March 17, 1997

They’re What’s For Dinner

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One of the fun facts from McDonald’s Web site reads:

“Did you know…

…that 85 million pounds of beef will be used in Arch Deluxe burgers in the first year.”

According to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s March 1997 Cattle and Beef Industry Statistics, average beef production per cow is 585 pounds. At this rate, 145,299 cows would be required to produce 85 million pounds of beef.

And that may be a conservative estimate.

According to the Texas Beef Council, a 1200 pound steer yields 490 pounds of lean meat. At this rate, it would take 173,469 steers to produce 85 million pounds of beef.

Now that’s something to brag about….

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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