Cattle Farming Safe For All Humanity

An arising food category in America is anything organic. Over the years, several local grocery stores organic section is rapidly increasing. Michael Pollan, who wrote Omnivore's Dilemma, is a New York Times bestselling author. Pollan stated, “Forty years ago there was no such category as ‘organic’ food. Today it is a $20-billion business- the fastest growing part of the food industry.” (112) With organic farming becoming more common, there are many changes being made that are resulting in significant outcomes. One of the substantial changes while using organic farming is the improved treatment and health of animals. Further knowledge and awareness of the importance on how organic farming is better for the lives of animals, as well as our health is needed. Gaining more education on animals lives with organic farming, will potentially lead organic food becoming the most popular because of its remarkable outcomes.

According to Pollan, the reality of organic food chain is largely inaccurately reported. “Today it takes between 7 and 10 calories of fossil fuel energy to deliver one calorie of food to an American plate " (Pollan 238). For example, although supermarket produce and goods may have the label of organic, it has been shipped all around the country in vehicles powered by fossil fuels. Many literary critics focus their reports on some small and non-representative organic farms which follow the organic ideal, while making the public believe such is the reality of all the farms producing organic food. Also, Pollan argues that USDA must be responsible for the degradation of the organic food chain by setting weak standards on the definition of organic. For example, the USDA rules that dairy cows must have access to pasture, but such a standard is so vague that many organic farms only keep a tiny and nominal pasture in order to label their products as organic. Also, the large companies operate in industrializedabel their product as organic as long as they meet the vague standards set up by the USDA but such industrial organic food does not resemble what organic originally means. Although small farms often come closer to the ideal and are even more productive acre-for-acre than their large-scale

Their welfare is not stipulated in any of the rules of organic farming and most websites/books do not really talk about the workers when it comes to organic farming. Since animals are said to be treated “ethically” (although now that is also debatable due to the corporation takeover of organic farming), people think of organic and local as a better food medium even though this is not the case. This truly shows the invisibility of the workers and it also demonstrates how agriculture corporations do everything to allow for that invisibility to remain constant. In that way, the treatment of their workers do not have to be seen by the general public and the consumers can feel better about eating in a more ethical manner (me

Even though the dairy cows seem to be well taken care of based on their healthier diets and I am sure the chickens are rotated. Something about the fact that the cows are hooked up to machines, instead of being handled by people and that the chickens never actually get to roam around, like I feel they were intended to bothers me. This may come from me being an animal lover or my distaste for large corporations. Although I have pondered this thought many times since reading the chapter, I am still unsure what makes me so uncomfortable. I much more enjoyed reading about the small organic farms. Even though organic food is more expensive, it usually tastes better, and is better for our health. As well as being better for the environment. These organic farms use manure and other natural methods instead of toxic pesticides. Pollan’s statements throughout the chapter flowed nicely and kept me thinking that the next time I am shopping I wanted to know where the productions is based out of because I would much rather purchase from a small organic farm rather than large scale.

A major criticism of organic foods is the obvious price increase included with purchasing organic products. While there are numerous reasons for the price premium associated with organic foods, the most obvious reasons are the cost of organic supplies such as feed and fertilizer to make a profit. George Siemon, CEO of the Organic Valley co-op, states that “A ton of organic cattle feed can cost from $350 to $400 a ton versus $220 or less for a ton of conventional feed,” illustrating a major price difference for simply fertilizing a crop (Simon). With access to more resources than organic farmers, conventional farmers will often spend less in the overall farming of a crop than organic farmers, increasing their profits. Conventional farmers often use materials such as “sewage sludge, which is cheap to buy, and chemical fertilizers, which are both cheap to buy and cheap to transport” (Simon). Using these potentially hazardous chemicals for crop production runs the major risk of chemical runoff and contamination of local water supplies or reservoirs, which will directly affect

The demand for meat in America is on the rise while the number of family owned farms is declining. The farming industry has had to change century old practices like free-range grazing to keep up with the mass amounts of meat that Americans and other cultures have become accustomed to. A process known as factory farming is controlling the farming industry worldwide. Factory farming is an unnatural and inhuman way to raise mass amounts of livestock. Unfortunately to keep up with demand, small farmers around the world are struggling to survive and are being pressured to work for large corporations raising animals using theses factory farming strategies rather than the natural alternative. As described by Wenonah

