I just love those dairy cow commercials, with happy cows grazing on a green, grassy field, telling us about how they love the sunshine. It makes it hard to remember all of the images and videos I have seen of industrial farms, where cows live in cages so confined that they cannot even turn around. Chickens face an even worse fate, when their beaks are removed, and they are injected with so many hormones they can no longer walk.
From all of this confinement comes disease, and in order to keep livestock alive and promote growth, antibiotics are the solution. Unfortunately, thousands of people are dying from antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which mostly comes from animal antibiotic consumption. Then there are the problems with GMOs and allergy spikes.
So, while we consume these bacteria, antibiotics are becoming less and less effective, we are also consuming beef from cows that have been fed only corn, soy, and grain. This diet gives the animals very little nutrition, and if the animals are malnourished, their meat will provide very little nutrition to consumers.
Some farmers are actually able to maintain a farm where animals help sustain the land in a closed-loop system, and nothing is “waste.” However, chemical pesticides and fertilizers, which are largely ineffective, and pollutants from industrial farms tend to find their way onto these organic farms. These Industrial farms usually only produce one product, like grain, or chickens. Monocrop fields and CAFOs create huge pollution problems, as well as decrease biodiversity. Remember DDT? Then there are big industrial companies that profit from ruining small farmers, such as Monsanto, a company that is responsible for up to 50 environmental superfund sites.
The weak regulations of the USDA do not prevent these atrocities, but almost seem to encourage them. They allow produce to be labeled “organic” when it was produced with a hundred different chemicals that negatively affect the safety of that produce, as well as the environment.
Transportation and irrigation techniques are a huge concern as well. Because we depend on distant monocrop farms, we must transport this produce, thereby creating air and water pollution. Water is wasted on poor irrigation and on farms that grow crops solely for the purpose of feeding meat-producing livestock. These crops could instead be used to feed people, rather than animals, which wastes energy.
The food industry is not natural, safe, or humane. They lie to us every day. We do not need to drink milk in elementary school like the “Got Milk?” campaigns always told us. The industry is not here to feed the world, but to make a profit, no matter the means. Next time you see “free-range eggs,” simply search that company online to find the truth. Nine times out of ten, you will see that the chickens were bred in CAFOs.
My advice: get to know your farmer, eat more plants, and eat less meat. (I said less, meat-fanatics!) Don’t believe the big businesses, and find out what you are really putting into your body. The food industry is not sustainable as it is now, and it will not stop hunger. Remove the wool over your eyes, people.
