From an article titled “Food Fight” in Utne Reader:

One of the most interesting social movements to emerge in the past few years is the “food movement,” or perhaps I should say “movements,” since it is unified as yet by little more than the recognition that industrial food production is in need of reform because its social/environmental/public health/animal welfare/gastronomic costs are too high. [...]

the food movement coalesces around the recognition that today’s food and farming economy is “unsustainable”—that it can’t go on in its current form much longer without courting a breakdown of some kind, whether it be environmental, economic, or both.

There are three major reasons why we need agribusiness reform:

Environmental: Michael Pollan, the author of the Utne Reader article, tells us “The food system consumes more fossil fuel energy than we can count on in the future and emits more greenhouse gas than we can afford to emit.”

Health: Pollan says, “the American diet of highly processed food laced with added fats and sugars is responsible for the epidemic of chronic diseases that threatens to bankrupt the health care system.”

Animal Suffering: Pollan’s article barely scratches at the surface of the issue and calls for “smaller-scale, more humane animal agriculture.” That’s a worthy goal if you care just enough about animals to ensure their suffering is limited. But if you’re interested in eliminating animal suffering in animal agriculture then vegan is the way to go.

Pollan’s priorities might be a bit screwed up when it comes to animals, but he is 100% right about one thing: we are not a unified movement. Is this a problem because it keeps the varied factions from working together? Or is it all right because it’s a multi-pronged approach that ensures virtually everyone has a reason to abolish factory farming? What do you think?

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