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Everything I know is up for debate....
Sep. 24th, 2008 09:58 amI am loving my job because I constantly learn new things and my beliefs are constantly challenged. I am not afraid to ask the hard questions about environmental impact, human safety and humane livestock practices and I am learning so much as a result. I get to spend a lot of time out in the field, talking to farmers about their lives and experiences, but I am also spending a lot of time in labs, talking to scientists and researchers about their findings. I didn't expect to spend as much time with scientists and I am finding this part of the job to be exceptionally rewarding. Sometimes I feel like a big nerd because I want to talk about what I am learning, but I feel that I will be boring people. And the more I learn, the more I want to talk about it.
Here are some examples of the things that I have learned and that I have come up against.
1. My life is constantly made more difficult by biosecurity concerns. If I'm by myself, it's much easier to get inside a barn, but if I'm part of a group, it's a lot more difficult. In some cases it doesn't matter. For example, I can't get into a turkey barn in the province, which made me bang my head against my desk in frustration. However, good news! It is illegal to put growth hormones in turkey in Canada, and each turkey must have four feet of space.
2. Technology has a huge impact on agriculture. For example, large cattle buyers can buy cattle by satellite auction. These buyers can sit at home and watch large herds of cattle on tv or on the Internet. The auction mart sends out crews to film these cattle. This cuts down on fuel, and it also cuts down on animal stress. Animals become stressed when you put them in a truck and haul them around. So less fuel used, less stress on the livestock as a result of technology.
3. Shearing sheep or goats is not animal cruelty. These animals were bred to be shorn. If they are not shorn, they cannot move. I will argue with anyone who thinks it's cruel and inhumane.
4. Goat meat is a hot commodity. There is a lot of room for growth in the goat industry. If you wanted to become a farmer, I would suggest going into goats because there's already a market for it. If you think about it, North Americans are one of the few cultures world wide that do not eat goats on a regular basis. Goats have a much lower impact on the environment in comparison to cattle. Immigrant populations have a high need for goat meat. However, this has created a problem in the industry as people sometimes learn about nearby goat farms and drive out to visit the farmers, wishing to buy the animals from the farm. Many farms have signs up saying that they will not sell the animals from their farm gate. This is due to some instances where people have bought the goats, travelled a mile down the road, pulled out a knife and slaughtered the animal for meat. This is illegal in Canada, even though it's accepted in many other countries. I struggled for a while with this, because I wanted to be culturally sensitive, and spent a long time talking about this with my dad. I'm hoping that goat meat will become more readily available in the future so things like this don't have to happen.
5. The dairy industry is kind of weird. Basically, you have to knock a cow up using artificial insemination. The cows who are not inseminated get to hang out with "a clean up bull", who knocks up anyone who isn't pregnant. The cow has a calf, who is then taken away. Cows that are producing milk have to eat about 100 pounds of feed a day, instead of the 30 pounds or so that a meat cow eats. Producing milk is hard on a dairy cow and they generally only live about 6 years. Scientists are working on ways to increase longevity in dairy cattle.
6. I am constantly learning things I didn't know. But I'm also starting to see mistakes and misconceptions in things I read and in conversations I have. A lot of people simply don't know much about food production and agricultural practice. I feel so lucky to be learning the things I have been learning and I feel that pursuing an understanding of agriculture and food production is going to serve me well in future endeavours. It certainly didn't hurt Michael Pollan.
7. Now for the Number One Frequently Asked Question- Are you still a vegetarian, Alexis?
The answer to this is yes and no. I was a hard core vegetarian from about ages 20-25. Then I went back to fish. After travelling through Indonesia and Mongolia, I began to eat meat when it was given to me. I ran into people in Mongolia who were adamant vegetarians. They would say things to me such as, "I want to go stay with a herding family in the desert, but I don't want to eat meat because it is wrong."
In my mind, this is a completely backward statement. If you are going to be a guest in someone's home, you can eat what they prepare for you. These are people whose lives are driven by their herding and animal husbandry. They do not have a lot of access to vegetables and their food is derived from their animals. Who are you to tell them this is wrong? If you want to stay with them, you can be a guest and accept their ways. Personally, I'd rather suck it up and eat a boiled sheep head than offend my hosts. (For the record, I have not eaten a sheep head. But I did see them quite frequently.)
