9 comments
Hello Melissa. I feel an obligation to hop on and comment about a couple things here. “Factory Farms” are feeding the world. The number of farmers in this world decreases every year because it is a brutal occupation. I am a farmer and am in NO WAY trying to hinder people or get rich. I am growing food and husbanding animals and it is very hard work subject to Mother Nature and the changing tides of uninformed opinion. Maybe you should buy a farm and grow animals the way you advocate for them to be grown for a few years and see if your opinions change. It is not sustainable or practical. We cannot feed the world with archaic farming practices. We are just trying our best. If you believe it is more healthy, you are entitled to your opinion , but please don’t pass judgement on those of us just trying our best. If we stop people starve.
I disagree with you Erica. Have you heard of Polyface farm? They raise pastured-poultry, grass-fed beef and use the rotation method which makes his farm more like an ecological system than conventional farming. I personally will only purchase grass fed, grass finished beef and pastured poultry. I wish more farmers would go back to this way of farming.
I would just like to say to Erica, “I get it”. Farming is hard work and a costly endeavour with very little financial return.
However, farming can be done sustainably and ethically. We decided to turn our 58 acre land into a beautiful place to raise beef and poultry in order to provide quality, grass-fed food to our family and our community. It is possible to do so without jamming the animals in small cages and feeding them junk.
We simply can’t afford to buy grass fed and/or organic meat.
It’s a known fact that factory farms do not take care of their animals. All they’re worried about is the money coming in quickly. We also know that there really isn’t any such thing as “grass fed” meat. In the end these animals are all killed to satisfy someone’s taste buds. These animals don’t want their throats slit. Just my opinion, eat what you want but there is no HUMANE meat.
PS. I don’t like you any less because you eat meat. Have a great day. I have to laugh at the comment stating that if there weren’t factory farms everyone would starve. GO VEGAN
Farming is incredibly hard work, and I have great respect for what farmers do. However I think Melissa has some great points above. I actually went pescatarian 6 months ago* because of my concern about animal antibiotics as well as my concern about the carbon footprint of animals such as cows and pigs. I would encourage everyone to read up on the realities of the meat industries and make enformed decisions of what you are putting into your body and where it fits in the food chain.
*Side note: I do miss bacon. But there are many other tasty plant foods I’ve been exploring in the meantime.
I will echo what Erica said. Less than 2% of the population in America grows or raises food. It is a hard job in every way. When new models of cell phones or laptops or cars come out, people go crazy at the new technology. And yet, when farming advances are made, people say new technology is evil, when in fact, no other industry other that animal agriculture has made such big strides towards improved sustainability.
Christie, multiple studies have shown that grass-finished beef is less sustainable than grain-finished beef. If all farmers went back to “that way of farming,” it would take much more time, money, land, water, and other resources to get food from the farm to your table. Here are two well-known studies: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/2/2/127/htm and https://www.beefresearch.org/CMDocs/BeefResearch/Sustainability_FactSheet_TopicBriefs/FS6_Grass-fed_vs_Grain-fed_Final.pdf
[…] you guys know, I am not one to be shy about farming related controversies and issues. So I know one issue some of my farmer friends might have with this is: will this REPLACE […]