By all means let’s not then do any of this and just farm animals “in fields”. Someone then has to take a decision about which five billion of the world’s 7-billion human population are to be starved to death or killed.
Putting most animals back on the land will take up space currently used for human arable crops like wheat, barley, oats, rye, vegetables for the vegans and so on.
In a modern first-world civilisation, it is very nice and, well, “warm” to be able to pretend to oneself that Man has fallen from some mythical pastoralist-golden-age.
Camping holidays are lovely, because one knows there is a proper building afterwards. Fresh free-range-local chicken is great because one can pretend that the whole world can eat like that all the time.
Historical famines have been caused by a combination of a strictly-limited local distribution network and un-mechanised farming. The 18th-century English Agricultural revolution (no longer taught at all in British schools, on purpose) taught the Planet How To Eat, effectively made famine hideous instead of inevitable for it showed what would be the case instead, and adumbrated the Industrial revolution.
Anyone who want to pay higher prices to buy “organic” food should be free to do so.
By all means let’s not then do any of this and just farm animals “in fields”. Someone then has to take a decision about which five billion of the world’s 7-billion human population are to be starved to death or killed.
Putting most animals back on the land will take up space currently used for human arable crops like wheat, barley, oats, rye, vegetables for the vegans and so on.
In a modern first-world civilisation, it is very nice and, well, “warm” to be able to pretend to oneself that Man has fallen from some mythical pastoralist-golden-age.
Camping holidays are lovely, because one knows there is a proper building afterwards. Fresh free-range-local chicken is great because one can pretend that the whole world can eat like that all the time.
Historical famines have been caused by a combination of a strictly-limited local distribution network and un-mechanised farming. The 18th-century English Agricultural revolution (no longer taught at all in British schools, on purpose) taught the Planet How To Eat, effectively made famine hideous instead of inevitable for it showed what would be the case instead, and adumbrated the Industrial revolution.
Reblogged this on Citizens, not serfs.
David – quite correct.