If I wasn’t clear, I’m claiming for the not so pretty side of the story to be told; people tend to romanticize everything, especially when it comes to animals.
I am not in favour, to any degree, to animals being mistreated and/or abused to any degree, regardless if those same animals are a food source.
Raising animals for food is not incompatible with caring and making all humanly possible efforts to assure the animals live a good life.
Raising animals for food is not incompatible with caring and making all humanly possible efforts to assure the animals live a good life.
People won’t ever stop buying from factory farms as long as it’s socially acceptable, or cheaper options with a close enough taste become available.
“Nearly 99 percent of farmed animals in the US are factory farmed. There are around 250,000 farms in the US. Every day, 23 million land animals are killed on these farms – around 266 every second”
I don’t know a single meat eater that doesn’t eat factory farmed meat, including my former self. Do you really believe that people will suddenly start asking about living conditions in restaurants and supermarkets, pay a higher price, and boycot all factory farmed animal products? Speaking of romantizing. This seems like a complete fantasy to me. The vast majority will always buy the cheapest options they can find, no questions asked.
Defending the notion that systematic exploitation is fine, as long as you stab them “humanely” in the throat, provides the ideological basis for treating animals as products, reducing the cost by treating them as worst as possible. Like most people do right now.
As I see it, the only realistic way to end factory farming is if either plant-based meat alternatives or lab-grown meat are produced on a large scale to become price competitive. Which seems to be where things are going for many meat categories, although customer acceptance still has a long way to go.
Let’s start by not comparing EU to the US in therms of animal wellfare. It is a well established fact how the meat industry operates there: growth hormones, terrible living conditions, lack of sanitation, overcrowding, etc. Plus, on that part of the world, processed foods are more affordable than fresh produce of any kind.
We’re not exempt of poor examples but we are way above the line of what the average american will consider good animal welfare conditions. This is not to make a statement that I defend animal rearing as it exist in the current industrial model, which I do not. A lot more can be done and to a degree I feel it is underway.
You are right when you mention economic factors but by some mysterious way, with the crazy inflationary period we’re still living I’ve seen meat prices level, where regular products are as expensive or more than “biological”/animal welfare attested sourced ones, while at the same time people are cutting back on meat consumption to the point retailers and even traditional butcher shops are purchasing less stock.
Paired to this, over the last few decades, hundreds of pig farms and aviaries have gone out of business while more traditional techniques have been brought back, including to cut costs.
Likewise, what I am not going to do is try to make people feel guilty by their dietary options and, by extension, of being alive. Restaurants, hotels and similar places consume and waste obscene amounts of food, in particular meat.
Vegetable production is not exempt of environmental impact and scale is not an argument for me. I’ve seen how greenhouses leave the land when the activities are shutdown, plus the huge water consumptiom, fertilizers and energy. No part is scathe free.
As it is, we already produce more than we require to sustain the entire human population yet waste what should not be wasted. Measures to counter this are lacking, on all fronts.
So, it is quite painful for me when we take it lightly - like a meme - shaming and blaming people for wanting to live.
Please, enjoy and be happy with your dietary option, strike up dialogue and raise awareness but avoid proselitizing.
If I wasn’t clear, I’m claiming for the not so pretty side of the story to be told; people tend to romanticize everything, especially when it comes to animals.
I am not in favour, to any degree, to animals being mistreated and/or abused to any degree, regardless if those same animals are a food source.
Raising animals for food is not incompatible with caring and making all humanly possible efforts to assure the animals live a good life.
People won’t ever stop buying from factory farms as long as it’s socially acceptable, or cheaper options with a close enough taste become available.
“Nearly 99 percent of farmed animals in the US are factory farmed. There are around 250,000 farms in the US. Every day, 23 million land animals are killed on these farms – around 266 every second”
https://animalequality.org/blog/2022/10/14/factory-farming-facts/
I don’t know a single meat eater that doesn’t eat factory farmed meat, including my former self. Do you really believe that people will suddenly start asking about living conditions in restaurants and supermarkets, pay a higher price, and boycot all factory farmed animal products? Speaking of romantizing. This seems like a complete fantasy to me. The vast majority will always buy the cheapest options they can find, no questions asked.
Defending the notion that systematic exploitation is fine, as long as you stab them “humanely” in the throat, provides the ideological basis for treating animals as products, reducing the cost by treating them as worst as possible. Like most people do right now.
As I see it, the only realistic way to end factory farming is if either plant-based meat alternatives or lab-grown meat are produced on a large scale to become price competitive. Which seems to be where things are going for many meat categories, although customer acceptance still has a long way to go.
Are you in the USA?
No, I’m from Germany. I used the US stats because its the biggest western country. Here in Germany, around 98% of sold meat is factory farmed.
Good morning. I’m in Europe as well.
Let’s start by not comparing EU to the US in therms of animal wellfare. It is a well established fact how the meat industry operates there: growth hormones, terrible living conditions, lack of sanitation, overcrowding, etc. Plus, on that part of the world, processed foods are more affordable than fresh produce of any kind.
We’re not exempt of poor examples but we are way above the line of what the average american will consider good animal welfare conditions. This is not to make a statement that I defend animal rearing as it exist in the current industrial model, which I do not. A lot more can be done and to a degree I feel it is underway.
You are right when you mention economic factors but by some mysterious way, with the crazy inflationary period we’re still living I’ve seen meat prices level, where regular products are as expensive or more than “biological”/animal welfare attested sourced ones, while at the same time people are cutting back on meat consumption to the point retailers and even traditional butcher shops are purchasing less stock.
Paired to this, over the last few decades, hundreds of pig farms and aviaries have gone out of business while more traditional techniques have been brought back, including to cut costs.
Likewise, what I am not going to do is try to make people feel guilty by their dietary options and, by extension, of being alive. Restaurants, hotels and similar places consume and waste obscene amounts of food, in particular meat.
Vegetable production is not exempt of environmental impact and scale is not an argument for me. I’ve seen how greenhouses leave the land when the activities are shutdown, plus the huge water consumptiom, fertilizers and energy. No part is scathe free.
As it is, we already produce more than we require to sustain the entire human population yet waste what should not be wasted. Measures to counter this are lacking, on all fronts.
So, it is quite painful for me when we take it lightly - like a meme - shaming and blaming people for wanting to live.
Please, enjoy and be happy with your dietary option, strike up dialogue and raise awareness but avoid proselitizing.