Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The government should get out of subsidizing agriculture,
period. But, of course, the cost of meat, eggs, and milk is more
than exclusively financial, as you're reading in each chapter of this
topic. By focusing solely on making food as cheap as possible,
we have often overlooked the grave environmental costs—which
will some day be hard economic costs—for the low price of animal
products, the cost of our declining rural communities, our health,
and much more.
We need to create an alternative to the current system, which
degrades our environment, our health, the lives of animals and
people, and economies around the world. Because of the agricul-
tural subsidies and the prevailing mindset that our food must cost
as little as possible—consequences be damned—in the United
States, we have both an unethical and unsustainable approach to
producing meat, eggs, and milk. This single approach monopolizes
the way we do things and for many people there is no reasonable
alternative. Instead, they remain in denial about what's happening
with animals. They resist raising their consciousness, resist finding
out more.
But, we're living in a much more transparent world. It's going
to be much more difficult to hide the facts and keep people igno-
rant about what's really going on, so I am actually very optimistic.
I really think we're going to see major changes in the next decade.
One of the things I've learned growing Whole Foods Market is
that you have to think bigger and think better. Continuing to act
like factory-farmed meat, eggs, and milk cost only what they're
marked on the shelf is good for none of us. We have to think cre-
atively about our food and incorporate animal welfare and respon-
sible farming practices into the calculations when we look at the
real costs. The good news is that in the process, we will save much
more than money alone.
