I can hear the chatter already..."I don't eat a lot of red meat", or "I prefer chicken" or "I'm a vegetarian"...
That's totally fine. I was a vegetarian for a while. Your body, your choice.
Truth is, it's even better if you don't eat commercially produced beef. Staying away from it is better for the environment and it's better for your health. I say that because eating beef produced in CAFO's (confined animal feed operations) is problematic - on SOOOO many levels.
BUT....
Eating pasture raised beef that you purchase from your local farmer is a whole different beast.
This episode isn't just me yammering on about why beef is bad for you, because I don't think it really is "bad". I think the way beef is raised, slaughtered, processed, packaged and distributed in our current supply chain is bad - for everyone.
It's not just bad because I say so...I don't think that highly of what I say and neither should you. And if you know anything about me by now, you know that you should do your own research and do what's right for you. :)
However, we cannot ignore the facts. Raising thousands of cattle in EACH of the 450,000 CAFO's in the United States on a 100% corn and soy diet for their entire lives, is not good. The ethical and environmental argument justifying what goes on in the beef industry isn't much better.
In fact, it is much, much worse.
There's the poop problem that environmentalists tout as one of the biggest reasons for "climate change" and human health outbreaks. There's the water issue that the same crowd is reeling against, especially during the drought here in the West. There's the issue of egregious worker violations at play in these massive processing plants. There's the lasting pandemic impacts that are still debilitating the supply chain. There's the market manipulation of pricing and stock futures...Oh, and of course, there's the proposed laws threatening the eradication of the "little guys".
Yeah, proposed initiatives that would immediately render small livestock farmers (like me), felons.
But I digress...this isn't about me.
It's about choice. It's about control. It's about beef being responsible for a plethora of products that you use...EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
And for all you vegetarians...SPOILER ALERT...
Just because you don't eat beef, doesn't mean you don't use beef (or pork or chicken) byproducts in your daily life. Because you do. You'll have to listen to the episode to hear the details, but the bigger issue isn't whether we should eat beef or not.
The bigger issue is whether we will be able to choose to eat (real) beef at all.
Well, I'll give you a refresher...
The bigger issue is about control of our food by billionaires, and replacing the beef (chicken, pork and fish) industry in 10 years or less with lab grown meat. That alone should have you thinking...what plastic synthetics will replace the beef byproducts that are used in the medical, cosmetics and fashion industries....?
Who knows. In ten years, you might end up, like the three little old ladies in the 1984 Wendy's commercial, asking yourself..."where's the beef?" |
