The hidden costs of "low-cost" providers.
I know from personal experience what a complicated subject this is.
Year before last, I bought a 400 acre "farm" in upstate NY. It really wasn't a farm, the land was just used for hay. Anyway, I now have Pigs, Turkeys, Chickens and Ducks that I'm raising. I grow Mushrooms, Currants, Apples and will probably plant some corn this spring. Hope to get into Cattle this spring and Goats as well. So far, I've kept my volume small as I learn about the animals and produce. I do plan on increasing my volume so that I make a living wage, but won't do it till I've paid for my education with experience.
For sure, the point that factory farms are an abomination are the truth and on-point. If you care about your diet, health of your body, health of the planet, or feel any fellowship with animals, you should research and form an opinion about factory farm producers. Same with factory farmed fish, CAFO's, Genetically modified food products, etc.
It is a complicated and conflicted issue. I care about animals and their welfare, and I kill them to eat them. It's a contradiction I admit. I killed one of my turkeys for Christmas. I paused, knife in hand, and had to make a decision about whether I was really going to kill him. He was standing right next to me, waiting for me to open the corn bin. My turkeys are free-range, and have worked hard all thru-out the spring-fall foraging in the grass and woods for bugs, grass, nuts, etc to supplement their feed from me. I had researched how to "harvest" them, and tried to make the process as humane as I could. But, to boil it down to the essence, I was killing this turkey so I could eat it. Of course, I also nurtured him from a hatchling to the big Tom he grew into. Food, water, shelter, and security were all provided for by me. The bird was a big hit on Christmas. He tasted wonderful. His skin was very yellow, not the bland white of a store-bought bird. He had a good flavor, compared to the tasteless factory bird. He was a little tougher then a store-bought, I think due to the excersize he got. Not bad, but it was noticable. Next Christmas, I'll research how to cook them to help with the tenderization. I don't know that I would present this as "the ideal", as it did involve the taking of a life of a wonderful animal for my dinner table. But, having said that, I know it to be better then some of the alternatives like factory farming. And, I'll do it again next Thanksgiving.
Of course, vegetarians shouldn't feel so completely self-satisfied. Factory-farmed produce is no bargain either. Mono-cultured crops are difficult to grow without artificial fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. This practice rapes the soil, and the poisons have collateral damage downstream, literally and figuratively. The practices employed by industrial scale farms have eliminated the top-soil, and killed the beneficial fungi, bacteria and other soil-based life. The machines that harvest the crops kill countless mice, moles, gophers. Or do they not count in the accounting?
I'm sure everybody knows about the collapse of the Cod fishery and the Cod. and how threatened the Salmon/Tuna/Shark/etc are.
It's not all bad news tho. Grass-based farming is growing in practice, and can barely keep up with demand. It is better for the soil, for the cows, for the worms and other soil-based life, for the farm, and the farmer, and for the humans that eat the grass-fed cattle. By all means, learn about your local farmer, and support them. It won't be cheaper, but there are an awful lot of hidden costs in that "low-cost" (meat or soy) burger from McD, Costco, Walmart, etc.
