This is appalling...
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I haven't watched it all, but I get the gist. It's sick. Pumping an animal full of hormones so it produces more meat, altbeit tasteless meat, just so a farmer can line his pockets quicker (or more likely, just survive!!) and a family can afford to eat is just sick to the core.
The owners of the land ("farmers" - also called producers in the industrial farm system) are mostly just surviving. It is the processors who make the money (and there are just a few large companies). The system is vertically integrated - processors own the animals, control the feed, control the methods of raising the animals, control the housing the animals are kept in so that the farmers have to take out loans in order to have the housing and any other equipment they are required to have by contract with the processors. The only things the typical farmers in this system own are the land, the animal waste, and the animals who don't make it to slaughter. They are definitely just surviving. It is nearly impossible for a modern day farmer to survive without signing a contract with a processor.0 -
I have 2 CSA memberships, buy from our Coop and get all raw dairy, beef, chicken, eggs and pork from local sources.
We go to the market, Target and Wal-mart for nominal items - toilet paper, paper towels, etc.
My sister and I have also taken to making soap, shampoo, deodrant, cleaning supplies and such from home. We use soap nuts for laundry.
We have a CSA membership and local supply for raw milk, beef, chicken, eggs, etc. We use soap nuts, too, and the liquid soap nuts for laundry. (My daughter loves the savings at college of not having to use typical laundry detergents! She just tosses in her bag of soap nuts.)
I also get good grains to grind my own flour to make my bread. We make butter and yogurt from the raw milk. This year my plan is to raise our own organically fed chickens for our meat. (Comes out to about $2/lb incl everything from start to freezer.)
It's a necessity to know what's in our food and how it's processed!0 -
I buy organic milk because I find the thought of pus etc in my milk revolting, and I buy organic carrots and onions for their better flavour, and organic eggs when I can - and if I can't then I buy free range. I make my own bread, cakes and some biscuits because that avoids additives and I know what is going into them and I can adjust sugar levels if I wish. Other than that, organic food is quite expensive, and it really has to make a difference nutritionally and/or flavour-wise to justify the cost in these increasingly-harder times. 0 -
The farmers are not getting the money, most farmers are barely surviving and borrowing money that these corporations tell them they need to do to make changes..............It is the corporations like Cargill, Monsanto, etc.
Watch Food Inc.
Sad but true. Great documentary to watch btw..0 -
That's great. If you can afford it. And I don't have a clothes budget I can pull from. Very, very unrealistic for most of us.
Very true. I buy organic when it's affordable, I don't when it's not. Organic beef, turkey or pork is not available anywhere in my area. Organic chicken is available but is more than twice the price of non-organic. So I stick to that labeled no atibiotics used (it's illegal for poultry to be raise on hormones in the US).
The nearest farm coop is a 4 hour drive. I buy from the farmer's market, but my town is small so it's all small local farmers and nothing is labeled organic, and likely very little of it is. It's actually pretty expensive for a farmer to get and maintain the certified organic label. I grow as many vegetables as I can myself.
I buy wild caught fish.0 -
Oh ya..watch the video..maybe it will make you realize what the OP is saying!!!That's great. If you can afford it. And I don't have a clothes budget I can pull from. Very, very unrealistic for most of us.0 -
I always buy organic milk, eggs and meat. To me it is worth it, and they just taste better!
No, no , no!!! A hen who has laid an organic egg hasn't necessarily lived a good or healthy life, she's just been fed "organic" feed. The eggs need to be organic AND free range.
In the US, organic chicken is free range. Certified organic means animals are fed organic feed, allowed access to the outdoors and not given antibiotics or growth hormones. The 'free range' label only means that birds have access to the outdoors, but regulations do not say how often and for how long.
Organic is not free range. Animals that are raised "organic" can be given certain antibiotics for therapeutic reasons. Animals must be provided some access to the outdoors, but this can be incredibly limited access and still qualify as "organic." It's more about the feed, growth hormones, and limiting antibiotics than about access to the outdoors. There are no US regulations for "free range."0 -
Seeing programs like these is what started me making changes. I'm far from perfect when it comes to clean eating. But I do like to make sure my meats are all hormone and anti-biotic free. My grocery store has a great line of Nature's Basket products. It's a few dollars more but if I can afford it anyone can. For a buck here and a buck there I really think it's worth it.0
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That's great. If you can afford it. And I don't have a clothes budget I can pull from. Very, very unrealistic for most of us.
Exactly this. I don't take trips to the salon or tend to purchase new clothes and shoes. I do what I can, when I can but taking the moral high ground is easy when you have any sort of disposable income.0 -
If you can't afford organic meat/dairy/eggs, eat less of those things, then it will be more likely that you can afford it when you do eat them. In grad school, on a limited budget, I became a vegetarian because I couldn't afford organic and humanely raised meat, and I didn't miss it. I spent the money I saved on small amounts of organic dairy and eggs. Now I'm largely vegan, while my husband eats only organic dairy and eggs (and rarely a little meat). I buy local and organic produce when I can and it makes sense to do so (e.g. I always eat organic apples, since they're a high pesticide food, and always "non-gmo" soy, but will buy local conventionally grown melon). It takes a little more planning and effort, but it's worth it.
I do need to put the time into making my own shampoo, etc.0 -
Oh ya..watch the video..maybe it will make you realize what the OP is saying!!!That's great. If you can afford it. And I don't have a clothes budget I can pull from. Very, very unrealistic for most of us.
