An Inside Job...

One might think that a vegan has no business working with livestock farmers, for many vegans this is true and would be a repugnant undertaking…BUT this particular vegan wants to change the way agricultural livestock, destined for the food chain, is raised, and as I see it the best way I can do this is to work within the system and not against it.

So how did all of this happen?  In early 2011 I read a book by Jonathan Saffran Foer Eating Animals, which shocked me to the core.  I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about what goes on behind the closed doors of factory farming, that’s why I gave up eating meat quite a few years ago.  Well, according to Foer’s book it was everything I knew exponentiated.  I was so disturbed by what I read I wanted to tell everyone I met about the ‘horrors’ of factory farming, I wanted to go into the streets waving a banner, distribute pamphlets with graphic photographs in restaurants, and be a general nuisance at fast food chains and the like…but I didn’t…

Instead I ‘became’ a fully-fledged vegan because I didn’t know what else to do, I just knew I couldn’t participate in the meat and dairy industry any longer.  Eventually I realized that just being vegan wasn’t enough, and to get everyone I knew to become a vegan would not only be inadequate but would be impossible: I had to be pro-active. We live in a meat eating culture  - meat has become the staple of the Western diet rather than an adjunct, so I needed to figure out a way to help bring about change to the current system of producing meat.  If I expounded the vegan way to the general public then most people would cover their ears and eyes and refuse to look and listen, or would say “thanks for the information…but no thanks!”  BECAUSE – one: I have shattered their ‘sacred cow’ (pun intended) by telling them that Farmer John and his happy farm with happy cows somewhere in rural America is for the most part a myth, and the story of Farmer John is a lot dirtier…  two, I then inform them that the only way to change the current system of factory farming is to stop eating meat entirely. In this situation preaching veganism is going to be as effective as a lead balloon. What I also realized was that my running away from the meat industry would not change anything, and at some level was tantamount to abandoning farming livestock to the abuses of industrialized meat production.  So I had to confront this head-on: and so VITAL AWARENESS was born: an animal welfare and humane farming advocacy group founded with my ethical omnivore cohort Kate March, its motto - ‘If we are going to eat meat then let’s do it right’.   At VITAL AWARENESS we believe that changing the system is two-fold: firstly, we need to educate consumers about the reality of ‘factory farmed’ meat; secondly, proactively provide a solution by promoting humane livestock agriculture.

This is not an argument about whether it is ethical or not to raise and kill animals for food, neither is an argument about whether or not we are biologically adapted to eat meat – my argument is pure and simple - we just do and that isn’t going to change any time soon.  In point of fact globally we are eating more and more meat each year, due in large part to cultures whose diets were mainly vegetarian now embracing the carnivorous habits of the West.  As an example, with the rise of a new middle class in China the appetite for meat is growing daily, particularly for pork, and factory farms are springing up in many parts of China, and in the USA almost thirty percent of pork produced is exported to China. Now more than ever we need to be looking at how our meat is produced and be a voice for the billions of livestock slaughtered each year for food, and ensure that we are ‘doing it right’.

So that’s why a vegan is working with livestock farmers; we need to give support to those who are doing it right. So this vegan is engaging with the meat eating culture, and through VITAL AWARENESS is educating the public about the unhealthy impact of factory farming, and most importantly promoting humane livestock farmers.  We work with, not against farmers and ranchers; we SUPPORT and PROMOTE the livestock farmers who are raising their animals humanely and sustainably.  It is only through mutual support and respect that we can get the consumers on board so that as a tour de force we can collectively change the face of the food industry.

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Humane, Sustainable, and Local:Hawaiian Style

