This is another
snapshot as the industry strives to change out of the mass production
protocol. We have discovered that
shifting animals is a natural force multiplier as we have also learned that
maintaining a cover crop is ideal to optimize quality plant production over
large acreages.
I am expecting
the large farms to begin shifting over to all these protocols for two reasons:
1
The
emergent failure of the Roundup protocol itself. This has a while to play out yet but the
science is established and it is bad news.
It will collapse both biologically and economically. Been fun while it lasted.
2
The
steady rise of clearly competitive organic protocols that deliver a superior
product. It has taken time to work this
all out but it is working and the momentum is steadily improving.
3
Better
integration of human inputs into the agricultural economy to facilitate this
transition.
This blog has
tackled many rising protocols and even invented a few while at it.
So while what I
find in the food store does not please me, I am also comfortable that it is all
a stage that our food system is passing through and in as little as a
generation it will be as different as night and day. Change time is much faster now. What has occurred in less than fifty years
can be reworked easily inside of twenty.
American
Meat—An Inside Look at Sustainable Farming in America
November
26, 2013
“Thanksgiving is
a time when many of us come together and share food and conversation with our
family and friends. It’s a time when we celebrate our loved ones, and reflect
on that which we are thankful for. In the spirit of the holiday, we are
offering our documentary American Meat to you and yours
during this special week of Thanksgiving, for free. We hope that
it will spark constructive conversations about how we can build a better
agriculture in America.
If after enjoying
a free screening of American Meat, you would like
to purchase a DVD or a digital download of the film (perhaps as a holiday
gift…) you can do so by clicking HERE!
We’re thankful
for our farmers, and we’re thankful for you. We hope you enjoy our
documentary American Meat, and that you have a wonderful holiday
season.” -American Meat
If you put good
old-fashioned organically-raised, pasture-fed and finished meat in a nutrition
analyzer, you’d find it’s one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.
However, many
are still in the dark about the vast differences between Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations (CAFOs) and organically-raised, grass-fed meats, in terms
of nutrient content and contamination with veterinary drugs, antibiotics,
genetically modified organisms, and disease-causing pathogens.
Differences in
the animals’ diets and living conditions create vastly different end products.
For example, most CAFO cows are fed grains (oftentimes genetically engineered
grains, which make matters even worse), when their natural diet consists
of plain grass.
If you’re under the age of 40 or so, and have
never spent time on a real farm, chances are you have a rather dim concept of
just how different today’s
food production is from traditional, time-tested farming practices.
These differences have monumental
ramifications for our environment, for the
health and well-being of the animals being raised,
and for your own health.
There are basically two very different models
of food production today. The first, and most prevalent, is the large-scale
agricultural model that takes a very mechanistic view toward life, whereas the
other – the local, sustainable farm model – has a biological and holistic view.
American Meat
The featured documentary, American Meat,1 is
“a pro-farmer look at chicken, hog and cattle production in America.” The film
features full-time organic farmers Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface farms in Virginia; Chuck
Wirtz, a life-long hog farmer; and Dr. Fred Kirschenmann, who manages a family
farm in North Dakota.
“Beginning with a
history of our current industrial system, the feedlots and confinement
operations are unveiled, not through hidden cameras, but through the eyes of
the farmers who live and work there.
From there, the story
shifts to Polyface Farms, where the Salatin family has developed an
alternative agricultural model based on rotational grazing and local
distribution. Nationwide, a local-food movement of farmers, chefs,
and everyday people has taken root.” ~ American Meat2
As a physician, it’s obvious to me – and I’m
sure most of you viewing this – that the food you eat plays a major role in
your health. Sadly, as a society, we’ve strayed so far from our dietary roots
and become so disconnected from our food sources that our health is now in
serious jeopardy.
About 90 percent of the money
Americans spend on food is spent on processed foods,3 and
the health of the average American is a testament to the abject failure of such
foods to support good health. It’s a proven fact that factory farmed and
processed foods are far more likely to cause illness than unadulterated,
organically-grown foods.
Fortunately, more and more people are now
beginning to recognize this, and are making efforts to get back to real food - the kind of food grown by the dedicated
farmers featured in this film.
The Invention of CAFOs
Chickens, like most animals and humans, depend
on sunlight to produce vitamin D, and as such spend a great deal of time
outdoors pecking around for bugs, which is their natural diet.
