Saving Rare Breeds, One Pork Chop at a Time

As the practice of raising livestock shifted from letting animals roam in wide-open fields to sticking them in huge buildings with tiny cages, farmers have chosen to raise just a few ultra-efficient breeds that are suited to mass food production. This sort of selective breeding has led to a potentially catastrophic problem that is rarely talked about in food circles:  The rapid loss of livestock species throughout the world.

Just as the intensive farming of a small number of high-yielding plant varieties decimated the diversity of our agricultural systems, the same is happening with the many breeds of livestock modern agriculture was built upon.

For example, 99 percent of the turkeys raised in the United States (and that will probably be on your table this Thanksgiving) are a single variety, the "Broad-breasted White." These turkeys have been bred to grow so quickly that they are no longer able to perform the act of procreation naturally. All need to be artificially inseminated, and many grow so fast that they are unable to walk.

As a further example of our reliance on single species of animals, one breed of cow (Holsteins) accounts for 95 percent of the milk that's consumed in the U.S.

According to a 2007 report from the United Nations, one precious livestock breed goes extinct every month. The agency called this loss of genetic diversity "alarming" and goes on to state that "many breeds at risk of extinction have unique characteristics and traits such as resistance to disease or adaptation to climatic extremes that could prove fundamental to the food security of future generations."

More than any other factor, the rise of monoculture farming in both plant and animal species is a direct result of how consumers demand their food to look. We've become so accustomed to perfectly round tomatoes and uniformly sized pork chops -- traits that rarely occur on their own in nature -- that many consumers think there is something wrong when food doesn't look like it does on supermarket shelves. This desire for aesthetically perfect food products has led farmers to only grow and raise the plants and animals that conform to the narrow desires of modern-day consumers. When it comes to food (and let's face it, a lot of other subjects, too), Americans are pretty superficial.

Now, it may seem counter-intuitive, but the best way to save many of these rare livestock breeds from extinction is to eat them. Without a market for these animals, there simply is no reason to keep their genetic traits alive. So next time you're at the farmers' market or looking into a meat CSA, seek out rare breeds — it may be the only way to avoid a potential food system catastrophe.

Photo Credit: dlz design on Flickr