New Vermont and Feed Corn

As far back as 2015, the USNA State of Vermont had been one of the first governments to outlaw the use of corn syrup and corn as a component of processed foods. The Vermont state government also mounted a campaign to get its citizens to eliminate corn-fed beef and pork from their diets, replacing it with free-range animals and game from the carefully controlled deer, antelope, and moose herd, as well as wild boar and bear that roamed the mountains and abandoned hill farms of what is now interior New Vermont.

Nevertheless, there is some feed corn grown in New Vermont, organically of course, for the oxen and draught horses used for transporting goods throughout the region, as well as winter feed for the large herds of dairy and wool-producing animals that provide milk, cheese, and yogurt for its citizens and have made New Vermont wool sought after throughout the world. The males of these same animals provide the only non-game source of red meat eaten by New Vermonters, most of whose protein comes from fish (grown on fish-farms maintained by almost every community in the state), chickens (both free-range birds explicitly raised for meat and hens whose egg laying efficiency has dropped off), and, for special occasions, pork from pigs raised exclusively on slops from community food preservation cooperatives.

What is not generally known outside of New Vermont is that there exist secret herds of beef cattle and corn-fed hogs, which are sold on the black market to wealthy individuals both inside New Vermont and in other states and countries. Although unconfirmed, rumor has it that these herds are owned and operated by an organized crime family with members strategically placed in many countries throughout the world.