Please Pay for your Pork

In the past week there's been a lot of attention to fast food companies adopting more "ethical" stances towards how the animals that provide their meat are raised. There was Chipotle's commercial that idealized the small, diversified farm over the agribusiness machine. And on the heels of Chipotle was McDonald's recent announcement that they are moving to stop buying pork with origins in gestation crates. I was hesitant to get excited about either of these things, which should seem like good news, but it took me a few days to understand why.

The movement of fast food restaurants towards more humanely-raised meat is good news in one respect. As it is clearly a PR move, it reflects a change in consumer demands, as people are becoming more aware of and caring more about where their food comes from and how it was raised. This, I believe, is a crucial cultural transformation. Of course, McDonald's change is like saying "I'm still going to beat you up, just not while you're pregnant," but that's not even why I find it problematic.

This op-ed article in the New York Times presents one conventional farmer's criticism these recent events. Now, I have a thing for happy, free-range pigs. But I respect this guy too. And I think he's correct when he suggests that these kinds of moves will force some small-scale producers out of the business for the benefit of larger corporate farms. McDonald's (and the consumers that influenced them) didn't say, "We're going to pay more for meat that was produced in a way we like better." Instead, this is one of the unfunded mandates of the corporatocracy. The desire for cheap meat was instrumental in the development of Confined Animal Feeding Operations. If McDonald's and other fast food chains are leading the move away from such practices, who's going to pay for it? I don't think McDonald's is willing to cut into its profits in the interest of doing the right thing, and I don't think the fast food consumer is willing to pay much more either. So the burden will fall on the farmers and unless they are big enough that they can afford to make the demanded changes, many will suffer or go under. If conscientious consumers want to be able to change the way animals are raised for meat (and eggs, and dairy), they ought to first try to respect the farmers and understand why they do things how they do. And then the consumers need to be willing to change themselves, and not just demand change of others. Everyone who eats in implicated in how our food is produced, and thus shares in the responsibility (financial and otherwise) in ensuring it corresponds with their values.

Seed Sovereignty

The question of who owns the seeds is one of the most important challenges faced today by sustainable farmers and anyone who believes that we ought to be able to feed ourselves. There are enough successful examples of leased or squatted land being farmed on to demonstrate that ownership of the land is not necessary. But what would happen if the world's biodiversity were patented and controlled by a few? In short, we would lose the ability to feed ourselves, or at least to control what we ate. Unlike plants, we lack the magical power of photosynthesis, so we are dependent on them, and their reproductive potential, seeds. Saving seeds is the root of agriculture - choosing to propagate the seeds of plants with desirable traits - and it allows farmers autonomy and independence that has been greatly encroached upon in recent years. One of the greatest threats to our independence has come from Monsanto. Not only is Monsanto genetically engineering seeds and then suing the farmers upon whose land their seeds have trespassed, but they are buying up seed companies so that Monsanto "owns" the genetics of much of the popular varieties of plants and can control their presence on the market. It would be simplistic to claim that everything Monsanto does is evil, but the effect of this action is certainly insidious.

I became aware of how great this threat was when I heard a rumor that Johnny's Seeds, a favorite amongst organic growers, had been bought by Monsanto. The rumor was false, as I suspected, because I knew that Johnny's is an employee-owned company and in my experience employee-owned companies occasionally compromise their principles but they don't sell out. However, the rumor was grounded in the fact that some of the seeds Johnny's carries come from Seminis, a seed company that was bought by Monsanto. Johnny's has been very transparent in addressing these rumors, and discuss it on their website. I recommend reading their statement here. They are phasing out all varieties they get from Seminis, and at this point are down to about 18 of them. I sent them an e-mail asking for a list of which varieties, and they quickly responded. While they are putting together the most up-to-date list for me, here is a list as of January 2010:

THE BELOW LIST IS OF SEED VARIETIES SOLD BY JOHNNY'S SEEDS WHICH THEY HAVE GOTTEN FROM SEMINIS, NOW A SUBSIDIARY OF MONSANTO.

103 SIERRA BLANCA onion
224 FREMONT cauliflower
240 HANSEL eggplan
241 GRETEL eggplant
568 BISCAYNE pepper
642 DULCE pepper
733 CELEBRITY tomatoes
2038 KING ARTHUR pepper
2063 BIG BEEF tomatoes
2212 PRIZEWINNER pumpkin
2260 FAIRY TALE eggplant
2309 X3R RED KNIGHT pepper
2365 ORANGE SMOOTHIE pumpkin
2368 PATTY GREEN TINT summer squash
2894 SERRANO DEL SOL pepper
2954 CHEDDAR cauliflower
2991 CANDY onion
122 BEAUFORT tomatoes
2794 GERONIMO tomatoes
2700 MAXIFORT tomatoes
2373 TRUST tomatoes

Given this information, how do you respond? I think the easiest response is to not buy these varieties. But what if you already did? Do you plant to the seeds and pledge to not again purchase them? Or do you chose to not grow them on principle, so that you do not encourage the consumption of varieties linked to Monsanto? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

For other blogs discussing this topic, check out:
http://eatclosetohome.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/monsanto-and-johnnys-seeds/
http://horticulturetalk.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/who-owns-who-where-and-how-monsanto-has-their-sticky-little-fingers-in-the-home-garden-seed-industry-3/

For more on seed sovereignty and seed saving, check out Seed Savers Exchange and Navdanya. I highly recommend the book Stolen Harvest, by Vandava Shiva, a compelling argument for seed sovereignty.