Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
While Mr. Hochschartner’s letter and intentions were well-meaning, it highlights the growing disconnect many people have with their food and its source.
Trying to grow food in labs instead of utilizing the ultimate source of energy — the sun — is not healthier for our bodies or plant. The less processing of food, the better. If you want evidence and research, check out the Weston A. Price Foundation. Is not manufactured meat the ultimate in processed food? The more something is processed, the less health and energy it provides.
Responsible livestock management and grazing have been shown to improve soil health and reverse desertification. Livestock producers here in Whitman County are raising their herds with a vested interest in land management and health. The energy use and carbon footprint of people going to an office to grow test tube meat is more than a steer grazing on pasture.
That grazing steer is not only better for the earth, but is more humane than if that of pasture was growing vegetables. At harvest time, only the steer dies. To grow those vegetables on that one acre, 300 animals are killed — insects, small critters, anything that could damage the perfect leaves or happen to be in the way when another tractor drives over to spray more chemicals meant to kill or grow. That steer will also fertilize the ground, saving the environment from the production and application of more chemicals.
Responsible grazing is better for the environment.
Our current supply and manufacturing struggles highlight the instability of relying on a food product made in a lab. If Whitman County were cut off from the rest of the world, we have livestock to provide food. How would we access this manufactured meat?
The only people who benefit from investment in this food product is the big industry creating it. The same people who have created the chasm between most of the population and their food source and have so made a mess of things that people actually think manufactured meat is better than responsibly managed and sustainably raised livestock.
You want your food to be healthier for yourself, the planet, and the economy? Make friends with a farmer and rancher.
Jana Mathia is a reporter at the Whitman County Gazette.
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