A Compromise in the Horizon

Often it is easy to turn a blind eye to information that could potentially turn your world upside down. I am all too familiar with this feeling. The animal cruelty in the food industry is something that in the past I struggled to fathom. It was an uncomfortable subject because it can significantly alter and make you question life habits that take part in your everyday life, like what foods to eat and what brands to use. Jonathan Safran Foer does a great job in bringing these feelings afloat in his book "Eating Animals", by his personal account of sneaking into an industrial turkey farm and his shock at finding the cruel ways they keep the turkeys. Michael Pollan, in contrast, gives us similar information but then leaves readers with an alternative and compromise, in his book "The Omnivore's Dilemma". Pollan provides the reader with the all too uncomfortable truth of the cruelty in modern, industrial meat production, but he also shares light on the alternative more animal understanding form of farming that gives the readers a form of compromise in making smart, environmentally friendly eating decisions. Pollan's account on the biological system Farm or the Polyface Farm gave me hope in the culture of meat consumption and it shed some light on all the cultural perspectives that are the root of the problems in our food industry.

When I first began to learn about the industrial habits in meat production it became clear to me that unless I had a farm in my backyard and raised my own food, which was highly unlikely in any near or far future, I would only have the option to give up meat entirely in my diet. I came to this conclusion because of many other reasons as well but essentially, I was concerned with my partake in the eradication of our planet. Pollan's put on this new form of farming that is not only benefitting to the animals but also the environment in which we live, really put into perspective this black or white resolve. It showed me that there can be a compromise and a middle ground that doesn't have to be so drastic. Pollan explains the Farmer's strategy when he says "He takes advantage of each species' natural proclivities in a way that not only benefits that animal but other species as well"(348). This form of farming not only benefits the animal and lets it have a happy existence, but it also benefits the farm and the environment in which the animal dwells. To me, this makes all the difference. This form of farming is a great compromise for people who don't want to give up animal-based food but also don't want to participate in inhumane industrial practices. This middle ground gives me hope for the restoration of our planet.

The mindset regarding farmers and the complexity of farming was a concept that was unrevealed to me until Pollan shed light on this cultural issue. Farmer Joel Salatin explained how in our culture we encourage the below average students to take farmer roles and the smarter students to seek careers with more "prestige". This mindset could be identified as root as to why our food industry is so corrupt and dense in seeing the bigger picture- a thriving environment equals a thriving population. Salatin described this epidemic as "a foolish culture that entrusts its food supply to simpletons" (352). This idea resonated with me because I witnessed this in high school. All the smart kids always seek careers in areas that have nothing to do with manual labor. The modern, industrial form of farming is so simple and mechanical that it doesn't require much brain power to produce and maintain. This is why the below average kids are always seen ending up in such careers. This enlightening understanding of who is producing our food really put into perspective many stereotypes that even I believed and supported farming and careers in agriculture. I have hope that as food production keeps deteriorating in efficiency and quality for humans and the effects of this start to really come into effect, people's perspectives about the priority that should be obvious given to agriculture will change. This in result gives me hope, for the future of agricultural and form this the planet.

The need for people to find comfort in their food is something that is not strange to me. Meat, especially meat exposed to us in every corner of our towns, in every grocery store or restaurant is not going to be Polly Face meat and when you are driving down the street with an empty stomach, any concerns about meat quality usually go out the window and into the abyss. People are going to continue to eat industrial meat even if they are aware there is an alternative. A factory Farmer in Foer's book confirms this when he says "Sure, you could say that people should eat less meat, but I've got news for you: people don't want to eat less meat". It is popular to believe that people will use this assumption to carry on in their consumption of industrial meat. I consider this to be a form of avoidance and an argument that just adds gasoline to the fire. We are the drivers of this car and in order to stop the car from crashing into havoc, we have to be able to make these tough but smart choices and fight the temptations lurking everywhere we go. The Polly Face farm to me is an example of this. These farmers created a farming system so natural and sustainable that it makes the sacrifices and the hard work worth it. They saw the bigger picture behind the easy money of industrial farming. We as individuals are very capable of making these choices and instead of focusing on others and using them as an excuse for your own, we should only be focused on improving our own decisions and actions. That's how the world can begin to change.

The meat industry is the way that it is today for our culture's need to indulge in every craving and every want a person has. Foer's input of the farmer's point of view just confirms that the reason why the Meat Industry is the way it is is because of the ever-increasing high demand that we have towards meat in this country. He explained, "What I hate is when consumers act as if farmers want these things when it's consumers who tell farmers what to grow". It always begins with the consumer who is making the demand and then gives its money to an industry that may or may not is using morally and environmentally friendly techniques. What I think we can take from both Foer and Pollan is that we don't have to give up meat altogether in order to help diminish our contributions to the problem, we just have to significantly lower the amounts we consume and only buy from environmentally and animal-friendly brands like that of the Polly Face farm. Pollan said, "Relationships are what matter most, and the health of the cultivated turns on the health of the wild" (355). What this quote this to me is that in order to have healthy earth we must make healthier relationships with brands and with our food. This mindset has been growing dramatically amongst people around the world and I hope that as people start becoming more aware of the effects of our bad relationships, these smarter mindsets will begin to take hold of people's way of life.

Foer's insight on how most of our animal farms are raised and the reason behind it, not as well as Pollan's new option for sustainable living not only provided me with hope for our environment but also gave me a new sense of purpose in my resolve to limit my consumption of animal products. As a vegetarian, I've made my peace in giving up meat but this alternative gave me hope for others who can't make their peace in giving up animals, it made me feel like finally there was a compromise that could be made in the animal consumption debate. All it takes is being open to more sustainable eating which means choosing animals from sustainable farms like the Polly Face one, changing our perspectives about how we perceive careers in agriculture, and lowering our consumption amounts.

Works Cited

Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Ebook.

Pollan, Michael. "The Animals: Practicing Complexity". Emerging Contemporary Readings for Writers, edited by Barclay Barrios, Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2016, pp. 343-355.