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Agriculture The Environment Our Food Sustainability. DEFINITIONS. Agriculture Environment Food Sustainability. Concentration Camp Eggs. Battery Hens. Pastured Layers. Nesting. Agriculture - Environment.
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Agriculture The Environment Our Food Sustainability
DEFINITIONS • Agriculture • Environment • Food • Sustainability
Concentration Camp Eggs Battery Hens
Agriculture - Environment • Agriculture:cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock; preparing and marketing of the resulting products • Environment: Our climate, soil, and living things that act upon organisms or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival
Food - Sustainability • Food: protein, carbohydrate, and fat used by our bodies to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy • Sustainability: a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged
It’s OK – Don’t Worry • arsenic in poultry feed (arsenic seasoned chicken!) • human antibiotic use in animals • irradiation (cold pasteurization) • pigs fed tainted pet food • chicken litter for animal feed (chewing gum) • We “believe” no tainted meat from that mad cow entered the food system, but, you can cook it out • Bla, bla, bla, bla.
Industrial Agriculture • Factory Farms / CAFO’s / Vertical Integration – bottom line oriented • Low Cost = low price to consumer • Efficient = Confinement permits closer supervision; large scale single crops / monocultures • Agrichemicals = imported synthetic fertilizers (some from toxic waste) and pesticides; imported Chinese protein (dog food problems) • Genetic Engineering = crops and livestock (cloning) • Industry is responsible and self-regulating = Poultry growers, largely free of regulatory controls, are managing litter in an environmentally sound manner • Disease: diseases occur naturally and properly cooking food can effectively remove.
SustainableUsually the opposite of industrial • Small Farms = low density, free-ranging, natural environments • True Costs = If, bought from the farmer – no middle man • Managed = requires more supervision, caring for ground, housing and welfare (of livestock as well as workers); multiple crops; plant and animal diversity; limited imported inputs; managed grazing; • Quality = “good things come in small packages” • Holistic = observation of the whole, not only its parts
Confinement And Feeding Operation (CAFO)
FACTORY FARMINGSTATISTICS • EXCREMENT • ANTIBIOTICS • TAINTED FOOD • WATER
EXCREMENT - USA • By we the people: 12,000 pounds (6 tons) / second • By Livestock: 250,000 pounds (125 tons)/ second • Sewage systems common in US cities – None in feedlots • Animal waste not recycled, annually – 1 Billion Tons – into our water • Gallons of oil spilled by Exxon-Valdez: 12 Million (6,000 tons)
Antibiotics - USA • Annually to people for treatment: 3 million pounds • Annually to livestock, routine: 24.6 million pounds • Percentage of staph infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13% • Percentage of staph infections resistant to penicillin in 1988: 91% • European Union bans use
One Down One to Go
Tainted Food Due to Intensive Conditions • In 2000, USDA estimated 89% of beef patties contain deadly E. coli strain – there is a major recall now! • US pigs never seeing the light of day: 65 million (Britain bans this) • US pigs with pneumonia at slaughter: 70% • Campylobacter bacteria in contaminated chicken flesh poisons 5,000+ people/day • American turkeys sufficiently contaminated to cause illness: 90% • Americans sickened daily from Salmonella-tainted eggs: 650,000+ / 600 die a year • Average lifespan of a dairy cow is 25 years – 4 years on factory farm
WATER • To produce one pound of wheat: 25 gallons; one pound of beef: 2,500 gallons • Cost of ground beef if meat industry water was not taxpayer subsidized: $35/pound • When water is short, we are asked to reduce use, never asked to eat less meat! • About 70% of water used in 11 western states is for animals for food. • The amount of water consumed by a 1,000 pound steer would float a ship
Where does your food come from?
What Can You Do • Put a face on your food • Go to farmer’s markets • Buy from a local farmer • Thank a farmer • Ask grocers and restaurants to buy local • Tell your legislators how you feel • Help preserve productive farm land
REFERENCES • Internet • Confinement and Feeding Operations • Sustainable Agriculture • Free-range livestock • American Livestock Breeds Conservancy • Eat Wild • The True Cost of Food • The Meatrix
Where does your food come from?