Alas, once farmers realized they could simply
add vitamin D and other vitamins and medications to chicken feed, they also
realized they no longer had to let the chickens outdoors. And with that
the CAFO
chicken farm was born…
Chicken CAFO’s took root in the 1950’s,
followed by cattle and hog CAFO’s in the 1970’s and ‘80’s respectively. Today,
CAFO’s dominate all livestock and poultry production in the US, and gone are
hundreds of thousands of small farms that simply could no longer compete in
this new market setup.
The intensive animal farming methods of today
were developed to increase food production while pushing down prices. And while
successful in that respect, it has given rise to a number of significant
problems that probably were not considered at the outset, when increasing
capacity to feed the sprawling suburbs were foremost on everyone’s mind.
For example, about 95 percent of the eggs
produced in the US now come from gigantic egg factories housing millions of
hens under one roof. You can only imagine how difficult – if not impossible –
it is to keep millions of birds in one location and still produce a product
that’s safe to eat.
CAFO’s Promote
Food-Borne and Antibacterial-Resistant Disease
Chickens raised in these unsanitary conditions
are far more likely to be contaminated with pathogens, and to lay contaminated
eggs. In one British study, 23 percent of farms with caged hens tested positive
for Salmonella compared
to just over 4 percent in organic flocks, and 6.5 percent in free-range flocks.
The problem of contamination is not limited to
the eggs these chickens produce, but also to the meat. To combat the potent
threat of disease caused by crowded conditions, unnatural diets and inability
to roam free, cage-raised chickens have to be given routine doses of
antibiotics and other drugs, all of which have serious health implications,
including the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens in humans.
It has even been suggested that a growing
number of antibiotic-resistant cases of urinary tract infections in women are
linked to the overuse of antibiotics in chickens, and their resultant
drug-resistant bacteria strains transferring to humans. 4
The lesson here is, the closer you can get to
the “backyard barnyard,” the better. You’ll want to get your chickens and eggs
from smaller community farms with free-ranging hens, organically fed and
locally marketed. This is the way poultry was done for centuries… before it was
corrupted by politics, corporate greed and the blaring ignorance of the food industry.
Fortunately, finding high-quality pastured
chickens and organic eggs is relatively
easy, as virtually every rural area has small farmers with chickens. If you
live in an urban area, visiting the local health food stores and farmers’
markets are typically the quickest route to finding high-quality local egg
sources.
Why I Only Recommend
Eating Organic Grass-Fed Beef
Every couple of days, cows are moved into a
new paddock where there’s fresh grass. The cows eat the grass and deposit
manure, which attracts insects and worms. When the cows are moved into the next
paddock, the chickens are wheeled into the first, where there’s now plenty of
natural food for the chickens to eat. This system can work quite well for many
small farmers. You don’t have to become a full-fledged
farmer to raise your own food, however.
Growing sprouts is probably the
easiest, least time-consuming and most inexpensive way to get started growing
your own nutritious food. Unlike a conventional vegetable garden, you’ll have
food ready for harvest in about one week, and sprouts are among the most nutrient-dense foods
out there. Depending on the sprout, the nutrient content can increase as
much as 30 times the original value within just a few days of sprouting!
When it comes to animals, chickens are
well-suited for a wide variety of locales, and raising
chickens for fresh eggs can be another great way
to “get your feet wet,” provided you have the right setting, and a little more
time. Depending on the breed of the chicken, and the amount of daylight it
receives, a chicken will typically lay one egg every 36 hours or so. (They will
typically stop laying eggs over the winter, unless artificial day light is
provided.) If you are interested in the possibility of raising a few
chickens yourself, a good place to begin is by asking yourself the following
questions. You can also visit Joel’s Polyface
Farm Web site for more details on raising chickens.
1.
Can I dedicate some time each day? You can
expect to devote about 10 minutes a day, an hour per month, and a few hours
twice a year to the care and maintenance of your brood.
2.
Do I have enough space? They will need a
minimum of 10 square feet per bird to roam, preferably more. The more foraging
they can do, the healthier and happier they’ll be and the better their eggs
will be.
3.
What are the chicken regulations in my town?
You will want to research this before jumping in because some places have
zoning restrictions and even noise regulations (which especially applies if you
have a rooster).
4.
Are my neighbors on board with the idea? It’s
a good idea to see if they have any concerns early on. When they learn they
might be the recipients of occasional farm-fresh eggs, they might be more
agreeable.
