Omnivore's Dilemma & Beef Flashcards
What is the omnivore’s dilemma?
- As an organism that eats both plants and animals, the variety of food the omnivore can eat is seemingly endless so the omnivore is saddled with the anxiety of deciding what one should eat.
- What is it were eating?
- Where did it come from?
- How did the food find its way to the table?
- How should we eat?
- What, in a true accounting, did it really cost?
The ecology of beef production
- Cows and other ruminants can do things we just can’t do. They have the most highly evolved digestive organ on the planet, called the rumen. And the rumen can digest grass. It takes grass, cellulose in grass, and turns it into protein, very nutritious protein.
- Land that is not good enough for agriculture grows grass and nothing else. For 10,000 years, the buffalo and now cows keep the rolling plains from becoming “the great American desert.” Turn low grade forage and convert it to a desirable product.
Industrial meat production in the US: standardization, fossil fuel consumption, quantity
- Today, cattle “growing” is not evolutionary sound. By six months old, a cow has seen its last blade of grass for the rest of its life.
- Beef production is built on speed. Corn makes cows grow much more quickly 14-16 months, instead of 4-5 years. Corn makes them get fat.
- Antibiotic use: Nobody knows exactly how many antibiotics we’re using in agriculture. The Union of Concerned Scientists did a study last year, and they found it was well over half the antibiotics supply go to animals. Antibiotics are used to treat animals, for growth promotion and prevent them from getting sick, because animals can’t digest the corn.
Cheapness at what costs?
- Health issues: Manure left on hides may contain strains of E. coli.If we ingest only 10 of those bacteria, they can kill us, because they release lethal toxins. Corn-fed beef produces lots of saturated fats associated with heart disease and other chronic health disease.
- Environmental issues: Corn growing relies on chemical fertilizer that is a fossil fuel product. It takes about 100 gallons of oil to grow a single animal. We exist in the same microbial environment as these animals and microbes are evolving to withstand antibiotics.
- Beef are fed corn, which is incredibly cheap. It costs about $2.25 for a bushel of corn, which is 50 pounds. The only reason the system survives is that the federal government gives farmers substantial subsidies. Federal payments “account for nearly half the income of the average Iowa corn farmer, and represent roughly a 1/4th of the $19 billion US taxpayers spend each year on payments to farmers.”
Is it safe?
- Since humans can potentially eat everything and anywhere, the dilemma is some foods can kill us or make us ill.
- This results in worries over food and what has been done to our food.
- Result of growth of a market economy and middle men inserted between producers and consumers
- Industrialization and globalization have completely transformed how food is grown, shipped, processed and sold. Increased fears dramatically.
- Food Scares often are backed and promoted by eminent scientists, doctors, and government officials.
- Establishment of policies that ensure food safety at all levels (i.e. production, marketing and consumption) now holds the highest priority as concerns about food safety increase.
- Consumer fears triggered by outbreaks, overuse of antibiotics and evidence of chemical residues such as dioxins in food.
- Measures are being undertaken in all European Union member countries through each country’s agricultural ministries. Labeling and the roles and structures of government agencies responsible for food safety. In addition, the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and recommended member countries to implement the system.
Animal cities
• Animal cities: feedlots where 35,000, 50,000, 100,000 animals are packed in 200 acres with a feed mill several stories high and polluted water, toxic wastes, novel and deadly pathogens lurk.
Issues of inspection and oversight
Test tube meat
Animal welfare, children and comparison with Andean Peru
Naylor versus Polyface
INDUSTRIAL vs. PASTORAL NAYLOR FARM POLYFACE FARM Annual species Perennial species Monoculture Polyculture Fossil fuel Solar energy Global market Local Market Specialized Diversified Mechanical Biological
Locovore/Local Food Markets
- Farmers’ markets–number of farmers markets registered with the USDA is 7,864. In 1994, there were 1,744.
- Cooperatives
- Restaurants
- A locavore is a person interested in eating food that is locally produced, not moved long distances to market.
GE Crops Big Food versus Sustainable Agriculture
• Farmers’ markets–number of farmers markets registered with the USDA is 7,864. In 1994, there were 1,744.
• Cooperatives
• Restaurants
• A locavore is a person interested in eating food that is locally produced, not moved long distances to market.
GE Crops Big Food versus Sustainable Agriculture
• Anti GE:
o Right to Know & Make informed choices
o Monsanto made Agent Orange, DuPont DDT
o Lots of unknowns
• Or Pro GE
o Technology needed to feed the world
o Use less pesticides
o Combat climate change—resilient plants that can survive heat waves & droughts.
o Solve Africa’s problems
• Genetic modification of plants and animals such as Mayan’s and tomatoes has been with us for a long time.
• Using recent technology, genetic transformation, transgenesis or genetic engineering (GE) is a more precise method of transforming plants and animals.
• GE technology has enabled plant varieties that are sturdy and utilize materials that do not harm the people and the environment.
• Only U.S. farmers have been able to reap the “benefits” of the technology in a more systematic far reaching manner. In 1999, GE seed boom – U.S. 74%, Argentina – 17%, and Canada – 10%.
• There has been a backlash against GE products brought about by NGOs and other environmental food activists to pressure governments (particularly in Europe) to ban GE products.
• Solution: Courageous leadership from policy makers in developing country to gain “independence” from the debate in Europe and the U.S. Secondly, to spur new investments in locally generated technology towards a sustainable food security.
Research and GE crops
- Not much research has been done that understands the long-term effects of GE seeds and crops.
- Agritech companies have veto power over independent researchers. To purchase genetically modified seeds, a customer must sign an agreement that limits what can be done with them. Often, only studies that the seed companies have approved ever see a peer-reviewed journal
What is the perfect meal?
- Everything on the menu must have been hunted, gathered, or grown by me.
- The menu should feature at least one representative of each edible kingdom: animal, vegetable, and fungus, as well as an edible mineral (the salt).
- Everything served must be in season and fresh. The meal would reflect not only the paces that supplied its ingredients, but a particular moment in time.
- No money may be spent on the meal, though already purchased items in the pantry could be deployed as needed
- The guest list is limited to those who helped me in my foraging and their significant others.
- I would cook the meal myself.
what are the critiques of the perfect meal?
- Requires potentially infinite amount of knowledge to know what is at the end of every fork.
- Requires a local network of familiarity.
- What about the most urgent moral problem with the organic ideal: how to feed the world’s population?
- Obstacles to main-stream are elitism and the 1960-70s’ socialist “counter-culture” that inspired a “counter-cuisine.”
- He focuses on what is before his eyes but neglects the macro perspective of the economist. He wants to make the costs of various foods transparent, but this is an unattainable ideal, given the interconnectedness of markets. Often the best ways to solve environmental problems are invisible and not available to the consumer in the supermarket aisle. We can tax or regulate offending activities, such as fertilizer runoff or the bad treatment of animals. But we cannot always tell how much environmental evil any given foodstuff contains.