BULLY’S BURGERS  

 On a remote road in Ka’naio Maui HI, at the foot of the mountain of Haleakala, there is quite literally a burger joint...actually more of a shack!  Sandwiched between the craggy terrain of the mountainside and the ocean waves pounding on the volcanic rocks, there it sits on the edge of the unpaved highway.  This was the dream of Louis “Bully” De Pointe Jr. - to sell 100% homemade local beef burgers right off his ranch, Triple L. Unfortunately "Bully" died before he realized his dream so his wife Paige, children, and grandchildren made it happen.  “Bully” De Pointe, described as a “bull-riding cattle rancher” was a true cowboy or as they are referred to in Hawaii Paniolo, but without a doubt at Triple L Ranch he was committed to pasture raised, pasture finished beef and in keeping it local, and this is the tradition continued by his family.   The beef in the burgers is supplied by the cattle that wander on this tough terrain surrounding the burger shack, and it has been suggested that perhaps a beef connoisseur might be able to taste the volcanic minerals in the meat – referred to by gastronomes as terroir - meaning that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place, interact with the plant's genetics, infusing it with the taste and flavour of the region,  which in this case is passed on to the animals that eat the plants. Not having sampled the beef (it doesn’t feature on my vegan plan) I can’t attest to the terroir in the beef, but it is available for purchase on-line so you could test it for yourself… but I think I can pretty much guarantee that it won’t taste nearly the same grilled in Missouri or Georgia as it will grilled on the edge of an old lava flow in Maui – that’s where you will taste the terrain, the terroir. After all it’s about keeping it local.  So for a great day out – take a tour of the Triple L Ranch, horseback style, take in the breath taking rugged scenery on this side of the island, then finish off with a burger and a beer at “Bully’s”– this truly is 'farm to table' …no mistake.                                                                                                                                                                                                  
The tragedy is that Triple L Ranch is referred to as one of the “Last Free Range Frontiers” in Maui, and it really is – ‘Big Agricultural’ producers have got a huge foothold in the agriculture of Maui and the other Hawaiian islands – open field testing of GMO crops is already in full swing (with the blessing of government) and much of the meat is imported from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) on the mainland. 

This latter aspect is especially sad given the fact that the Hawaiian Islands have a rich history in ranching and Paniolos (cowboys).   It all got started in 1798 with five black longhorn cattle brought to Big Island by a British naval explorer Captain George Vancouver. The cattle were in such poor condition when they were brought ashore that the then King, Kamehameha I, declared them kapu (taboo) and allowed them to freely range the island.  Well life must have been good for those longhorns from thereon because they multiplied…and they multiplied, and began to overrun the Hawaiian range.  With the arrival of horses in 1803 and an abundance of free-roaming cattle, Mexican vaqueros (expert horsemen) were contracted onto the island to help round up the cattle  - they arrived with boots and saddles (and ukuleles) and taught the locals to ride horses and rope cattle – and ranching began.  Apparently, thanks to the vaqueros, Hawaiians were roping cattle before the ‘Wild West’ cowboys over on the mainland.  A hearty trade in beef, tallow and hide ensued with the trading ships that visited the island and beef ranching became lucrative.   The history of ranching in the Hawaiian Islands has a variance from island to island, but the gist is the same: once upon a time ranches dominated the islands, and meat was local and profitable; but now apart from the odd ranch here or there ranching is in now only to be found in the annals of Hawaiian history records, and is no longer a viable market.  Most working ranches rely on agri-tourism to stay in business.                                                                                                              
Today with the 1.5 million residents on the eight main islands and a steady inflow of tourists demanding meat why has there been a dramatic decline in beef ranches in Hawaii?  In my opinion it’s a difficult one to pinpoint – I can suggest three possible reasons – one is the boom of the sugar industry in the 1900s, and the commercialization of pineapple plantations in the last century. However the flaw in this argument, as I see it, is that sugar and pineapples are grown on the flat lands of the islands and there is still a good few thousand acres of rough territory that is unsuitable for growing crops but is perfect for ranching.  The second reason is modernization bringing with it urbanization, the growth of the tourist industry, and the decline of the true Paniolo. The third and undeniable reason is that many folk want food cheap and fast - when one sees the huge queues of tourists and locals waiting for tables at the Cheesecake Factory at Waikiki, Oahu, one realizes that many people aren’t interested in local, they want uniformity with the same menu and same prices that they can get from Milwaukie to Boston, the kind of uniformity that only factory meat can provide.  

                                                                        

MERRIMAN'S RESTAURANTS
As in many other States in the USA there is a glimmer of hope, some folks are getting savvy and passionate about locally grown and there are pockets of like-minded individuals in the islands who want to turn agriculture around. One such individual is Peter Merriman; over the last twenty-five years he has been influential in the ‘farm to table’ movement in the Hawaiian food scene though his chain of local sustainable restaurants, from his pizza place on Big Island to his fine dining in Kapalua on Maui.  As mentioned previously for the last few decades pineapples and sugar have dominated the agricultural landscape and the majority of fresh produce is shipped into the Islands from the mainland. Chef Peter saw such a wasted potential in the rich volcanic soils of the islands and along with a group of other like-minded chefs encouraged farmers to start growing fruits and vegetables by guaranteeing them a market – ‘farm to restaurant'. 

Merriman's Kapalua, Maui

Ninety percent of the food served in Merriman’s restaurants is locally raised or grown. On the face of it this seems exemplary but, without under mining Peter Merriman’s commitment, why shouldn’t it be this way given the richness and diversity of the soil, terrain and geology of the Hawaiian Islands, and not forgetting the perfect growing climate.

