We’ve noticed that an opinion piece originally printed two years ago in the Arizona Republic is being resurfaced…and that’s a good thing.
Columnist Linda Valdez wrote about her experience visiting a farm where the birds are raised in cage housing for egg production, as well as touring a cage-free operation. These tours occurred after she took aim at the so-called factory farming issue and the perception of negligent animal care on modern farms. Clearly she had a biased opinion going in, which is precisely why this column is important and worth resurfacing.
These are perhaps the most telling lines of her column:
“People think by spending more money on cage-free eggs they are creating a better life for that chicken,” Armstrong says.
I was one of those people. I’ve changed my mind.
While Valdez’s column was published in advance of Proposition 2 passing in California, and subsequently banning cage housing by 2015, it’s obvious that too few Californians got the message.
Before more states follow California’s misguided lead, perhaps we should all do our part to circulate Valdez’s aptly titled column to the misinformed. Her headline says it far better than we could:
Until recently, Miami employed a full-time “chief of chicken round up” because the city was overrun with loose chickens. Consider this another costly and unintended consequence of backyard farming. It’s bad for the birds, communities, the environment, and potentially public health.
Check out the photo in this article to see how just how secure some backyard operations look, fencing and all.
And while Miami expects to save $20,000 by eliminating the bird-busting post, it certainly doesn’t imply that the chickens will stop running amok any time soon.
Let’s leave it to the farmers…not the urban and suburban hobbyists.
If you have children or at least recall being one in the last 40 years, then you’re familiar with Sesame Street – the reliable staple of public television.
It’s hard to imagine anyone having a beef with the iconic children’s show…but then there’s PETA. While it’s unclear if PETA has it in for muppets too, their faux feathers are definitely ruffled over the American Egg Board sponsorship of the program. Why? Simply put, eggs aren’t on their plate and they don’t fit with their radical agenda.
In November, PETA encouraged its members to voice displeasure over the sponsorship. Recently, they’ve ratcheted up their whining by filing complaints with the FCC, taking a play from the playbook of their deep-pockets brethren. Follow the links to learn more.
From bacon and eggs to Bert and Ernie, it’s good to know some things stand the test of time, even when challenged by radical agendas.
While the animal extremists urge its members to contact Sesame Street to criticize the sponsorship, perhaps a word from the rest of us applauding their efforts to build on a legacy of quality educational programming for children is in order.
In case you missed it, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) recently announced it purchased shares in Domino’s Pizza, thus making it a shareholder and giving the activist group a voice at shareholder meetings. But this is hardly news.
Domino’s is just one of nearly 40 food-related companies in which HSUS has become a shareholder. Any good investment advisor worth his salt might suggest that HSUS is putting all its eggs in one basket, which makes for bad investing. But unlike the average investor, HSUS isn’t interested in return on investment as we know it.
The end goal is simple and one in which they openly admit: pressure dozens of restaurants, grocery chain and food providers to change their purchasing practices away from farmers that HSUS philosophically disagrees with. And with tens of millions of dollars in their coffers, you can see why such a strategy makes sense to them, and should begin to incense the rest of the public…especially if you thought that a donation to this Humane Society was going solely to help kittens and puppies.
…it’s just as likely that it was the PETA principle that gave him pause this morning.
Yes, everyone’s favorite groundhog – Punxsutawney Phil – opted for six more weeks of winter this morning. But with all the activists lurking about and hoping to pry him from the “good life” and replace him with a robotic stand-in, can you really blame him for wanting to burrow in?
Find out more about Phil’s big day and PETA’s proposed stunt here.
Our last post warned of economic consequences of getting “Propped 2” referring to California’s Proposition 2, which was sold as a measure designed to make life better for farm animals. “A Feathered Fiasco” considers the unintended consequences of that measure, providing a reality check of what California’s egg farms might look like in 2015 when the measure is officially phased in.
This brief Animal Ag Alliance YouTube post states the obvious: we don’t live in FarmVille. While the Facebook/social app may be fun for millions, the fact is 98 percent of us will never work or live on a working farm.
But perhaps the cutesy animated time-killer can as least spur on some questions among its faithful such as: How long does it really take to grow a crop of soybeans? How do farmers really go about feeding and caring for their animals? That combine costs how much to cultivate my otherwise highly affordable food?!
There are several farm resources that branch off the Ag Alliance post, so before you head off to fertilize your neighbor’s crops [and then shift gears by putting a hit on someone in your mafia-inspired game], take a minute to appreciate what the small handful of real farmers do to keep us well fed.
An interesting if not enlightening article from The New Yorker titled “sorry, vegans: brussel sprouts like to live, too” looks beyond the salad bowl – that safe haven of sorts for vegetarians and vegans alike – to begin understanding how tasty plants stave off predators and adapt to environmental surroundings in hopes of…you guessed it, survival.
Here’s an interesting snippet from the article:
“Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze.”
What is the compassionate vegan to say when chomping down on a hearty plate of arugula? It begs for a whole new riddle along the lines of: which is smarter, the chicken or the mesclun mix? It’s laughable until you realize these are well-heeled academics making the case, not just a bunch of radical, wannabe botanists.
Imagine a whole new group of plant-friendly warriors fighting for the safety of plants. Imagine the “strict” members of this enclave swearing off all products that incorporate plants or any plant byproduct.
Sounds ridiculous, but then again…
At this rate, soon there will be nothing left to eat.
For those of us who find ourselves caught up in the here and now, swimming in sound bytes and consuming the chatter of the day…here’s a brief history lesson on the necessary advent of modern agriculture courtesy of this recent article in TheNew Yorker. The article is both a history of the past (agriculture) and what history in the making (health care) might learn from it.
While it wouldn’t hurt to read the whole article, you owe it to yourself to pay particular attention beginning at paragraph 7 and reading for 14 more.
With all the talking heads and activists yammering about the ills of America’s farming system, perhaps a quick refresher on how dire things once were, and the positive impact of evolving farm practice, is exactly what we need.
This Thanksgiving, we’ll give thanks to the turkey farmer who raised his flock with care for the bird and the environment. We’ll also thank him for the affordable price – on average well under a dollar at popular grocery stores – that allows us to feed our friends and family.
And then we’ll thank our lucky stars that a vocal minority, a handful of livestock hobbyists didn’t succeed in dictating the bird we had to buy for Thanksgiving. . . at least this year.
Now imagine your holiday bird costing $7.50 per pound (or $112.50 for 15 lb. turkey). That isn’t what we call sustainable for most Americans. Instead, this should ruffle your feathers at a time when the number of Americans who are food insecure is at an all-time high. However, the tone and perspective of this front-page article suggests perhaps this is the direction we should be heading.
The follow-up editorial blog post two days later shines a little common sense on the issue – and for that we will give thanks.
If you can afford it, share the bounty this Thanksgiving.
