The Beef Industry Beef, it's what's for dinner! The beef you eat for dinner comes from; how your food is raised, or who raises the beef? The beef industry is not controlled by the farmers, ranchers, or even the cattle! Industries such as the beef industry are controlled by the consumers who buy the product, who then, in a way, give cattlemen their paychecks. Farmers adapt to the wants and needs of consumers across the globe. Some consumers want a more healthy product that is more naturally raised than cattle raised in a feedlot. However, there are benefits to both arguments, of which a consumer should want to please their needs, health benefits, as well as their budget. While grass-fed may seem to appear healthier and happier than feedlot cattle, this statement is not always the truth. According to “Omnivore’s Dilemma” it says “teeming and filthy and stinky, with open sewers, unpaved roads, and choking air, only antibiotics were keeping plagues at bay.(Kunzig, Robert. "Carnivore's Dilemma” page 1) Feedlots are said to be cruel and crowded but in the “Carnivore’s Dilemma ”it says, “feedlots consensus from media is comparing feedlots with 14th century cruel, disgusting, hellholes. However, this is a common misconception of feedlots. Feedlots serve grain which is like cake and ice cream to cattle." How could …show more content…
Although they are given boosters to make them weigh more, it is not hurting you! Really, it is helping consumers be able to purchase larger quantities, as well as buying them cheaper. According to “Carnivore’s Dilemma,” a full truckload of beef cattle will make about 60,000 meals! Broken down even more, this statistic equals out to be one beef steer can make about 1,800 meals. This statistic shows how much beef we really eat as a whole. GRass-fed cattle cannot yield enough final meat as a whole, to be a prime choice for the primary beef
In the early twentieth century American ranchers tried to break up the Beef Trust. In 1917 there were four main companies that controlled the entire industry. While this trust was effectively busted, allowing ranchers to sell their cattle at competitive prices for a few decades, the Reagan administration allowed the top four meatpacking companies to combine. In 1970 they slaughtered 21% of the nation’s cattle today the slaughter 84%. This is causing many ranchers to sell their cattle and quit.
ConAgra runs the biggest meat handling and pressing plant in Greeley. It brings cows into food parcels and bolsters them
“Industrial agriculture characteristically proceeds by single solutions to single problems: If you want the most money from your land this year, grow the crops for which the market price is highest.” - Wendell Berry Many people question whether or not the morality of treating animals in a humane way outweighs the morality of cheaper food for a nation where 1 in 6 people are facing hunger, and/or starving in any way. Back in the day, a while after World War II, industrial agriculture was applauded as a technological success that permitted an ever growing population to practically feed themselves. Now, many farmers and scientists see it as a blind alley, rather made for factory work.
The author of Defending Beef is Nicolette Hahn Niman, who is a writer, cattle rancher and former environmental lawyer. I believe she is a a credible source because of her expertise about the subject and first hand experience with raising grass-fed cattle as well as running a natural meat company. Together with her husband Bill Niman she founded BN Ranch, a natural meat company that offers grass-fed beef, lamb and turkey. She is also a writer whose essays have been published by well established newspapers like the New York times and Los Angeles Times, which further suggests her credibility. She has been a speaker at various food events such as the Ecofarm Conference and the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Conference.
As Schlosser states, “The Lasaters are by no means typical, but have worked hard to change how American beef is produced”(Schlosser 255). Through this example, he emphasizes his point on how there is food productions that are loyal to their customers and are concerned about their health. The Lasaters are proof of being a loyal production involved on turning the tables and help make a change towards America’s fast food industry system. However, Schlosser further criticizes the government on being involved in the
People in the beef industry have been working in the Cattle industry because, they are not in the greatest conduction but there is hope that the NBCA will, and is trying its hardest to put, and get the industry back into good
Mostly everyone likes to eat poultry, but normally when people eat it they don't ever think about how they got it. Yes, it came from a chicken, but how was that chicken raised? What kinds of chemicals and feed were in that animal? A new book, written by Christopher Leonard, was supposed to tell all about what really happens in the production. In an article, however; it states "it (the book) does little to help consumers understand how food is made and ignores entire facts regarding the tremendous progress America’s family farmers and chicken companies have made by working together to produce safe and affordable food," (New Book Misses its Mark - first paragraph).
They make stuff cheap and nasty and we buy it because why not. Just don’t buy it. “Cattle raised for food are also regularly dosed with drugs such as antibiotics to make them grow faster and keep them alive in these miserable conditions. Instead of taking sick cattle to see a veterinarian, many feedlot owners simply give the animals even higher doses of human-grade antibiotics in an attempt to keep them alive long enough to make it to the slaughterhouse.” "The Beef Industry."
Animal waste runoffs or feedlots are farms that specialize in cattle or hogs. These animals are stayed in a very small area of land and they are raised on hormones and grains that make them big and fat for slaughter. Feedlots help provide a lot of protein in America but feedlots contain a lot of the animals poop and other bad substances that can pollute the air and the water with their runoff. Pros of having feedlots is that they produce meat that satisfies U.S. consumers, they’re efficient, and cheap. Cons of having feedlots is that manure contains nitrogen and phosphorus; if not managed properly, they can pollute the nearby lakes,streams,rivers, or oceans, and antibiotic use increases genetic resistance to bacteria in the human body.
The dangers of Factory Farming in America Traditionally farm cows and chickens roam around the wild free to eat whatever they wanted and have unlimited space. But now in the need for more food for the fastly increasing population. Factory farms have taken over the lives and wellbeing of these animals. Now “Broiler Chickens” and farm cows are confined to little spaces and are being fed food that doesn't fit their diet.
" This illustrates the terrible meals that cowboys had to consume before and after work, including low
Eating Factory Farm-Raised Meat The American diet focuses heavily on animal products and factory farm-raised meat. Factory farming is a system of large-scale industrialized and intensive agriculture that is focused on profit with animals kept indoors and restricted in mobility. Factory farming is a very profitable business and seems to be growing daily and supported my many Americans purchasing these products. Most people don’t know where the meat they eat comes from, let alone know how these animals are treated during the entire producing process.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma was written by Michael Pollan and published in 2006. He wrote the book to inform consumers about where their food actually comes from and some of the different ways and processes that food is grown and processed to bring it to the grocery store shelves or the farmers market. Pollan had a very interesting approach to showing consumers just exactly where their food comes from through a type of documentary stance. First, he tried to follow the industrial food chain, from a bushel of corn from a field in Iowa along the complex and strange path it takes to end up in a fast-food place. Secondly, he follows the pastoral food chain by exploring alternatives to industrial food and farming by looking into organic and local food
As stated by the Guardian, the FSAI found horse DNA in over one-third of the beef burger samples, and pig in 85% of them. The majority of the beef ready meals also contained pig DNA but not horse. One beef burger sample from Tesco turned out to be 29% horse instead of beef. 1(The Guardian 15/02/2013) The findings of the FSAI report revealed a system of gross negligence by certain companies to distort the food supply chain and profit from selling goods that were falsely labelled, so the consumer would buy them.
The meat industry has helped our economy become as strong as it is due the amount of people that consume it. According to an article by Zach Nold, he mentions the negatives of taking out the meat industry from our economy. He cites the EPA when he states, “The beef industry is so important that in the 2000s, it produced $49 billion annually in direct economic output” (Nold). This shows how big the meat industry is in our economy. Keep in mind, these numbers reflect only the beef industry, not including meats such as pork, chickens and other industries that produce meat.