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<h1 class="seo-highlighter"><span id="bcr_lblSubject">Carbon Cowboys
Versus CAFOs</span></h1>
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Story at-a-glance </h3>
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<li>
<span id="bcr_rptStory_cslStory_0">The system created to
serve concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)
has cracked during the pandemic, putting U.S. food
supplies in jeopardy</span>
</li>
<li>
<span id="bcr_rptStory_cslStory_1">“Carbon cowboys” —
those who have embraced an alternative method of food
production that works with nature instead of against
it — not only are surviving the upheaval but thriving,
all while providing nutritious food to their
communities</span>
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<li>
<span id="bcr_rptStory_cslStory_2">Regenerative farmers
are seeing a three- to 10fold increase in demand
compared to last year, thanks to their ability to
market directly to consumers</span>
</li>
<li>
<span id="bcr_rptStory_cslStory_3">Reduced capacity at
conventional processing plants, along with the
distribution of protective equipment, could drive up
conventional chicken prices by 25% to 30%</span>
</li>
<li>
<span id="bcr_rptStory_cslStory_4">The conditions in
which cheap meat is raised and processed are the same
that have been found to contribute to
antibiotic-resistant disease as well as the emergence
of diseases that may be transmitted from animals to
humans, a high cost for all of humanity</span>
</li>
<li>
<span id="bcr_rptStory_cslStory_5">The Processing
Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act
would allow farmers to sell meat processed at smaller
slaughtering facilities, making locally raised meat
more accessible</span>
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<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many fragile industries to
the breaking point and highlighted systemic problems in
others, including the industrialized, centralized food system
in the U.S. Major meat processing plants have emerged as
hotspots for transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes
COVID-19.</p>
<p>Prior to the Defense Production Act, which compels meat
plants to stay open in order to protect the functioning of the
U.S. meat and poultry supply chain, being invoked in April
2020, many were forced to shut down. As threats of meat
shortages emerged, farmers were faced with the grim prospect
of killing thousands of food animals just because they had
nowhere to send them to be processed.<sup style="font-size:
10px;"><span id="edn1" data-hash="#ednref1">1</span></sup></p>
<p>The system created to serve concentrated animal feeding
operations (CAFOs) has cracked during the pandemic, putting
U.S. food supplies in jeopardy. Meanwhile, so-called “carbon
cowboys” — those who have embraced an alternative method of
food production that works with nature instead of against it —
not only are surviving the upheaval but thriving, all while
providing nutritious food to their communities.</p>
<h2>‘Carbon Cowboys’ Persevere, Thrive During Pandemic</h2>
<p>The dichotomy between CAFOs and carbon cowboys could not be
more stark, with <a
href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/01/cafo-california-air-pollution.aspx">CAFOs</a>
that control the majority of U.S. meat and poultry largely
reliant on a limited number of large processing plants. “The
coronavirus is showing how food supply has become too
centralized, especially for meat processing,” Peter Byck, an
Arizona State University professor, told Fox News.<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn2"
data-hash="#ednref2">2</span></sup></p>
<p>Byck directed a 10-part documentary titled “Carbon Cowboys,”
following farmers who use <a
href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/06/01/farmers-footprint-regenerative-farming.aspx">regenerative
grazing techniques</a>, allowing them to largely avoid
chemical pesticides, fertilizers and other pitfalls of
industrial farming while building carbon-rich soil that
increases crop health and livestock yields.</p>
<p>“We could use a lot more mid-level meat processing plants,
all around the country. So, if one plant went down, there
would be others to pick up the slack. It’s one of the reasons
the farmers in the film are often making so much more money —
because they’ve created their own supply chain and selling
direct to customers,” Byck said.<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span
id="edn3" data-hash="#ednref3">3</span></sup></p>
<p>Indeed, regenerative farmers who sell their products directly
to consumers and rely on small processing plants are not
facing the hardships that CAFOs are seeing. While meat from
small, custom slaughterhouses is not permitted to be sold to
grocery stores, schools or restaurants, it can be sold
directly to customers who have purchased an entire animal
prior to slaughter through a share program, as well as via
local farmers markets.</p>
<p>Allen Williams, a sixth-generation farmer and chief ranching
officer for Joyce Farms, is one of the carbon cowboys featured
in the film. He cited a 400% to 1,200% increase in demand for
regenerative producers, and though the film has been in the
works for six years, the farmers it features stated they’re
seeing a three- to 10fold increase in demand compared to last
year, thanks to their ability to market directly to consumers.<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn4"
data-hash="#ednref4">4</span></sup></p>
<p>Will Harris III, owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton,
Georgia, also cited the need for smaller, decentralized
processing facilities to free up the bottleneck that’s placing
a hardship on so many farmers. By creating “at least one
