Why You Should Care How Your Meat Is Raised

[Joanne98]

by Jim Goodman
I have farmed for 30 years, land that has been in my family since 1848. Farming has gotten pretty intensive; small farms with kids and dogs and sheep and chickens running around are mostly just a fond memory.

Back in the ’70s, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz urged farmers to plant commodity crops “fence row to fence row” and told us “adapt or die.” It was bad enough when USDA Secretary Ezra Taft Benson told us (in the ’50s) to “get big or get out,” but “adapt or die”?

No matter. American farmers were listening to these two guys because getting big and planting fence row to fence row became gospel. Farms, almost all of them, have become very specialized. Most function as part of the animal production chain, either housing and feeding cattle, pigs and poultry or growing the grain commodities (corn and soy) for all those animals to eat.

Commodity crop farms have gotten large, thousands of acres, and they generally plant corn one year and soy the next, which is pretty hard on the soil. Animals are often raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which characteristically confine large numbers of animals either in specialized buildings or outdoor feedlots. Animals may not have access to pasture, outdoors, fresh air or natural light.

Feed may be grown miles or states away from the CAFO, which makes the operations very fossil-fuel-intensive. Hauling manure long distances is not cost-effective since it is mostly water, so CAFO operators may find it difficult to get rid of the manure, which has become a liability. With manure unavailable locally, grain farmers buy commercial fertilizer, which is petroleum-based. Again, fossil-fuel-intensive. Hardly a sustainable system when compared to integrated small farms growing their own crops and recycling the manure.

Farming has evolved to this, it’s gotten big, it’s gotten very dependent on fossil fuel — and if you live next to a CAFO, it has gotten very smelly. The Centers for Disease Control notes that, if you work on or live near a CAFO, it has gotten potentially hazardous to your health as well.

Specialized manure-holding facilities are required, but due to the large volumes produced, heavy rain, snow, storage leaks or improper handling, CAFOs create a very real potential for big manure spills. Thousands of animals, millions of gallons of manure, and you could be asking for problems. According to the CDC, manure can contain pollutants such as antibiotics, pathogens, nitrates, pesticides, hormones, trace elements and heavy metals — none of them good, especially if they enter the drinking water.

CAFOs are convenient for large-scale production that looks to cut costs by packing maximum numbers of animals into minimal space, lowering labor costs and taking advantage of economies of scale. They are also great customers for the corporations that profit from selling fertilizer, crop chemicals, animal feed, hormones and drugs.

Contrary to what the “get big or get out” crowd would have us believe, CAFOs and industrial agriculture are not necessary to feed the world. Small farms are typically more efficient food producers, especially in developing countries where they farm their land more intensively and can achieve four times greater output per acre, while still farming in a sustainable manner.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/16/9660/

[flvegan]

1. CAFOs are also behind the wiping out of the Amazon.

Converting soy to animal protein = stupid.

[kestrel91316]

2. I just finished reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food", the followup to

"The Omnivore's Dilemma". He advises us to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants". And he's right, in a nutshell.

Don't eat processed foods. Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. And don't feed inappropriate crap to the food you eat.

We can solve a lot of health and environmental problems by following his advice. I highly recommend the book for anyone who gives a damn about their own health or the health of our farms.

[flvegan]

3. I'm reading that now.

It's a good read.

[bagimin]

4. I've been checking out grass fed beef ..

seems to be gaining in popularity. Former TV newsman Bill Curtis runs http://www.tallgrassbeef.com/. I've ye to try it.

[truedelphi]

5. I try to buy only local, range or grass fed beef

I rarely eat any pork because of my disdain for the pork industry.

I am verylu8cky that where I live there are still small farms, though each week another one is plowed under for the monocrop of grapes. <sigh>

[Enthusiast]

6. While I haven't read the book.

Subsidies for corporate type farms should be scaled back. Subsidies for family style small farms should be encouraged. This solves many pollution source and animal health issues.