So here's the answer. I maintain a vegetarian home. I don't know how to cook meat and have no interest in learning. I will eat the odd piece of turkey on Thanksgiving or something, but generally, I prefer to eat vegetables. But if I go on a personal visit to a farmer's home, and they want to serve me some cow or llama or whatever, I'll eat it, out of respect. I don't think everyone is going to become a vegetarian. The meat industry exists, and it's not going away any time soon. I don't believe that people need to eat meat at every meal and I believe the average North American can cut down because of the huge environmental impacts. But the industry is here, it's not going away, and there are people who are trying to make it more sustainable and ethical.
Here are some examples of the things that I have learned and that I have come up against.
1. My life is constantly made more difficult by biosecurity concerns. If I'm by myself, it's much easier to get inside a barn, but if I'm part of a group, it's a lot more difficult. In some cases it doesn't matter. For example, I can't get into a turkey barn in the province, which made me bang my head against my desk in frustration. However, good news! It is illegal to put growth hormones in turkey in Canada, and each turkey must have four feet of space.
2. Technology has a huge impact on agriculture. For example, large cattle buyers can buy cattle by satellite auction. These buyers can sit at home and watch large herds of cattle on tv or on the Internet. The auction mart sends out crews to film these cattle. This cuts down on fuel, and it also cuts down on animal stress. Animals become stressed when you put them in a truck and haul them around. So less fuel used, less stress on the livestock as a result of technology.
3. Shearing sheep or goats is not animal cruelty. These animals were bred to be shorn. If they are not shorn, they cannot move. I will argue with anyone who thinks it's cruel and inhumane.
4. Goat meat is a hot commodity. There is a lot of room for growth in the goat industry. If you wanted to become a farmer, I would suggest going into goats because there's already a market for it. If you think about it, North Americans are one of the few cultures world wide that do not eat goats on a regular basis. Goats have a much lower impact on the environment in comparison to cattle. Immigrant populations have a high need for goat meat. However, this has created a problem in the industry as people sometimes learn about nearby goat farms and drive out to visit the farmers, wishing to buy the animals from the farm. Many farms have signs up saying that they will not sell the animals from their farm gate. This is due to some instances where people have bought the goats, travelled a mile down the road, pulled out a knife and slaughtered the animal for meat. This is illegal in Canada, even though it's accepted in many other countries. I struggled for a while with this, because I wanted to be culturally sensitive, and spent a long time talking about this with my dad. I'm hoping that goat meat will become more readily available in the future so things like this don't have to happen.
5. The dairy industry is kind of weird. Basically, you have to knock a cow up using artificial insemination. The cows who are not inseminated get to hang out with "a clean up bull", who knocks up anyone who isn't pregnant. The cow has a calf, who is then taken away. Cows that are producing milk have to eat about 100 pounds of feed a day, instead of the 30 pounds or so that a meat cow eats. Producing milk is hard on a dairy cow and they generally only live about 6 years. Scientists are working on ways to increase longevity in dairy cattle.
6. I am constantly learning things I didn't know. But I'm also starting to see mistakes and misconceptions in things I read and in conversations I have. A lot of people simply don't know much about food production and agricultural practice. I feel so lucky to be learning the things I have been learning and I feel that pursuing an understanding of agriculture and food production is going to serve me well in future endeavours. It certainly didn't hurt Michael Pollan.
7. Now for the Number One Frequently Asked Question- Are you still a vegetarian, Alexis?
The answer to this is yes and no. I was a hard core vegetarian from about ages 20-25. Then I went back to fish. After travelling through Indonesia and Mongolia, I began to eat meat when it was given to me. I ran into people in Mongolia who were adamant vegetarians. They would say things to me such as, "I want to go stay with a herding family in the desert, but I don't want to eat meat because it is wrong."
In my mind, this is a completely backward statement. If you are going to be a guest in someone's home, you can eat what they prepare for you. These are people whose lives are driven by their herding and animal husbandry. They do not have a lot of access to vegetables and their food is derived from their animals. Who are you to tell them this is wrong? If you want to stay with them, you can be a guest and accept their ways. Personally, I'd rather suck it up and eat a boiled sheep head than offend my hosts. (For the record, I have not eaten a sheep head. But I did see them quite frequently.)
So here's the answer. I maintain a vegetarian home. I don't know how to cook meat and have no interest in learning. I will eat the odd piece of turkey on Thanksgiving or something, but generally, I prefer to eat vegetables. But if I go on a personal visit to a farmer's home, and they want to serve me some cow or llama or whatever, I'll eat it, out of respect. I don't think everyone is going to become a vegetarian. The meat industry exists, and it's not going away any time soon. I don't believe that people need to eat meat at every meal and I believe the average North American can cut down because of the huge environmental impacts. But the industry is here, it's not going away, and there are people who are trying to make it more sustainable and ethical.
