Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlatan
For my money, there are two things that need to happen that can make things better:
1) The industrialization of animal husbandry needs to change (if not stop). Battery hens, cattle farms, etc are not good for the animals and not good for the end product, to the point that many of the issues we've had with e-coli, etc. are a direct result of the processes we use to bring food to the table.
2) People need to get involved and closer to the animals they eat. People should learn where their food comes from. They should get up close and personal with the rearing of their food and the slaughter of their food. I don't mean to suggest that everyone becomes a farmer but they should be more directly exposed so that meat is not just something in a Styrofoam package at the supermarket.
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I think the industrialized food industry is too entrenched to make any meaningful change. Most processed food has some kind of meat and/or dairy in it, and a lot of that has to do with how the system is set up. I'm referring mostly to subsidies and "marketable byproducts."
The challenge within this system is that it's dysfunctional from the ground up. You have a heavily subsidized meat and dairy industry that benefits from artificially cheap foodstuffs. On top of that, these industries benefit from any grain and legume subsidies that relate to their feed. This "double dipping" makes for a much cheaper food product, making it much more affordable to make one's diet up with meat and dairy (think beyond milk and into cheese, ice cream, yogurt, etc.).
So cheaper foodstuffs make for greater demand. This is what the subsidies are supposed to do, and it works. The dairy industry is huge. But it doesn't stop with milk: it's also the prime source of veal.
This is the problem with a highly industrialized system. They maximize their profits through certain practices. Dairy farmers sell their male calves for veal, while selling their milk producers for meat when they're done with them. Even so-called humane farms that go for as long as 14 or 15 years before selling their cows for meat are doing so some 5 or 10 years before the cow's natural lifespan. Some operations sell off their cows after 3 years, while most have done so after 7 years.
I haven't yet talked about chickens, but let me just say it probably sucks to be born male as well.
The problem is, in this respect, is that we have a system where consumers are buying one thing and essentially supporting another. Even so-called "lacto-ovo" vegetarians are supporting an industry that operates on the assumption that it's expected to sell male calves for veal, sell female cows for slaughter before the midway point of her lifespan, and destroy male chicks as an unnecessary expense.
Unless a lacto-ovo vegetarian can get a guarantee from their sources that these things don't happen, they are likely failing on the moral front regarding animal welfare. Even if you're not a vegetarian, I'm not sure how many are aware of or are ultimately okay with the idea of these practices in principle.
I have no answers, unfortunately. Only information, only questions.