At various points in my life I’ve been vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan or a meat eater. There is no doubting for me , at least, I am healthier eating meat (occasionally, not for every meal). I realise this is highly likely down to my inability to control my diet sufficiently well as a vegan or vegetarian to include enough protein and energy rich foods, and I fully respect those who don’t eat meat or dairy for ethical, environmental or health reasons. I would like to be able to occasionally eat some high quality meat, produced in an ethical way where the animal has not unduly suffered. This is nigh-on impossible to find however, if you count slaughter houses in your reckoning.
Food and technology has a somewhat simple relationship it seems, it’s about driving down costs at scale. This is where the money is, so is not surprising in the slightest. Let’s take a look at some of the problems and how we can rectify them…
The problem with Salmon farming
Salmon farming is a good case to look into. At the supermarket (at least my local one) it’s virtually 100% farmed salmon and says lots of good things on the labels about being sustainable and kinder to wild salmon populations and the like, but dig a bit deeper and you see the actual reason it’s all farmed. Money, with little regard to ethics, sustainability, environment or wild salmon welfare. First let’s take a look at the potential benefits for producers:
- Highly intensive and quick – you can cram a lot of salmon in a small space and feed them up quick with high carb, low cost foods
- Ability to control genetics of the salmon to maximise profitability – like CAFO chickens where they are bred to produce oversize breasts
- Ability to raise salmon for market quicker – through genetics or additives like growth hormones potentially
As you surmise these are very effective at increasing profitability and control of supply. However, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, wherever they are farmed it has a huge impact on the environment:
- Since the salmon are all crammed in with not a lot of room for exercise (or at least not jumping up rivers anyway), and they are fed low cost food, it’s a breeding ground for diseases and bacterial infections etc – these spread to wild salmon populations
- The low quality feed in vast quantities enters the water where they are farmed causing water quality issues
- The farmed Salmon, as they are highly concentrated in small areas and are eating food to fatten them quick, causes vast amounts of waste, further polluting the water
- Some of these farmed salmon escape and breed with wild salmon, decreasing the quality of Salmon stock
- Mass use of toxic chemicals is allowed to be used to control fungal and bacterial infections – this is in open water and impacts not just the farmed salmon
There’s some more detail in this article on the impact of Salmon farming
The mass production of Chicken, Beef and Pork products are all well documented too, as is health impacts of processed meats (ps. definitely causes cancer).
It all comes down to one thing again, money. Reducing costs to increase profits first, whilst getting away with the minimum nod to welfare and environmental concerns. As I’ve already said in the Neo Luddite article this is human nature, as there is no direct emotionally invested experience for decision makers of the effects of their decisions (only the benefits for them), it’s not going to change anytime soon unless there is a fundamental shift in food systems and farming.
Supply chain visibility
So how could you solve this? One thought is to use technology to provide extreme visibility into where your food comes from and how it is produced. If you could livestream where your salmon is farmed, or the places where it is caught (and how), the utilities it went through and where it ended up you could perhaps convince people of the imperative of better farming and have them vote with their feet. Of course there is no incentive for producers to provide this unless compelled (or imposed by an independent authority) but this would have least impact on economic systems.
The case for growing your own
I know I mentioned I have no interest in returning to an Amish style existence elsewhere but the only way to restore an emotional bond with food is to produce it yourself – anyone that has grown their own vegetables knows their tastier (not modified for longevity and toughness over flavour) and you are vastly more accepting of any aesthetic flaws, you’ll eat it however it looks as opposed to when buying produce. If you had to look after the animals before eating them you would definitely ensure they had a good existence and ate quality food (after all it’s going into you in the end). As for mass feeding antibiotics to reduce illness when overcrowding (and grow animals quicker) plus additives like growth hormones this just would not happen. It’d be totally repugnant to most people to raise animals in this way without adequate conditions and care. It’s just crazy that we’ll happily buy shrink wrapped meats that are produced in like this and not care – but then there’s that emotional disconnect again.
Technology could be used in such a positive way here to find innovative vertical farming methods and or provide consumers with actual choice and visibility, but there’s no profit in that. In fact people spending time growing food and working less, reducing the amount of money sloshing around the system and generally being healthier and happier (and therefore not requiring as much long term medication and comfort eating/purchasing) is downright hostile to the current economic models that sustain our societies.
I would like to think change can come as a result of now poisoning ourselves and our environment, but some days it’s hard to see a way.