Mr. Merriman’s commitment to healthy local food doesn’t end in the kitchens of his restaurants, he is also a philanthropist in the Hawaiian community - he is the pioneer of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine Movement, he offers the Merriman’s Culinary Scholarship for would-be chefs, and for over 25 years has been dedicated to giving back to the local communities, donating to multiple non-profit organizations through charity dinners, gift certificate donations, fundraisers and participation in local charity events.                             
We need many more Peter Merrimans…but even more we need responsible consumers, who demand sustainably and locally grown produce  - if we provide the demand then the market will follow  - guaranteed!                                                                                                                                   

                                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~

AFTERWORD: the Hawaiian Islands are a place of natural beauty but are sickeningly becoming a concrete pile of ugliness.  Like many places of natural beauty people tear up what nature has bestowed, to replace with concrete, in the case of the Hawaiian Islands, big hotels, strip malls and fast food restaurants. The islands of this planet are playgrounds for those who can afford it and in the case of Hawaii badly exploited by the USA government - first by the military when the small island of Kahoʻolawe was used as a bomb testing ground in WWII, and today by biotech companies conducting open filed testing of GMOs. 

There seems to be an attitude in our culture that just because ‘we can we do’, and leave a detritus of exploitation and ruin in our wake. 

I hope we awaken before it’s too late and realize that this earth of ours has finite resources and that we have a duty to protect and regenerate what we have for future generations. 

Keep it local, keep it sustainable…and always keep it humane!

                                                                                                                                    ~ THE ACTIVIST

GrassRoots Pastured Poultry - taste the difference

Ok not a great shot  - but this is a photo I took of some chicken sheds in south GA very recently

The reason for the poor quality of the photo is because the buildings were so long I couldn't zoom, and I didn't dare go nearer as although Ag-gag laws haven't been passed in GA - yet! the power of the chicken 'lords' in GA is immense and who knows...you can't be too careful, especially with a VITAL AWARENESS bumper sticker on my back window touting humane farming. They were the longest I have seen, tucked away in the countryside of Evans Co. GA, and apart from the ugliness of the buildings, appearing innocuous.  The only sound to be heard was the whirring of the huge airconditioning units clearing out the fetid air and cooling down the intense heat generated by the windowless sheds under a southern sun. It was hard to tell just how long they were but I would say definitely quite a bit longer than a football pitch (American or UK) each housing around 30,000 birds.  There were 5 sheds side by side so that equates to 150,000 birds every six weeks, in just one field, in just one tiny area of the southern states - Georgia, the chicken capital of the USA.
We so obsessed as a culture for lots of cheap chicken and bucketfuls of wings that we support this kind of industry that exemplifies the term 'factory farm' in every way, through our demand and our dollars!!
The sad irony of all of this is that I was just making my way back to the highway after leaving GrassRoots pastured poultry farm a few miles down the road - uplifted by what I saw at GrassRoots I was brought down to a big taste of reality round the corner.  Will we ever be rid of this trade in misery? I fear not, we are too entrenched in 'fast chicken' to the tune of 8 billion a year in the USA.  So what we have to do is push, push, push...and push some more to increase the sales for pastured poultry, by making folks aware of what the conditions are like inside these chicken factory sheds, of what happens to the millions of tons of chicken litter produced each year (at the last count 2 million tons of it in Georgia alone), of how the folks living near these areas suffer from ill health and nausea because of the stench and polluted air, and then show them how much tastier and healthier chicken raised on pasture really is. It's unlikely that we will get rid of factory farmed chicken there is too much money, power and politics involved, especially in Georgia - however, I do believe that we can increase the sales for pastured chicken substantially, and nibble away at the industrialized market bit by bit.
Brandon Chonko at Grassroots Farms is completely transparent (not like the windowless sheds round the corner) - the welfare of his chickens is paramount, but not becasue he is soppy and sentimental about them but because he believes that birds raised on pasture with fresh air and sunshine taste better, and make a healthier meat. That is the reason he started raising his own meat chickens, after seeing the cramped unhealthy conditions of factory farms he wanted to provide healthy food for himself and his family. Realizing that he was good at it and that he actually enjoyed it he took the plunge, gave up his day job, moved south and leased thirty acres in Vidalia country.  He doesn't want to be a rich man  - he's in the wrong job for that unless he became a industrialized chicken 'lord' - but he would like to provide for himself, his wife and young family, and not have to worry about the next bill coming in etc.  He wants to always enjoy doing what he does and not just stick at it through sheer determined doggedness. He wants to farm with joy not misery so that his children, when they leave school, will at least consider farming an option and not high-tail out of Vidalia country because all they had experienced from growing up at GrassRoots was hard-work and drudgery, and a father who stuck at it because he was a "stubborn s-o-b" (in Brandon's words).  If times get bad and it starts to wear him into the ground then he will raise chickens for the family pot and go back to his 'day job'.

