The same holds for Chilton County cattleman Jimmy Parnell, who raises cattle on timberland that has been in his family since before the Civil War. Both men yearn to pass along their inheritance to future generations, but given the wide array of challenges facing livestock producers, they concede this won't be easy. For Debter, one of the biggest challenges is an increasingly hostile consumer public which views beef as unsafe and cattle farming as a threat to the environment. People don't realize how safe our food supply is whether it's beef or produce. This point was driven home to Debter during a recent study tour of Washington State taken with other Alabamians employed in agriculture.
Farmers are conservationists by nature.
That was the way I was raised. The speaker making the most impression on Debter during the tour was an environmentalist adamantly opposed to timber harvesting. Listening to the speaker, Debter says, drove home the fact many opponents of farming aren't willing to compromise. Another pressing concern for cattle producers is fluctuating consumer demand for beef. But with beef, we're either oversupplied or undersupplied.