medium-sized plant in every state,” food that currently
travels an average of 1,500 miles to get to consumers would
only need to travel 100 or 200 miles. This, he says, is key to
transforming the U.S. food system:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“We have to build out additional capacity. We need
processing of the middle. We don’t need a lot more
mom-and-pop processors. We need processing facilities with
100-500 per day capacity to start …</em></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><em>With more processors, more farms can transform and thus
grow small businesses and the rural economy. These
communities that are dead and boarded up will come to life
and rural economies will surge. The country’s economy
surges when small businesses and communities thrive.”</em><sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn5"
data-hash="#ednref5">5</span></sup></p>
</blockquote>
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<h2>Meat Prices May Rise as Plants’ Poor Conditions Spread Virus</h2>
<p>Tyson, JBS USA, Smithfield Foods and Cargill Inc. control the
majority of U.S. meat and poultry, processing it in a handful
of centralized mega-processing plants. The plants are
notorious for their poor working conditions even under
ordinary circumstances, but in the midst of a pandemic, the
elbow-to-elbow spacing and fast line speeds have made the
low-paying job even more hazardous.</p>
<p>It’s unknown just how many COVID-19 infections have occurred
among the more than 500,000 workers employed by the
approximately 7,600 slaughter and processing facilities in
North America,<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn6"
data-hash="#ednref6">6</span></sup> but internationally
it’s suggested that more than 10,000 meat workers have been
infected while at least 30 have died as a result.<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn7"
data-hash="#ednref7">7</span></sup> The cases aren’t
confined to inside the processing plants but, rather, are
spreading to the community.</p>
<p>An analysis by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found
that <a
href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/05/26/covid-19-infections-nearly-double-in-meatpacking-counties.aspx">counties
with meatpacking plants</a>, or within a 15-mile radius,
reported 373 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, which is
close to double the U.S. average of 199 cases per 100,000.<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn8"
data-hash="#ednref8">8</span></sup></p>
<p>To slow the spread of infection, some plants have slowed
production to adhere to social distancing measures, while
others have installed barriers between workers and in common
areas. Other processing plants are ramping up efforts to
automate the process, accelerating plans that have been in the
works since long before the pandemic.</p>
<p>“You are going to see a bifurcation where the larger, more
profitable facilities are going to move toward a vastly more
automated meat processing facility,” Decker Walker, an
agribusiness expert at Boston Consulting Group, told the
Longview News-Journal. “Incentives for automation have never
been higher.”<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn9"
data-hash="#ednref9">9</span></sup> Ultimately, consumers
will pay for the changes being implemented throughout the
industry.</p>
<p>Sanchoy Das, a professor at the New Jersey Institute of
Technology, predicted that reduced capacity at processing
plants, along with the distribution of protective equipment,
could drive up conventional chicken prices by 25% to 30%,
adding, “The 99-cents per pound chicken could be in short
supply very quickly.”<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span
id="edn10" data-hash="#ednref10">10</span></sup></p>
<h2>Is Big Meat Really Cheap?</h2>
<p>The increase in meat prices, as well as the increased demand
for higher priced niche meats like heritage pork and grass fed
beef, is also highlighting a socioeconomic divide in the U.S.
While some grocery outlets are running out of supplies of
low-priced CAFO meat, demand has ramped up for specialty meat
products, for those who have the income to support it.</p>
<p>However, as the processing facilities spread disease and
necessitate shutdowns, we’re now seeing the high price that is
ultimately paid for the convenience of cheap meat, whereas <a
href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/29/top-reasons-to-support-regenerative-agriculture.aspx">regenerative
farming</a>, while often producing a higher-priced product,
remains able to supply food to local communities, without the
environmental destruction and disease outbreaks caused by
industrial agriculture. As Bloomberg reported:<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn11"
data-hash="#ednref11">11</span></sup></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“The virus has had limited impact on the output of
specialty meats for some of the same reasons those
products are more expensive. The plants aren’t run on huge
economies-of-scale, where hundreds of workers are jammed
into elbow-to-elbow working conditions processing
thousands of animals each day.</em></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Instead, livestock are raised on organic feed and
pastures and then processed in relatively tiny plants or
local butcher shops. It’s small-scale production, which
means social distancing is easier and companies can more
readily enforce sanitary precautions. Even if one plant
goes down, it only accounts for a small fraction of
supply, and the larger chain isn’t broken.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meanwhile, prices for specialty meat are holding steady while
conventional meat prices have risen sharply in recent months.