Laying hens and their very proud rooster at GrassRoots

But I don't think that will happen - on his manageable acreage in south Georgia, Brandon is doing a great job of pasture raising his meat birds, he knows his imitations, he makes use of what's available, works on his initiative, and he doesn't sell himself short on the quality of his chickens.  He has a steady restaurant customer base for his meat poultry and has a sideline of pastured eggs, and for now he is paying the bills.  If the demand increases then he may up his production numbers from his current 1600 birds a month, but he will not compromise his raising methods and sell an inferior bird under a pasture raised label to do so - quality and integrity are his main marketing tools, in fact probably his only marketing tools - so the taste obviously speaks for itself...and you can't say better than that.
- THE ACTIVIST

Devon Cattle in South Carolina

So what's a herd of Devon cattle doing in the steamy heat of South Carolina, USA?  Turning the abundant forage into beef, and according to Dr Bill Walker from Walker Century Farms doing an excellent job of it!  Apparently Devon cattle have been around in the USA since the 1600s arriving with the Pilgrims, they even have a national society specifically devoted to the breed, and as a result have managed to dodge the grain-finished bullet that most beef cattle are subjected to for the last few months of their lives.   As the name suggest Walker Century Farms has been around for well over a hundred years and although recent generations have increased the acreage of the land, this patch of Anderson county has been farmed by the Walker family for a few decades.  Dr Bill's ancestors weren't into the Devon cattle, and most likely raised a mix breed with some Angus thrown in for good measure, and towards the end of his farming career Bill Walker's father got into the grain feed trend that was starting to infiltrate America with the new modern scientific farming practices (referred to as 'industrialized' practices today).  Dr Bill got out of the beef farming for a number of years, he sold off the cattle and concentrated on his medical practice; then a family health crisis made him and his wife Dr Nancy Walker, who runs the farm alongside her husband with their children, question their diet and begin to source healthier food options - including their meat source.  As a farmer and medical doctor Bill Walker realized that pasture raised and importantly pasture-finished livestock produces the healthiest beef and so that was what led them to begin building their herd of Red Devons.  What attracted them to this breed?  Apparently Devons have a number of great attributes:- temperament, size (not too big but with a good yield of beef), adaptable, good all-rounders, and according to the American Red Devon Association very efficient at converting grass into meat and milk!  The all-rounder aspect has led to a 'branch-off' breed, Dairy Devons which are obviously used for their milk production - but 'back in the day' (I'm talking about the days a century or three ago) the Devons were a three-faceted beast - good for meat, milk and draught work and some of the steers would be raised as oxen.  At the ALHFAM (The Association for Living History and Agricultural Museums) in Williamsburg, VA. you may be ale to see oxen in action.
Back to Anderson, SC., the ideal situation is for the cattle to be born, raised, finished and slaughtered right on Walker Century Farms - for the most part Drs Bill and Nancy Walker are aiming as close to this ideal as possible, although whilst building their herd some of the steers are bought from the Red Devon Association sales, but we did get to see the newest arrival born on the farm a couple of weeks ago.
As for ending their days, the cattle are taken just a few miles down the road into town to a family run processing facility, Anderson Frozen Foods.  This plant was set up just after WWII by an aunt and uncle of the Walker family and has maintained its small family ethos ever since.  As an interesting aside, the processing plant is named Anderson "Frozen Foods" because in its early days of production the small farmers who took their livestock for slaughter didn't have on farm freezers and so would rent space at the processing plant to store their meat after slaughter.
WCF also has pigs and goats  - the latter were acquired for weed control and in terms of meat this is as yet an under-developed side of their business, but the Walkers have ascertained that there is a growing demand for goat meat in upstate SC so stay tuned for the development in this side of their meat business.

Gloucester Old Spot Boar

The Walkers usually process around 15 hogs every six months for pork and cured pork products and sausages, and all these delights are found in their on-farm shop along with other local produce - locally grown veggies, Charleston grown and dried tea, Carolina rice, sweet treats made by local producers, Walker Century Farms honey, and many other items.
It really is God's country in Anderson county, the climate is temperate and for the most part there is abundant green pasture all year round. Go visit the farm, take a cooler, buy some delicious produce and watch the world go by on the porch swing at the farm shop - farm to table at its best.   ~ THE ACTIVIST