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A Study in Local & Sustainable Food
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The word sustainability is derived from the Latin sustinere (tenere, to hold; sus, up). So basically, sustainability means to hold itself up. Modern agriculture does anything but hold itself up. Big ag has genetically modified everything from corn to chickens, the result being an assembly line of food. With the modern “going green” or “organic” movement, big ag has ripped off the terms “all natural, organic, free range, local, etc” along with other perceptions implied to convince the consumer that the food was produced humanely. They want you to think the farm that their food was produced on looks like the pretty red and white barn and farmhouse on the label of their food. In reality, the farm is anything but pretty. They will market using all natural, free range, nothing added, etc to convince you their products are wholesome. This is our study in "local and sustainable agriculture." Warning, some of the photos are very graphic, some are very pleasant
A typical Big Ag Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) for meat poultry production in Oklahoma. These are grown, processed and sold using this model within 10 miles of our farm. Scary thought, these could be considered local!
The pastured poultry model we use at Downing Family Farm. Once again, local.
Remember the old Sesame Street song "One of these things just doesn’t belong here, one of these things just isn't the same!" If you had to attach the words sustainable, humane, eco-friendly, green, happy, or clean which would you choose? If you notice the Big AG house in Oklahoma, the chickens (all roosters because they grow faster, wonder what becomes of the chicks that are hens? hmmmm). Their poop from yesterday and the day before etc is still underfoot. Their living quarters are never cleaned out until they are slaughtered. Which at that point is collected and put on the fields which causes the contamination of the watershed. They are on automated feeders, automated water, and air circulation devices. They go from hatch to harvest in about 49 days -GMO chicken. Kind of like an assembly line in a factory. These are your conventional cheap chickens you buy in the grocery store. When you purchase "free range chickens" it simply means the producer has left the door open on the CAFO model to allow the birds the "opportunity" to walk past the thousands of birds in the house and take a walk outside. Unfortunately these birds don't range. They have to be taken to range. Don't just take our word for it, read Michael Pollans trip to Petaluma Poultry "free range chicken" farm. (The Omnivores Dilemma page 171) Our model is a bit different. There are no automatic feeders, Well water is taken in 5 gallon buckets, Nature is our air circulation device. Our poop issue is sustainable. We just simply move the birds forward each morning at daylight. If you look behind this pen, you will see yesterdays droppings, only what the soil can use. A fresh bed of lush grass each morning underfoot provides an abundance of CLA enriched nutrients for the birds to eat. You will see the grass grazed off by the chickens. Industrial Ag will try to tell you chickens don’t eat grass. Come to our farm and we will disprove that. Our birds don’t get sick because they are not concentrated like the farms above. (If you put 15,000 humans in a confinement house for 50 days, we would have to ingest daily antibiotics to stay disease free) We have now switched breeds to a French Cou Nu chicken that takes a full 77-84 days to reach maturity, but the flavor more than makes up for the additional chores. No GMO modified chickens here. Of course, our model requires manual labor. This is why our chicken is more expensive than the industrial produced chicken. This is also why our chicken is "cleaner" than the other models and the taste reflects it. We follow Joel Salatins Model as described in the NY Times Best Seller The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan, both of which are featured in the movie Food Inc. If you have not viewed the film, we would be glad to host you for a chicken dinner and a screening!
Our Turkey Model is just as drastic a comparison:
Ours
A drastic comparison to Industrial Pork as well:
Ours:
See the grass under their feet? See where they have been rolling in the mud being a pig? Again, if you had to attach, the words sustainable, humane, eco-friendly, green, happy, or clean which would you choose? Again, more labor, better conditions, happier animals, sustainable!
Beef - Pretty much the same scenario
Ours
Big difference, huh? Again, which "Holds Itself Up" - which is sustainable?
Eggs, oh the eggs. These are quite disturbing.
The top photo is of battery caged hens. The above photo is "cage free" by USDA standards. Eggs in the morning don't seem appealing now? Don't fear, check our model out:
It is truly a shame that instead of mimicking nature, humans try to pervert it for their own gain. Instead of holding the animals in reverence and respect, humans basically put a bar code on them. It is a shame that the use of words like local don’t necessarily mean clean and humane. The words free range and cage free don’t necessarily mean the animals are happy and healthy. The words all natural simply don’t mean what we think they should. If you are a local foodie, visit the farm where your food is produced. If you are a representing a local food or environmental group, it is not only your right but your responsibility to visit the farm before you endorse it as clean. If you cannot visit the farm, challenge your producer to take you on a virtual farm tour. You can view ours on the youtube channel below. Don't forget to subscribe to receive updates! http://www.youtube.com/user/DowningFamilyFarm Thanks for viewing our study in clean, local, sustainable agriculture. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email us! Wes & Kathy Downing and family
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©Downing Family Farms 2009
Last Updated on
Monday, January 18, 2010 6:55 PM
