Over your shoulder

Being a farmer these days is almost like being in the kitchen with your annoying know-it-all aunt looking over your shoulder as you cook...did you add the salt?...make sure you don't add too much garlic, I can't eat that stuff...a little less sage and maybe more rosemary...
You've been cooking for years and quite enjoy it and your family enjoys it but she doesn't trust you to do it right. Even though she's eaten your cooking several times before and she hasn't gotten sick. 

I use this analogy because farmers these days have to farm like they are cooking with your aunt over their shoulder.  The farmer has been producing the same healthy goodness for years and now Auntie is checking up on what they are doing, making sure they don't add anything that might make her uncomfortable. 

There are no HORMONES in Canadian milk!  Farmers don't beat their animals.  Farmers don't spray herbicides and pesticides just because they feel like it...a) it's too expensive and b) they are just trying to save their crop from pests and disease so you don't eat bugs or molds in your fruit or vegetable.

There are many regulations within the agriculture food producing system to keep you safe that are strictly adhered to by farmers each and every day that coincide with their daily chores and management practices.   To say that your food is safe and secure, that you don't have to lean over the farmer's shoulder like your know-it-all Auntie, is something that farmers are quite proud of.  If you had a backyard garden and could provide carrots and potatoes for you family meals, you would feel the same pride that farmers feel when they are able to feed hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people from their fields and barns of produce and commodities.