I've seen the video before. Seen Food, Inc. Read John Robbin's Diet for a New America. Watched Morgan Spurlock. I'm not uneducated about these issues. But sometimes you have to get over it. When you're unemployed or living on food stamps, it's simply not an option. It's the best I can do to buy frozen vegetables and any sort of meat. When I do pick up something at my local co-op, I see people walking out with $200 bills with hardly anything in their bags. $200 is my budget a /month/ for /two/ people. I'm simply saying that despite the horrors, which most of us know about, it's not viable for most of the population. /shrug0 -
I always buy organic milk, eggs and meat. To me it is worth it, and they just taste better!
No, no , no!!! A hen who has laid an organic egg hasn't necessarily lived a good or healthy life, she's just been fed "organic" feed. The eggs need to be organic AND free range.
"Free range" is a loose, generic term. All it means is at some point in the day the hen door was left open for a certain amount of time to allow the hens to get the chance to get out. There is no regulation so it can be anywhere from 10 mins on up and it doesn't actually mean the hens ran around all day or even at all.0 -
Didn't watch the video. But, In the winter we almost never eat organic anything. During the summer, we get all our fruits, veggies, eggs, milk(sometimes) and Breads(sometimes) from the local farmers market! Money is also a big issue for me as i'm in college. I don't just have extra mony to spend on organic food0
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I barely drink cows ilk at all anymore, i have mostly switched to almond, and it tastes better! if I do drink milk it is organic for sure !0
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Why does everyone like soy milk so much? My understanding is that all soy is now gmo, and corn is pretty close to all gmo, too. If you don't like your local hormone free dairy, drink water. But please, enough with the soy milk campaign.
I also sympathize with the folks who live outside of major metropolitan areas...I lived in an area with one or two major groceries which carried crap, and our local farmers had a short season, so from November to May we had to depend on the major chains, and it was horrible. Our choices were either really bad old produce from who knows where or frozen. I bet there are many folks in the same situation, and I'm grateful to be back with in an area with great local/regional produce, meat, and dairy. And where our own garden can provide almost year-round goodies. I suspect someone, somewhere, has mapped obesity on an overlay of available produce across the country to show that we will get fat if all we have is fast food and no good groceries.
I am also skeptical of some of the organic claims, there's just too much money to be made to avoid corruption. It's really big business. Too bad we can't all just grow our own or buy from our trustworthy neighbors.0 -
I always buy organic milk, eggs and meat. To me it is worth it, and they just taste better!
No, no , no!!! A hen who has laid an organic egg hasn't necessarily lived a good or healthy life, she's just been fed "organic" feed. The eggs need to be organic AND free range.
In the US, organic chicken is free range. Certified organic means animals are fed organic feed, allowed access to the outdoors and not given antibiotics or growth hormones. The 'free range' label only means that birds have access to the outdoors, but regulations do not say how often and for how long.
Organic is not free range. Animals that are raised "organic" can be given certain antibiotics for therapeutic reasons. Animals must be provided some access to the outdoors, but this can be incredibly limited access and still qualify as "organic." It's more about the feed, growth hormones, and limiting antibiotics than about access to the outdoors. There are no US regulations for "free range."
Um, yeah, that's what I said. Organic is free range, because they must have access to the outside, which is the only US regulation for free range. But there is no regulation on how long for either. If you care about the animals you really want to find "Animal Welfare Approved" meats, which specifies:
-- Animals have access to the outdoors.
-- No cages or crates are used.
-- Growth hormones and sub-therapeutic antibiotics (antibiotics used to prevent disease rather than cure disease) are not allowed.
-- Some surgical mutilations are prohibited, such as beak trimming and wing clipping. Others, such as castration, are allowed.
But good luck finding it.0 -
I have just recently made the change to organic for my family and myself and I have to say, it's really not that much more expensive. Especially if you think about what you're NOT consuming. In the end, for my family and me, it's totally worth it and I will not go back. If you can stop buying all the prepackaged, processed foods and turn to organic whole foods, you will save money!0
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Why does everyone like soy milk so much? My understanding is that all soy is now gmo, and corn is pretty close to all gmo, too. If you don't like your local hormone free dairy, drink water. But please, enough with the soy milk campaign.
In the U.S., by law, GMO products cannot be labeled organic. It's not fool-proof, and there has been some documented cross-over of crops, but in general, organic soy should not be GMO. Also, some conventional farmers are also still growing non-GMO soy, although it is less common. I personally think soy milk is disgusting, but to each their own. (I'll keep my almond milk.)0 -
I buy organic milk, free range chicken & eggs (it's more important for them to be free range than organic, IMO), grass fed beef, and I try to buy as local as I possibly can, as often as I can.
I nearly cried in the grocery store last night because all I wanted to do was buy my toddler corn dogs, like he asked for, but EVERY BRAND at *Hen House* had "mechanically separated meat" as an ingredient. I went and bought him local, grass fed beef hot dogs.
Luckily, I live in the midwest and can get local veggies, meat and dairy at a decent price. There are, however, many foods you don't NEED to buy organic, like for example, oranges and bananas. Their skins protect them from pesticides. However, I will never, ever, ever buy non-organic apples.0 -
Why does everyone like soy milk so much?
I like it because it tastes better than cow's milk. Organic soy milk is guaranteed not to be gmo in the US.0
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