5.
Can I afford a flock? There are plenty of
benefits to growing your own eggs, but saving money isn’t one of them. There
are significant upfront costs to getting a coop set up, plus ongoing expenses
for supplies.
Support Sustainable
Agriculture by Buying “Real” Food
If you want to optimize your health, you
simply must return to the basics of healthy
food choices. And, as Joel Salatin says in
the film, you CAN farm! It’s
all a matter of scale. As just mentioned, you can start really small by growing
some sprouts to eat with your daily meal. This can progress to a larger organic
garden; using pots and planters if you live in an apartment, or by dedicating a
part of your back yard to a vegetable garden. If you have the time and space,
you could move up to chickens.
Besides growing and raising your own, buying
your food from responsible, high-quality, sustainable sources is your best bet, and I strongly
encourage you to support
the small family farms in your area. This includes not only
visiting the farm directly, if you have one nearby, but also taking part in
farmer’s markets and community-supported agriculture programs. Not only is the
food so much tastier and healthier when you get it from sustainable, non-CAFO
sources, but there is something about
When it comes to red meat, pasture-fed and
finished beef is vastly superior to grain-fed beef, and in my view it’s the
only beef worth eating. Keep in mind that it’s far more important to choose
“grass-fed” than “organic,” as most grass-fed beef are also organic anyway. Not
only is grass-fed beef raised in a more sustainable way for the environment, and
a more humane way for the animal, but it’s the superior choice for your health.
That said, be aware that there is a load of
deception when it comes to grass-fed beef, so be sure to ask your seller if it
is grass finished as
that is the key to make sure the animals are not fed grains. Ideally the
pasture should be raised on a cocktail cover crop and provide high quality
pasture for the cattle.
The natural diet for ruminant animals, such as
cattle, is grass. When left to feed on grass-only diets, levels of conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA are three to
five times more than those fed grain-based diets. And that’s just for starters.
A joint effort between the USDA and Clemson University researchers in 2009
determined a total of 10 key areas where grass-fed beef is better than
grain-fed for human health.5 In
a side-by-side comparison, they determined that grass-fed beef was:
|
Lower in total fat
|
Higher in total omega-3s
|
|
Higher in beta-carotene
|
A healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3
fatty acids (1.65 vs 4.84)
|
|
Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
|
Higher in CLA (cis-9 trans-11), a potential
cancer fighter
|
|
Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and
riboflavin
|
Higher in vaccenic acid (which can be
transformed into CLA)
|
|
Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium,
and potassium
|
Avoid Consuming too
Much Meat
While I’m a strong advocate of regularly
consuming animal protein for its nutritional benefits, it is my observation
that most people eat too much animal protein overall. It would be very unusual
for most people reading this to need more than four to six ounces of beef or
chicken a day. That is not very much. Additionally, if a personal or
spiritual belief limit or prevent you from eating meat, fish, eggs, or dairy,
these food items can easily be substituted. However you’ll still want to limit
your protein to about one-half gram per pound of lean body mass unless you are
doing strength training or are pregnant, in which case you would benefit from
about 25 percent more protein per day.
Yes,
You CAN Grow and Raise Your Own Food
Real Meat reveals
many of the simple and age-tested techniques used to raise chickens, pigs and
other livestock at Polyface Farm, run by Joel Salatin. I’ve previously toured
Salatin’s farm and interviewed him about his
methods as well. Salatin is a sustainable farming pioneer who has also devised
a number of creative processes that allow small farmers to grow food in a more
efficient manner. One of Salatin’s inventions is the “Egg Mobile,” which allows
the farmer to easily move chickens from one paddock to another. By dividing the
land into sections (paddocks), and rotating cattle and chickens through the
paddocks in turn, you can take full advantage of their symbiotic relationships.
shopping for fresh foods in an open-air,
social environment that just feels
right. If you want to experience some of these benefits first-hand, here
are some great resources to
obtain wholesome food that supports not only you but also the environment:
3.
Local Harvest –
This Web site will help you find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other
sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce,
grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
4.
Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals –
The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat,
poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and
online outlets in the United States and Canada.
5.
Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)
— CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of
small farms.
6.
FoodRoutes – The FoodRoutes “Find Good Food” map
can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food
possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers,
CSAs, and markets near you.
Sources:
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