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Opinion: "The End of Meat Is Here" - NY Times

I must admit to being a little disappointed that we are not living in a world where meat is growing in petri dishes in labs by now, but then I also wanted a jet pack and that hasn't happened either.
There are some startups growing meat at the moment.

Can't recall the name of the company, think it might have been one Bill Gates invested in, perhaps Musk, can't recall.
 

"On a more anecdotal account, nothing says the end of the meat industry like the growing cult of those following the carnivore diet. In the past few years we’ve seen a joker gain clout for eating a raw pig’s head at a vegan event, high profile podcasters like Joe Rogan promote a meat centric diet to his 9.something million followers, and some of the most prolific vegan YouTubers renounce veganism and start vlogging on how to cook steak.

I truly believe that one day we will see the end of the meat industry. But is it now?

Absolutely not."
 

"On a more anecdotal account, nothing says the end of the meat industry like the growing cult of those following the carnivore diet. In the past few years we’ve seen a joker gain clout for eating a raw pig’s head at a vegan event, high profile podcasters like Joe Rogan promote a meat centric diet to his 9.something million followers, and some of the most prolific vegan YouTubers renounce veganism and start vlogging on how to cook steak.

I truly believe that one day we will see the end of the meat industry. But is it now?

Absolutely not."
Good piece, that.

And bloody hell:

And when you look at the statistics from Our World In Data, global meat production has 'increased rapidly' over the past 50 years and total production has more than quadrupled since 1961. In 2018, an estimated 69 billion chickens; 1.5 billion pigs; 656 million turkeys; 574 million sheep; 479 million goats; and 302 million cattle were killed for meat production.

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Crikey they want two veg with that, look how vegetable production has increased along with world population and industrialisation,astounding!


 
If meat isn't farmed, there is likely to be a huge rise in the hunting (and fishing) of wild animals. Back to the unromantic days of poaching, illegal meat trade in pub carparks, overfishing seas and rivers and crazy yahoos shooting up Norfolk. Feeling a trifle depressed about the whole culture of food, foodies and fucking dietary fads...especially the middle class sport of food shaming.
 
If meat isn't farmed, there is likely to be a huge rise in the hunting (and fishing) of wild animals. Back to the unromantic days of poaching, illegal meat trade in pub carparks, overfishing seas and rivers and crazy yahoos shooting up Norfolk. Feeling a trifle depressed about the whole culture of food, foodies and fucking dietary fads...especially the middle class sport of food shaming.
Just to make sure I got this right: are you posting in support of factory farming?

I'm really not sure where you're going with the pub car park stuff too, to be honest.
 
Why it is almost as if world population has increased exponentially in that time and meat production has kept up

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The world population in 1961 was just over 3 billion. So the population has more than doubled since then. But 4-5 times as much meat is being produced. I'd say it's more than kept up. I'd say people have access to more than twice as much meat per person now.
 
The world population in 1961 was just over 3 billion. So the population has more than doubled since then. But 4-5 times as much meat is being produced. I'd say it's more than kept up. I'd say people have access to more than twice as much meat per person now.
I'm sure butcher can support his claim that meat production has merely 'kept up' rather than hugely accelerated.
 
I'm sure butcher can support his claim that meat production has merely 'kept up' rather than hugely accelerated.

Where did I write that it had 'merely' kept up?

I did not, so don't put words in my mouth.

If you had taken time to read any replies that I had put on previous threads you would understand that I am not pre-industrial farming.

My business sells free range meat, locally sourced from suppliers I trust at a price that allows me a very modest living.

I could make a lot more money by selling crap cheap but I am not interested in selling low cost, intensively farmed meat because I have lived on farms and respect the animals that I sell.
 
A girl I worked with popped in to mine one night after a club to use the toilet on the way home. While she was in there I started eating some Tuna from the tin. As she left she gave me a funny look as she jumped in my mates car to go the rest of the way. Next time I saw him he asked how long I had been eating cat food and if everything was ok...

just readin posts after work. And I have just eaten a tin of tuna straight from the tin. A lazy pre-tea. drained it first, I’m not an animal.
 
Where did I write that it had 'merely' kept up?

I did not, so don't put words in my mouth.

If you had taken time to read any replies that I had put on previous threads you would understand that I am not pre-industrial farming.

My business sells free range meat, locally sourced from suppliers I trust at a price that allows me a very modest living.

I could make a lot more money by selling crap cheap but I am not interested in selling low cost, intensively farmed meat because I have lived on farms and respect the animals that I sell.
So what did you mean when you said, "Why it is almost as if world population has increased exponentially in that time and meat production has kept up" when in fact that meat production hasn't just 'kept up' but increased exponentially (with factory farming playing a huge role in that increase)?
 
Exactly what I wrote with out the qualifying merely which was your spin on what I clearly wrote.

It was a comment on your bloody hell which implied that increased meat production was singularly disproportionate toany other factor, I was merely adding context. Capish?
 
