Reform Crop and Animal Subsidies

CAFO's basically have their own coupons written out to them from good old Uncle Sam. The grains used to feed the animals in the farms is reduced in price due to subsidies. Tax payer dollars make corn less valuable than the cost of production. States how we should stop subsidizing commodity crops and promote organic grown animals. Require a pasture for organic certified animals, reduce or phase out corn oil subsidies which is the leading cause of distiller grains being in animals diets due to remarkably low prices.

EQIP: meant to be given to farms that par take conservation practices. During1996 the cap per year was $10,000 and it could not be spent on building animal waste storage facilities. IN 2002 the limit was removed and it was made easier for factory farms to receive money. It was very possible for a CAFO to receive $450,000 in one year from EQIP also now they could spend the money on building waste storage facilities.

Instead of giving money to help the already huge CAFOs grow it should be used to promote conservation in an attempt to protect our slowly deteriorating environment. Put EQIP ccaps back into place and restrict who receives the money. Use livestock size, type, manure amount, and funding size as regulations to reduce any subsidies that the CAFOs may receive.

See Krystalee's blog for more information

Species specific welfare provisions within the EU

In Europe, factory faming is now being brought into the public eye. There are reforms concerning the well being of the animals that are improving the quality of life for pigs, poultry, cows, calfs and piglets. The immense number of animals produced by factory farms is being limited in the EU because it makes giving the animals proper treatment significantly easier.  For piglets they are increasing the age at which they are weaned, and making tail trimming and castration less painful. Veal crates are all together being banned. The animals are being given the few simple needs they are deprived of in the U.S. i.e. space to move around, stand up, and spread their limbs instead of just sitting or standing in the same spot all day long. Besides better farming practices the EU also has better methods of slaughter. It requires the animals to have sufficient physical comfort, a smaller threat to spread disease, proper amounts of feed and water and last but not least the person who slaughters the animals must have a certificate of competency. Meaning it must be a person who can slaughter animals properly, while in the U.S. we hire illegal immigrants to either make a cut overr and over or load the killing machine.  

See Lilly's and Dionne's blog for more info

Citation

 "Meatpacking ranks among the most dangerous jobs in the country. For all this, an employee can make perhaps $7 or $8 an hour. But the work requires neither education nor skill, nor much command of English--just a willingness to work hard. Not surprisingly, there are many native-born Americans who don't want jobs like that. There are, however, a lot of immigrants who do" (Gurwitt, Rob, and Wilson Quarterly).


"Keepin The Heart In The Heartland." http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=949d7408-0f6b-46cf-9c65-35202a4ded2b%40sessionmgr113&vid=17&hid=110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=980948.  Rob Gurwitt, Copyright 1998. 29 Nov. 2011

Blog 5

To the CAFO system animal life to them means nothing besides something they can profit off of. Human life is two groups for them, the workers who can be ignored and the consumers which purchase their product. I would assume life is organized by value in dollars. Human workers get paid minimally, chickens are worth x while turkeys are worth x and pigz are worth z. There is no significance in life to the corporations that are the CAFOs, that is as long as it isn't their own. They value themselves and money. Consequences in health for the animals is a high rate of becoming sick and put through numerous hardships. Animals in all CAFOs have to sit in their own feces and besides having to sit in it their feces can cause massive environmental problems. In 2002 a deadzone within the Golf of Mexico was created by nutrients from animal waste and at its peak it stretched 8,500 square miles. All these animals in close quarters is a cesspool for disease. In the U.S. 29 million pounds of antibiotics are put into animal feed each year to speed up growth and fight disease. This contributes to the growth of resistant bacteria that can't be treated with antibiotics due to widespread use in animals. Factory farming will literally kill the animals before they get to slaughter if they are not given antibiotics. The method in which they are raised literally kills them. Neighbors of Factory farms have in been recorded to die from the immense amount of air pollution from a hog farm. Hog waste emits hydrogen sulfide, this gas can create flu-like symptoms and can cause brain damage. Hydrogen sulfide released from hog waste has be recorded to kill 19 people. If it kills humans who live near the factory farms what about the animals that live in the factory farms??

blog 3: The End of Overeating

The End of Overeating is about the epidemic that is hitting America hard. Obesity is running rampant and the food is leading cause. Food is so processed that it is so hard to find food that is actually organic. Food gets its taste from a factory in New Jersey, they create the chemicals that make our food taste so good. McDonald's is a good example of this, their foods all taste the same, but it is high in fat, sugar, and salt which to our brains is like taking drugs. The pleasure response is so great that we want to keep eating and we gorge on food until we are stuffed. Our appetite is smaller than the amount of food we actually eat, we just continue to eat because it is pleasurable. It goes from palatable to Hyper-palatable, in plain English it goes from food that tastes good to food that tastes so good we can't stop eating it. Tests on rats show food with high fat and high sugar is chosen more than cocaine. Both are put in front of them and the rats choose fat and sugar more, its addicting and it tastes good. The ability to control our eating habits soon may no longer be ours.

Blog 4 : Farm to fridge

 Farm to fridge stated everything we had read and more. It stated and showed the multiple killing methods, some we did not read about. It went through all the meat groups and dairy in how they are raised in conditions that are literally torturing the animal. They are brutally killed when their decreased lifespans end. The ability to see whats happening makes it hit home so much more. We can hear about misery all day and not be affected in any way. The difference when you see it is you can see the misery and loss of all hope. The animals are all scared so it makes you react how it should. We don't see it so we can ignore it, show it to us and some won't even be able to watch. It makes you think about what you are eating. Its no longer a hamburger, it is now an animal that was inhumanely raised and slaughtered that you can put a picture to in your head. The video takes all the reading we had and puts it into a 4 minute visual exposure and information. Anyone can watch a 4 minute video because most people are to impatient to read a large amount of text. It makes you realize when  you're eating how unhealthy and repulsive the thing you're eating is. It sends a message plain and simple.

Blog #2 Contradiction.

In Chapter 6 we learn about the cattle industry and the major companies that own the main slaughterhouses. It had went from a buisness to an over all monopoly. I.B.P was attempting to conduct business with butchers in New York but they were union butchers so they did not accept the packaged meat that was already cut and made by non-union laborers. Instead of conducting buisness they payed the mob 5 cents off of every ten pounds to force to butchers to purchase the meat from IBP. That is not business, that is saying you buy my products or you're gonna get hurt physically and finacially. That is a contradiction, you can't call yourself a buisness when you're running a meat market dictatorship. "Currier J. Holman agreed to pay the five-cent commision, and the leaders of the New York's butchers union promptly withdrew their objections to IBP's boxed beef"(Schlosser 155). Forced to buy their beef with a smile.