Cal Poly Battle Between Big Beef & Happy Meat
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From the Washington Post:
When Michael Pollan published “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” in 2006, he became an overnight hero for the sustainable food movement. Now he’s taking on a new role: lightning rod.
Pollan’s scheduled speech Thursday at California Polytechnic has raised the ire of Harris Ranch Beef Company, an industrial-sized feedlot and meat-processing operation based in Selma, Calif. Company chairman David E. Wood, an alumnus of Cal Poly, objected to giving Pollan “an unchallenged forum to promote his stand on conventional agricultural practices” and threatened to withdraw a promised corporate $500,000 donation for a meat-processing facility on campus.
From the San Luis Obispo Tribune:
Cal Poly’s Dean of Agriculture David Wehner said various options were on the table for the talk, including a panel discussion and that Pollan ultimately agreed to the panel format.
On the panel with Pollan will be Earthbound Organic Farm founder Myra Goodman and Colorado State University professor Gary Smith, who’s known for advocating conventional farming methods. [...]
Harris Ranch, based in Selma in the Central Valley, is the 15th largest beef processor in the country.
Also from the Tribune:
From New Times (the San Luis Obsispo weekly) letters:
if President Baker and the College of Agriculture are truly interested in presenting a “full range of ideas” where on this panel is the representative for the animals? Where does “sustainable” really come in? Both Pollan and the meat-science expert have no problem with killing animals for food, even though research shows that all animal agriculture is damaging to the environment. Don’t believe me? Check out Mike Tidwell, environmentalist, writing in Audubon Magazine: “. . . But with global warming, here’s the inconvenient truth about meat and dairy products: If you eat them, regardless of their origin and how they were produced, you significantly contribute to climate change. Period. If your beef is from New Zealand or your own backyard, if your lamb is organic free-range or factory farmed, it still has a negative impact on global warming.”
Tidwell’s well-reasoned discussion on this subject can be found in the Jan-Feb 2009 issue of Audubon or at audubonmagazine.org/features0901/viewpoint.html.
Emphasis added.
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