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Emily Johnson
2 April 2015
Locally Sourced Meat: Your Moral Savior
Introduction
Is eating meat universally immoral? With a tunnel vision focus on the anarchy and
apparent lack of morality in industrial meat production (a topic that will be subsequently
elaborated), it seems that eating meat does nothing but cause harm to innocent creatures. Now I
realize it sounds preachy, but with preconceived negative notions about anti-industrial meat
advocates/vegetarians aside: they do have a point. The truth is undeniablethere is foul work at
play. But that doesnt mean we have to give up our burgers entirely. We just need to stop
funneling our meat money to the wrong farms. There is a moral way to appreciate the life of the
animal without supporting industrial meat or giving up meat completely; the answer is locally
sourced meat.
Current Pervasive Options
Before you can understand the positivity of locally sourced meat, it is important to
comprehend the negativity of its appalling relative: industrial meat production. Industrial meat
has been shamed for a very long time now, and for good reason. Animals kept on industrial farms
are treated in a manner that is cruel and inhumane. The animals on these industrial farms are
given no space to move about the way animals were meant to. They develop diseases and injury
in their cramped quarters. Barbara Ashwood, a professor at Western Illinois University, explains
the invention of a CAFO, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation, in her essay Rural
Residents for Responsible Agriculture: Hog CAFOS and Democratic Action in Illinois. She
explains: The accommodations are so tight that the animals develop sores from rubbing against
the metal bars that trap them, (2013, 77). Though this treatment is seemingly unjustifiable and
illegal, almost everyone looks the other way. Regulations are not strictly enforced because the
demand for meat is so high that the USDA basically has to bend the rules to quickly get product

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out. Consumers look the other way because they are either ill-informed, apathetic, or not close
enough to the situation to want to actively protest against it. This is the problem as we see it
today. Later, I will discuss steps toward combating this issue.
Though the amount of industrial meat consumption is unprecedented, there are those who
have taken a stand against the inhumanity. Vegetarians are widely recognized as being advocates
against industrial meat ingestion. Those choosing this lifestyle specifically as a way to stand
against the injustice are extreme activists. Though there are risks to the vegetarian lifestyle
such as the risk of developing deficiencies (due to a lack of certain vitamins and minerals) that
can be damaging to your health even life-threatening (Sheldon, 2013)the benefits often
outweigh them if you are careful. Most importantly, it seems this stance against industrial meat is
effective. The vegetarian movement has surely impacted the meat industry over the last few
decades. However this is not a viable, nationwide solution. No matter what, people are always
going to eat meat; they have been for centuries and they will for centuries still. So, to the
vegetarians out there boycotting meat solely because of the immorality caused by the
mistreatment of animalsthere is a solution. (Now you can start eating steak again!)
Alternative
To get the main point of this essay, the answer to your moral dilemma is locally sourced
meat. This is meat that is taken from animals who get to live like animals. These animals are not
kept in tight quarters with no room to move or breathe. They are not injected with antibiotics to
keep them healthy. They are free roaming, well cared for, happy animals. These are animals
that are raised on small farms and sold locally at farmers markets, county markets, local butcher
shops, and the like. One such farm is Polyface Farms, created by Joel Salatin. This is a farm that
is completely sustainable. On a sustainable farm animals are treated humanely; they're able to
graze on pasture, carry out natural behaviors, and live without undue stress or cruel treatment
(Helaine, 2015). Salatins farm is renowned for its irrefutably humane treatment of animals. This

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is the ideal farming operation for both farmer and concerned consumer. The animals are treated
with the respect and dignity they deserve from birth to slaughter. Even a vegetarian would find it
hard to complain about the high moral standards and regard for animal welfare presented by a
sustainable farm such as this.
Why Should You Care?
It is clear that industrial meat production is inhumane and its obvious that animal-rights
activist vegetarians found a way to avoid the inhumanity. It is also evident that locally produced
meat stands up to the former options as the solution to the pain. But what exactly is this pain,
metaphorically speaking? What part does morality play in the meat production industry?
Morality seems to be a word almost exclusively associated with humans, because only
humans can decide what is morally right and wrong. So, why then do we apply this concept to
animals? Why do we care if animals are mistreated? After all, they are not capable of intelligent
thought. Their only real purpose is to provide sustenance for humans or other predators, right?
Who cares how they are treated.
Animals, though they are not as cognitively developed as humans, still deserve the same
respect. Joel Salatin explains, Plants and animals should be provided a habitat that allows them
to express their physiological distinctiveness. Respecting and honoring the pigness of the pig is a
foundation for societal health (2011). If we treat animals with savagery, we become savages
ourselves. To treat any living thing with cruelty or disrespect highlights a debilitating flaw that is
present in the human inflicting the pain. If we are to be a productive society, we cannot have our
subconscious craving barbarism. If we treat animals and all living things with the respect they
deserve, the psychological stability of our society would inflate.
How to Address the Problem
The current lack of ethical treatment toward animals is terrifying, as previously
mentioned. Activist vegetarians are doing their part, but its still not enough. How can we address

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the problem on a wider scale? In The Omnivores Dilemma, author Michael Pollan comes up
with a very applicable solution to the problem. He states: Were the walls of our meat industry to
become transparent, literally or even figuratively, we would not long continue to raise, kill, and
eat animals the way we do (333). He believes, as do I, that if consumers saw exactly how their
meat was made, they would protest to find a better method of production, landing them on the
doorstep of a local meat producer. If the meat consumer was able to see the terrible, immoral
treatment of a significant portion of their diet, it is assumed that no longer would they settle for
such injustice. With that being said, a solution to the issue at hand and a way to promote morality
in meat consumption would be to not only educate the nation on the production of their meat but
to let them inside. Force the industry to open its doors to outsiders and expose them for what
they really are. Once this movement begins, locally sourced meat will be demanded far and wide.

Works Cited
Ashwood, Barbara. 2013. Rural residents for responsible agriculture: Hog CAFOS and
democratic action in Illinois. Journal of Rural Social Sciences. 28 (3), 76-88.
Lerner, Helaine. 2015. The meat to eat. GRACE Communications Foundation, Web.
http://www.sustainabletable.org/1649/the-meat-to-eat, March 24.
Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:
Penguin.
Salatin, Joel. 2011. Joels speaking topics. Polyface, Inc,
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/speaking-protocol/joels-speaking-topics/, March 26.

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Sheldon, Lynne. 2013. The negative effects of vegetarianism. LIVESTRONG.COM
http://www.livestrong.com/article/441302-the-negative-effects-of-vegetarianism/, March
26.