The price for conventional ground chuck, for instance,
increased by 57% compared to a year ago, according to USDA
data.<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn12"
data-hash="#ednref12">12</span></sup></p>
<p>Ultimately, if demand for grass fed meat increases, and
processing facilities are available to distribute it, it can
become more accessible for all. And, it’s important to
remember that real costs come with Big Ag’s “cheap meat.” The
Organic Consumers Association (OCA), in fact, has sued pork
giant Smithfield Foods for claiming its products are the
safest U.S. pork products.</p>
<p>“Consumers are unlikely to know that the USDA has notified
Smithfield slaughter plants on multiple occasions that their
pork was more likely to be contaminated with salmonella than
similar products in slaughter plants of the same size,” said
Ronnie Cummins, OCA co-founder and director.<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn13"
data-hash="#ednref13">13</span></sup></p>
<p>“Failure to report these notifications to consumers is one
thing. But claiming that its products are the ‘safest’
possible pork products in the U.S. is a blatant
misrepresentation of the brand’s actual safety record,”
Cummins said. “The current heightened consumer concern about
safety in the meat industry is all the more reason to hold
Smithfield accountable for false safety claims.”</p>
<p>The conditions in which cheap meat is raised and processed
are the same that have been found to contribute to <a
href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/09/20/stop-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria.aspx">antibiotic-resistant
disease</a> as well as the emergence of diseases that may be
transmitted from animals to humans, a high cost for all of
humanity.</p>
<h2>Food System Is Changing, Is Reform Coming?</h2>
<p>The pandemic started with Americans hoarding food and has
triggered a newfound, or perhaps old-fashioned, trend to cook
more meals at home. The return to home-cooked meals has been a
boon to meal kit companies, which have cashed in on Americans’
desire to eat at home and have their groceries delivered while
they’re at it.</p>
<p>Meal-kit delivery service Blue Apron noted a 27% increase in
demand in late March and early April 2020, while online food
retailer Thrive Market cited two distinct waves of increased
demand — the first for certain products like toilet paper and
hand sanitizer and the second from those seeking to replicate
their normal grocery shopping online.<sup style="font-size:
10px;"><span id="edn14" data-hash="#ednref14">14</span></sup>
Many of these changes are likely to remain even post-pandemic.</p>
<p>“People are more confident in the kitchen than they used to
be before, and more than half of them intend to cook at home
more than they did before Covid-19, even as things start to
settle down,” Blue Apron’s chief executive Linda Findley
Kozlowski told The New York Times.<sup style="font-size:
10px;"><span id="edn15" data-hash="#ednref15">15</span></sup>
Still, as Americans’ desire for fresh, safe and readily
accessible food has peaked, many small farmers are struggling.</p>
<p>With restaurants and farmers markets closed, small farmers
have lost steady customers. Many have pivoted and have begun
supplying produce boxes directly to consumers, but such
changes are labor intensive and farmers may not be able to
keep up with the demand. In a survey of small farmers, between
30% and 40% predicted they could be bankrupt by the end of
2020.<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn16"
data-hash="#ednref16">16</span></sup></p>
<p>Representative Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, is among those
calling for reform and suggesting that the pandemic is
providing a unique opportunity for change:<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn17"
data-hash="#ednref17">17</span></sup></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>“As the owner of a small farm, I’m frequently amazed at
how little Washington understands the work that goes into
putting food on our plates, but coronavirus has made it
impossible to ignore the labor of grocery store employees,
farmers, processors and food producers. Our nation is
collectively acknowledging what’s always been true: Those
who grow, sell and serve our food are essential workers,
and we should treat them as such.”</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition to calling for an essential workers’ bill of
rights that would provide benefits to essential workers in the
food system, and expanding access to locally produced food for
food banks and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
beneficiaries, a key part of the change should be making
locally raised livestock processing more widely available.</p>
<p>Under current government regulations, the USDA, not
individual states, has control over how meat is processed, and
small farmers must send animals to be processed at a
USDA-inspected slaughterhouse, which may be hundreds of miles
away. The state of Maine, for instance, has only one USDA
poultry plant in the state.</p>
<h2>The PRIME Act Is More Important Than Ever</h2>
<p>The Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME)
Act would allow farmers to sell meat processed at smaller
slaughtering facilities and allow states to set their own meat
processing standards. Because small slaughterhouses do not
have an inspector on staff — a requirement that only large
facilities can easily fulfill — they’re banned from selling
their meat. The PRIME Act would lift this regulation without
sacrificing safety.<sup style="font-size: 10px;"><span
id="edn18" data-hash="#ednref18">18</span></sup></p>
<p>“The PRIME Act would change federal regulations to make it
easier to process meat locally, helping small farmers stay
afloat during this economic crisis while simultaneously
keeping food on our plates,” Pingree said. “This bill would
shift more safety oversight to states, some of which already
have equally rigorous inspection practices, and break down
barriers for small farms looking to sell their product.”<sup
style="font-size: 10px;"><span id="edn19"
data-hash="#ednref19">19</span></sup></p>
<p>The solution to food reform is not, as some lab-grown meat
companies would like you to believe, to create a <a
href="https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/07/18/lab-grown-meat-factory-farming.aspx">fake
meat industry</a> without animals<sup style="font-size:
10px;"><span id="edn20" data-hash="#ednref20">20</span></sup>
— that is big technology’s ultraprocessed dream.</p>
<p>Replacing farms and livestock with chemistry labs is not the
"environmentally friendly" alternative envisioned by biotech
startups and its chemists. The long-term answer actually lies
in the transition to sustainable, regenerative, chemical-free
farming practices, and making the sustainably-grown foods
produced by small farmers accessible to all.</p>
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