Cattle Culture, Aquaculture, and Export of the Western Diet

The following is part 3 of a four-part post by guest contributor and former animal farmer Harold Brown. See also part 1, "Animal Ag: Will It Be Our Death? An Intro to Cattle Culture," and part 2, "Free-Range Pasture Systems Not a Viable Solution," from earlier in the week. -S. Ernst

This discussion brings me to another subject, Heifer International. Most people and faith communities believe they are doing good work, feeding poor people around the world. Don't be fooled. Heifer International, in my opinion, is the gateway for cattle culture expansion. There has been a concerted effort for over 30 years to change the diet of the "developing" world. In this case, "developing" refers to anything other than the Western model of affluence. If you look at their website, you would be amazed at how much it looks like any of a number of farm animal sanctuaries in the United States.

Agribusiness sees the global south as an untapped market waiting to be exploited for its potential consumers and resources (think free-market capitalism). Beyond this CAFOs are not going to disappear anytime soon. Sure, they are having problems here in the United States, primarily because of the environmental damage they cause. But to mitigate the problems here at home, they are expanding overseas to China (now the largest hog producer in the world) and places like Poland, where Smithfield has built hog CAFOs, which, by the way, many in Poland are regretting for environmental and ethical reasons.

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One of the core drivers of cattle culture is the specter of an ever-growing population and the subsequent expansion of livestock markets. I was recently at Iowa State University talking about the Green Revolution. A professor who studies global food systems corrected me, saying, "We no longer call it the Green Revolution. We call it the Livestock Revolution." This was a wake-up call for me. I understood that it was a livestock revolution, but I hadn't heard those connected to the industry call it that.

Considering that the global population is growing at a rate of a quarter of a million people a day, the livestock industry is planning how to take advantage of the situation. It is a multifaceted approach that is not only promoting the Western diet on all continents, but also promoting aquaculture. With nearly all of the fishing stocks in the world collapsing, the savior is factory farming of fish. But it isn't any better for the environment. Aquaculture is an Ouroboros, in other words, a system that feeds upon itself. As noted in an earlier post, 50% of the global wild catch goes to agriculture and aquaculture, not human consumption. Currently, one-third of that amount is for fishmeal and oil, most of which goes to aquaculture. And the two-thirds left over is used to feed livestock and fertilize crops.

Okay, I’ve pointed out some concerns regarding livestock production with an emphasis on free-range and pasture-fed. What are some answers?

Next, see part 4, "Veganic Farming: A Sustainable (and Compassionate) Solution."

Photo by Flickr user emdot