Tag Archives: agriculture

Grow plants, feed millions

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Lettuce growing

New research suggests that if the desire was there, this country could grow food to feed over 700 million people — by focusing on plants. That could meet the needs of most of the world’s hungry population.

If U.S. farmers took all the land currently devoted to raising cattle, pigs and chickens and used it to grow plants instead, they could sustain more than twice as many people as they do now, according to a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Remember the Workers

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Cesar Chavez poster

Cesar Chavez poster image

It’s Labor Day, so don’t forget the workers.

We’ve often written in the past about the health, environmental and animal welfare problems associated with meat production. But at this time of year, let’s take a moment to remember the workers who often face very exploitative and harsh conditions in that industry as well. Please visit our posts on slaughterhouse workers, fishing boat workers and the famous labor leader Cesar Chavez to learn more.

Feds say Veg Diets Most Sustainable

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Manure pileThe Feds have finally admitted that veg diets are better for the environment. The USDA Advisory Committee tried to slip it into their 571 page recommendation: “The major findings regarding sustainable diets were that a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts,and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health-promoting and is associated with less environmental impact than is the current U.S. diet.”

This sounds like real progress to us, but don’t look for this statement to make it into the final recommendations. Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack won’t allow it and the meat industry, described as livid, vowed to block it in Congress. Still, just the fact that it was recommended in the first place is real progress.

While it’s a start, the world needs much more progress on this issue. Consider that raising the 60 billion livestock we now have on the planet earth uses, directly for themselves and indirectly to grow their feed, one third of all the arable land on the planet.  It is also one of the leading causes of water pollution, the number one cause of tropical rainforest destruction, soil erosion, and, according to researchers from the World Bank, the number one cause of global warming.

Thirsty in California

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Since we last reported on the drought in California and how a vegetarian diet could help, the drought has only gotten worse. As Californians cut residential water use by 25 percent under Governor Jerry Brown’s unprecedented mandatory restrictions, pressure on the drought-stricken state’s water resources continues to come from its robust agriculture industry, which accounts for about 80 percent of the state’s total water consumption, with livestock claiming the lion’s share.

Some of the vegetarian naysayers complain that since so much of California’s meat is eaten around the country, it would take a national effort to save California’s water. To this we reply, good idea! Let’s all do our part and go vegetarian to save California from an all-too-thirsty fate. Others point to global warming as the main culprit. Maybe so, but we have a diet for that as well.

While we are happy to get the word out about the environmental benefits of going vegetarian, we really wish the environmental organizations would join us. So far only a very few do. However, since even the government is starting to talk about the environmental impact of animal foods, we have high hopes that this omission will change in the not too distant future.

The New Ag-Gag Laws

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Remember when educating people about their food choices was considered a good thing? Remember when whistleblowers were considered heroes deserving of extra protection? Unfortunately a number of states have introduced legislation that would keep the public from learning what happens on factory farms and slaughterhouses, and would criminalize the gathering of information through photography and video recording.

The animal agriculture industry obviously believes it has something to hide. In recent years, whistleblowing employees have repeatedly exposed animal abuse, unsanitary and disease promoting conditions, unsafe working conditions, and environmental problems on industrial factory farms and slaughterhouses. The agribusiness industry’s response to these exposés has not been to work on preventing such problems from occurring in the future, but rather to try to prevent the American people from finding out about their wrong-doings in the first place. Some of these laws have quite the bite to them. For instance the Missouri ag-gag law imposes a 6 month – 4 years prison sentences on violators.

These laws are opposed by a rather diverse set of organizations including the Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the Natural Resources Defense Council and even the National District Attorneys Association.

Thankfully so far only Iowa, Utah, and Missouri have passed the proposed ag-gag laws, while states such as New York, Illinois, Florida, Nebraska, Tennessee and Indiana have declined to enact these laws.  In some states, such as Minnesota, a decision is still pending.

In the meantime, vegetarian food choices provide the healthiest, most compassionate and environmental sustainable way to go. While exposés and undercover videos can be effective in some cases in getting agribusinesses to change their practices, purchasing decisions will always speak the loudest in the food industry.

Thanksgiving for 7 Billion – the veg solution

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It’s official. The world’s population now stands at 7 Billion. This year our Thanksgiving diners face challenges as never before. Over a billion people are living with chronic hunger and malnutrition, and rising food prices are challenging the household budgets of the other 6 billion.  What many people don’t know is that it is meat consumption in the developed world, and rapidly rising meat consumption in the developing world, that are the prime driving forces behind rising food prices and global hunger. For years this went unrecognized by even economists and policymakers. However, this has now started to change.

Starvation kills, and it hurts to have to go to bed malnourished and hungry. Hunger and malnutrition are some of the most serious problems facing humanity and it’s getting worse. Global hunger is at an all time high, with about 1 billion people in the world going to bed each night still hungry. In the next year, over 10 million people will actually starve to death. Even worse, it is the children who are the most vulnerable. Read more