Friday, August 7, 2009

The Omnivore’s Delusion

Some thoughts on the modern "agri-intellectual" movement from the perspective of a farmer. An excerpt:

Lynn Niemann was a neighbor of my family's, a farmer with a vision. He began raising turkeys on a field near his house around 1956. They were, I suppose, what we would now call "free range" turkeys. Turkeys raised in a natural manner, with no roof over their heads, just gamboling around in the pasture, as God surely intended. Free to eat grasshoppers, and grass, and scratch for grubs and worms. And also free to serve as prey for weasels, who kill turkeys by slitting their necks and practicing exsanguination. Weasels were a problem, but not as much a threat as one of our typically violent early summer thunderstorms. It seems that turkeys, at least young ones, are not smart enough to come in out of the rain, and will stand outside in a downpour, with beaks open and eyes skyward, until they drown.

Read the rest here.

1 comment:

Anna said...

Wow, what a great article! I was raised on an old school farm and I totally agree with the author, about how the "organic", "free-range" fad is a dangerous delusion. I can attest to the accuracy of the article.

However, on your other blog didn't you just recently post an article about your moral issues with eating industrial meat? I am curious about why you found this article to be interesting. Is it because it is another view about farming?