How many of us are aware of what a factory farm is? Or more importantly how many of us care? Today’s food production system is an efficient machine where organic material is mass produced to cater to the insatiable appetite of the American consumer. Much like in the science fiction film The Matrix where machines farm humans, cattle and other livestock are no longer born and raised in the traditional sense - they are manufactured. The animal is permitted to live only for the time it requires to attain a standard size for slaughter. As educated individuals we should care where and more importantly how our food is produced.
The environment in which we raise our food reflects our desire to obtain anything in the quickest interval of time possible. Cattle are fed corn because grass takes too long and too much land to farm. A large amount of corn can be consolidated on a relatively small patch of land. Corn is very cost effective and provides farmers with an abundant supply of morally bankrupt feed to give their animals. Unfortunately, feeding corn to cattle has unpleasant side effects. It exposes the cow to E-coli infections which place consumers at risk of food poisoning.
It should frighten people to know how corporations pay no regard to the health and safety of their consumers. Yet no matter how much the problem is emphasized consumers remain addicted to factory farming. Even on the packaged product the label occasionally reads “corn fed beef”. The label mocks the consumer by admitting its guilt. The company is telling you that your beef was raised unnaturally, but the unsuspecting consumer continues to mistake the confession for an accolade. Companies routinely mock their base with all manners of similar advertising strategies. The label “all natural” is used every day to trick consumers into buying something that is anything but natural.
Sometimes I wonder who is to blame. Who started this madness? Then I realize if I want to find the guilty I needed only to look in a mirror. At one point or another I like so many was asleep, not caring where my food came from. We relished its pleasant taste and economic price tag. My family and I lived and ate under the impression that cows and chickens were raised on a pleasant farm living dignified lives before eventually becoming a source of protein for us. Naturally, I was wrong; animals today are raised ankle deep in their own waste. They are cramped together in confined spaces which force them to maim each other for territory. In the case of many chickens they live and die without ever seeing the sun.
Before discovering the truth my family and I perpetuated the existence of the companies which today inflict so much harm. The antibiotics which the corporate giants feed their animals breed new strains of drug resistant bacteria which can potentially infect unsuspecting consumers. Similarly, the wastes of the cattle they raise have been known to contaminate water supplies and release potent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
At times one can dip into despair and believe that things will never improve, but no one has the luxury of giving up. This is war. It is a fight for our right to health and access to food that doesn’t poison the individuals who consume it. Factory farms won’t disappear but just because something is big doesn’t imply that it can’t be fair. It’s our responsibility as consumers to exercise our influence over factory farms and obligate them to change their errant practices. As businesses the large companies which control our food supply are without a conscience. They don’t corrupt the farming process because they like to; they do it because it’s profitable. By avoiding food which is produced in an ill manner and replacing it with morally sound organic food, we give large companies an incentive to change their practices.
The environment in which we raise our food reflects our desire to obtain anything in the quickest interval of time possible. Cattle are fed corn because grass takes too long and too much land to farm. A large amount of corn can be consolidated on a relatively small patch of land. Corn is very cost effective and provides farmers with an abundant supply of morally bankrupt feed to give their animals. Unfortunately, feeding corn to cattle has unpleasant side effects. It exposes the cow to E-coli infections which place consumers at risk of food poisoning.
It should frighten people to know how corporations pay no regard to the health and safety of their consumers. Yet no matter how much the problem is emphasized consumers remain addicted to factory farming. Even on the packaged product the label occasionally reads “corn fed beef”. The label mocks the consumer by admitting its guilt. The company is telling you that your beef was raised unnaturally, but the unsuspecting consumer continues to mistake the confession for an accolade. Companies routinely mock their base with all manners of similar advertising strategies. The label “all natural” is used every day to trick consumers into buying something that is anything but natural.
Sometimes I wonder who is to blame. Who started this madness? Then I realize if I want to find the guilty I needed only to look in a mirror. At one point or another I like so many was asleep, not caring where my food came from. We relished its pleasant taste and economic price tag. My family and I lived and ate under the impression that cows and chickens were raised on a pleasant farm living dignified lives before eventually becoming a source of protein for us. Naturally, I was wrong; animals today are raised ankle deep in their own waste. They are cramped together in confined spaces which force them to maim each other for territory. In the case of many chickens they live and die without ever seeing the sun.
Before discovering the truth my family and I perpetuated the existence of the companies which today inflict so much harm. The antibiotics which the corporate giants feed their animals breed new strains of drug resistant bacteria which can potentially infect unsuspecting consumers. Similarly, the wastes of the cattle they raise have been known to contaminate water supplies and release potent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
At times one can dip into despair and believe that things will never improve, but no one has the luxury of giving up. This is war. It is a fight for our right to health and access to food that doesn’t poison the individuals who consume it. Factory farms won’t disappear but just because something is big doesn’t imply that it can’t be fair. It’s our responsibility as consumers to exercise our influence over factory farms and obligate them to change their errant practices. As businesses the large companies which control our food supply are without a conscience. They don’t corrupt the farming process because they like to; they do it because it’s profitable. By avoiding food which is produced in an ill manner and replacing it with morally sound organic food, we give large companies an incentive to change their practices.