Exactly what I wrote with out the qualifying merely which was your spin on what I clearly wrote.

It was a comment on your bloody hell which implied that increased meat production was singularly disproportionate toany other factor, I was merely adding context. Capish?
Meat production has risen exponentially and not in line with the population growth. Hence my comment.
 
Exactly what I wrote with out the qualifying merely which was your spin on what I clearly wrote.

It was a comment on your bloody hell which implied that increased meat production was singularly disproportionate toany other factor, I was merely adding context. Capish?

Capiche. Although Google tells me that capeesh is also acceptable.
 
Meat production has risen exponentially and not in line with the population growth. Hence my comment.

I just didn't like you adding qualifiers to my words then calling me out on it.

Are you saying that population growth has not been exponential? Only that population curve looks like it's in it a log phase to me......

It also looks like industrial farming with its associated problems is also exponential, I must confess when I saw the graph of that a hearty bloomin ada ejecaculated from my lips.

All that weed killer and artificial fertilizer, terrible.
 
Just to make sure I got this right: are you posting in support of factory farming?

I'm really not sure where you're going with the pub car park stuff too, to be honest.
A quickie answer before having to cook dinner. No, I am not in favour of factory farming...but I am in favour of farming...with regulatory oversight because, for all sorts of reasons, animal products are not going to vanish anytime soon.
As for pub car parks...well it was a feature of my youth that some dodgy deals (for half a cow, some turkeys and more often or not, some unidentified cut of cheap meats, operated out of pub car parks (along with works canteens, building sites and dodgy market stalls.

In truth, I have lots of opinions, many of which are deeply contradictory. Because the question of animal products is so complex, I find it hard to articulate a clear position. It also feels like a set of choices which are just not available for probably the majority of the world population. I am glad (some) people have freedom to make personal ethical choices (I have cooked vegan and vegetarian meals for family, friends, work even...but I don't have any position on this at all. If I couldn't afford to buy meat, I wouldn't buy it but am fairly sure I would eat it if offered, even if it was in the form of a couple of rabbits, a pike or a goose. The politics of food reflects the current capitalist system and I am dismayed at the evident injustices within all production...Dietary preference is pretty much a privilege and I don't find it helpful or useful, drawing some absolute line in the sand regarding using any animal products or not.

I am trying to separate (in my head) the difference between food as raw calories, necessary nutrients, produced with conditions and restrictions...and food as a signifier, a culture carrier and a marker of identity because I am also quite sure that consumption of meat has increased beyond human calorific needs...because it is aspirational...a driver for capital...and not just handy protein. Applies right across the whole edible production base, and leads to the tragedy of logging, palm oil production, over fertilsation and destruction of topsoil in a global market dominated solely by profit. Exploitation of animal and human capital. in a broken system where e market value pertains to almost everyone and everything which is not in service to a corporate boss class.
 
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"If you care about the working poor, about racial justice, and about climate change, you have to stop eating animals."

This sentence is clearly written by a wealthy white person living in a wealthy country who is writing only for wealthy white people living in a wealthy country. Seriously :rolleyes::facepalm:
I can't be arsed reposting all of the stuff I've posted about agriculture on other threads, but I will say this: most of the worlds food is still produced by subsistence agriculture (something we tend to forget in the west) and those systems rely on livestock to avoid starvation, as well as fertility.
 
Cheers. I went to Morrison’s on this recommendation to be met with this:

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Only rump steak on offer (£7.50/kg)

And this is the ‘half price U.K. caught fish section

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Morrisons has usually been great for fish, usually seems fresh and you can get "lesser", cheap species you won't find in other supermarkets. It's the only place I've regularly bought dabs for example, which are both cheap and bloody lush.
 
I'm very happy to cut down on my meat eating if it will save the planet. Where I have a problem is people who describe meat eating as being evil and animals need to be freed from their slavery and be allowed to live their best life or whatever. I simply don't give a fuck about them really. The only reason I want abbotoirs and farms to rear their animals properly and kill them humanely is that it produces a better product. We should be looking to make all industries in the world more environmentally friendly but I'm sure we can do that without completely stopping everyone eating meat and dairy.
Also this, there's an inverse correlation between stress at slaughter and a quality product, which is why abattoirs operate in a manner that minimises stress.

And before we get onto the "all abattoirs are horrific places where the animals are treated horrifically" backed up, no doubt with some sort of YouTube evidence, I regularly take students to them, and am happy with the way they operate.
 
Also this, there's an inverse correlation between stress at slaughter and a quality product, which is why abattoirs operate in a manner that minimises stress.

And before we get onto the "all abattoirs are horrific places where the animals are treated horrifically" backed up, no doubt with some sort of YouTube evidence, I regularly take students to them, and am happy with the way they operate.
Oh come on: just because there's a handful that you know operating (guffaw) "humanely," that clearly doesn't cancel out or negate justified criticism of the well documented, appalling conditions found in many other abattoirs.
 
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