The crops aren’t soaked in harmful chemicals. “ Basically, all of the cattle in the feedlot are sick. And it’s their corn-based diet that makes them ill.”(Pollan, 58)The Industrial farms’ focus is entirely based on profit. The quicker the animals grow the more money they make. They are forcing the cattle to eat food that they are not meant to eat. Why feed the cattle corn if they are built to chow on grass. It’s like feeding a bunny chicken breast for every meal of it’s life. “Some of the bacteria that live in the guts of cattle find their way into our hamburgers and steaks. If those bugs come from a grass-fed cattle, they grow up in a low acid rumen. When they hit the acid in our stomachs they die. However, the rumens of corn-fed cattle are nearly as acidic as our stomachs. New types of bacteria have evolved to live in those acid-filled rumens.Those new bacteria don’t get killed in our stomachs.”( Pollan, 59) The Local/Sustainable food chains feed their cattle grasses, and are as natural as it gets. They feed the animals what they are meant to eat, so they won’t ever need antibiotics. By doing this, they promote a healthy lifestyle not only for us but for the animals that we

According to The Atlantic Magazine, organic means, “Organic means crops are grown without artificial pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs(genetically modified organisms), irradiation, or sewage sludge, and animals raised without hormones or antibiotics”(The Atlantic, Defining Organic: The Difference Between Sustainable and Local). The industrial organic food chain does not use harmful chemicals such as pesticides or herbicides. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan says, “Organic farming rules do not allow chemical weed killers, so Greenway has to use other methods to fight weeds”(Pollan 140). The fields are watered to get any weed seeds to grow before the plants are to be grown. Then, the farmers uses a tractor to plow the weeds. The farmers do this several times. Later, the farmers use propane torches to burn any remaining weeds. “The result of all this hard work is fields that look just as clean as if chemical weed killers had been used"(Pollan 140). When Michael Pollan says this, he is explaining that, because they plow the fields and do not use toxic chemicals, there are no harmful chemicals which can seep into the food and water supply and poison the consumers. Also, industrial organic farmers are changing. They are drifting away from the industrial way of only growing one or two crops per farm and are slowly starting to grow many crops per farm. “"The efforts of organic farmers to

d) Organically raised animals are not associated with antibiotic or the growth hormones thus reducing the chances of contacting mad cow disease.

The more controversial topic when discussing pasture-fed and grain-fed beef is the conditions in which both types of cattle live in. This is important not just because of the widely false advertising of the two types, but also because the atmosphere in which cattle live, can affect their meat. Many studies have shown that nutrients in beef vary depending on what the cattle that produce the meat ate, which is determined by where they live (Gunnars, 2013). The most popular thought is that pasture-fed beef live long, healthy, happy lives and grain-fed beef live in terrible, nasty, detrimental feedlots. Although this does happen to be true in some situations, it is far from true in all cases. According to an article written by Kris Gunnars, most all cattle begin their lives on the same diet; drinking milk

Factory farming utilizes cows in two different ways, for Dairy and for beef. The living conditions for both types of farming a both very different but also very similar, When beef cows reach the age range of six months to a year they are sent to a feedlot with hundreds of other cows. Beef cows are largely raised outdoors and are among the only factory farmed animals still raised this way. However even though you may think this provides better living conditions you are largely mistaken. They aren't given pasture and often times they even go without basic shelter. Even through ice, rain, extreme heat, or snow they aren't given shelter. Generally the cows are killed before they turn four years of age so they can live in these conditions for

Retirement for many means slowing down or having leisure time, but for this entrepreneur, it means returning to his roots and fulfilling his longstanding post-career of owning his own cattle business.

A significant point is that Polyface farm owner Joel Salatin does not sell his own beef. The reason he doesn't sell his own beef is because shipping it is horrible for the environment. After farmers slaughter the animal and get the beef or meat ready to be sold they then have to ship it on a truck to a local foods store or fast food place. Once they do that they have already wasted tons of fossil fuel and that causes tons of waste and pollution. This point is significant because so many “organic” food companies claim to be organic. But really they aren't, yes they may grow the food without any chemicals but shipping to food is 10x worse because of the pollution it causes. Polyface farm is truly doing it the organic way because they aren't

What does beef have to do with agriculture because it can store have 100% Beef Organically. How to do this is to Keep them outdoors, shade,and a lot of exercise. Why they need to do it is to make the cows healthy. Next it would make the rate go up in sales. Then it would make sure that the the beef that the cow has has to make sure that the cow is 100% healthy to make beef.

(Cropper, 2004) Decostole, J. (2010). The Truth About Organic Foods. Retrieved from Redbook Magazine website: http://www.redbookmag.com/recipes-hometruth-about-organic-foods In this magazine article Decostle explains just what organic foods are. She gives us details about how organic crops are grown and how organic animals are raised. Providing more information about how organic food is healthier and better for our bodies and how they differ from conventional foods. She also provides facts about how purchasing organic foods are also healthier for our environment and worth the price difference. Although pesticides contamination is common in our meats, due to feeding animals conventional farmed grains, much of the concern is about