? This post is fake news. It could easily be debunked by literally anyone who has a clue about livestock. The bottom line is that you should always get your information from the people who actually grow food, not from people who blog for a living.

2) If it Disagrees with the Scientific Consensus, it's Probably Fake News.

This one should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately, there are millions of people who will believe internet bloggers like Food Babe and Freelee the Banana Girl over reputable sources like peer-reviewed journals, the FDA, the USDA, and staff with PhD's at accredited research universities. No sane person questions whether the Earth is round, and yet there are still conspiracy theorists who think the Earth is flat. In agriculture, there are countless sources that say GMOs are safe, and yet many people still think Monsanto is trying to kill them. This is fake news. Think about it. Farmers feed their families and themselves the same crops they grow. Why would they do this if GMOs were somehow poisonous? The key to spotting this type of fake news is to see if they cite any sources. If they do, see what sources they're using. If they cite PETA or Mercy for Animals, it's probably fake news. It they cite the USDA or an accredited research university such as Texas A&M, it's probably true. If you'll notice, in all my scientific-type blogs, I cite good sources, even if the information I'm presenting was something I learned in one of my college courses in animal science. Citing someone else's unfounded opinion doesn't make what you're saying true. There is an exception for citing sources, however. If enough experts accept a certain fact to be true to the extent that nearly everyone considers it to be true, it's probably true. For example, the scientific consensus is that the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body. This is true because there's overwhelming evidence that it's true and nearly all experts know it to be true. So I don't have to cite a source when I inform you that the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body. I also consider the fact that GMOs are safe to be the scientific consensus, since pretty much all scientists consider them safe. The opposition, if you've ever noticed, comes from people with degrees from Google University, who can't cite credible, scientific sources (Note: David Wolfe and Food Babe aren't credible sources) to back up their claims. The conclusion? They're spreading Fake News.

3) If their Best Defense is a Personal Story that You Can't Verify, it's Probably Fake News.

"But my brother's cousin's uncle's dog ate a treat containing GMO chicken and then he died!"

Uh, no. Problem number one: No source cited. How do you know it was a GMO that killed the dog? Did you have your vet do a necropsy on the dog? What were its symptoms?  Problem number two: there's no such thing as a GMO chicken.

Here I am citing my sources like a good, little researcher, even though I shouldn't have to. Click here.

You laugh, but this sort of "evidence" is quite common online. Exhibit A (Prepare to cringe if you're scientifically literate):

At least Dominic has his wits about him. You go, Dominic!

Yeesh. Those comments make me want to throw up. Note that A) none of these people are farmers, B) they all appear to be from 1st world countries, C) none of them cited evidence or said anything remotely scientifically credible. Also, I know I warned you guys against this, but it's time for a personal story. Fun fact: I didn't get the flu shot this year, and you'll never guess what happened. I got the flu! Another Fun Fact: Of all the years where I did get the flu shot, I never got the flu. Correlation doesn't equal causation, but it does indicate that you should probably do further studies to see if there's a possible link. That entire thread is fake news. Here's what scientists say:

Conclusion? Listen to the experts, not the guy who lost his brother's cousin's uncle's dog to poisoning from GMO chicken.

What You Should Take Away:

Telling the truth from Fake News when it comes to agriculture really is as easy as 1, 2, 3! the main idea of this entire blog post is that you ALWAYS need to check where your information comes from. If it comes from activists with an agenda, it's probably Fake News. If it disagrees with science or is just a personal story, it's Fake News. And if you see it, you CAN report it. for instance, Facebook now allows you to report Fake News. I only hope other social media outlets allow this, because Fake News is primarily spread by social media and internet forums, because in those settings, there's less pressure to provide proof. But you, the educated consumer, can provide proof. I hope you do, and I hope you do it aggressively. Fight back, but not for the benefit of the deluded people who believe this. Do it for the undecided. The people who think GMOs and animal agriculture are bad because of what they saw on the internet, but aren't quite sure why. Do it for the concerned single mother who pays double what she should be paying for food because she thinks GMOs are bad and only buys organic, but isn't quite sure why, and doesn't want to hurt her children. Do it for the starving children in third world countries who can't get the food they need from the U.N. because Greenpeace lobbyists convinced the U.N. that GMOs were poisonous. Together, we can make a difference. This stuff matters, guys. It's time for the world to wake up!





I'm a full-time college student at Texas A&M University, where I'm in the process of getting my Animal Science degree, with eventual aspirations to go to law school and work as a consulting lawyer for agriculture corporations. I grew up around animals, and currently manage an operation that breeds show-quality boer goats for 4H and FFA exhibitors. My family also raises commercial cattle in south Texas.