[JamesP]

The following column appared in the Arizona Republic.
The writer is, generally, liberal.
Surprisingly, after visiting caged & cage-free farms, she decides to buy her eggs from the caged farm.
I invite comments & alternative perspective.


Cage-free egg farms peck away at consumer reality
Linda Valdez - Aug. 10, 2008 12:00 AM
Republic columnist

I toured a couple of egg farms and changed my buying habits.

It started with a column I wrote a while back about factory farming. I questioned the morality of treating food animals like cogs in an industrial machine. Some farmers took issue.

Clint Hickman of Hickman's Family Farms took me on a tour of the egg farm his family runs near Buckeye. I saw some of the 4 million hens Hickman's has in so-called battery cages. Animal-rights advocates find these cages so offensive they are trying to get voters in California to outlaw them.

Stacked one upon another, these cages rose high above me and stretched in long rows. A group of chickens lays eggs in those cages for about two years. Then the birds are euthanized, and new chickens are brought in.

As I walked down one row, the birds at my level went nuts. They flapped and cackled wildly, filling the air with dust and feathers. The daylight at the far end of the building grew dimmer. Alfred Hitchcock came to mind.

It is efficient, though. The cages are at a slight tilt so that the eggs roll onto a conveyor that collects them. Under each row of wire-bottomed cages is another conveyor belt onto which the chickens' manure falls and is periodically carried away. It gets composted and sold.

The chickens calmed down after I walked by. The dust and feathers settled quickly, too. The barn was clean. The birds looked healthy.

This wasn't Birdie Paradise, but it wasn't Avian Hell, either.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

Yet, these weren't the hens I like to imagine when I crack an egg into a pan.

I wanted to see happier chickens. The next stop on my chicken tour was another family-owned egg operation. This one, Armstrong Egg Farms of Valley Center, Calif., supplies the cage-free eggs Hickman's sells in Arizona.

Here I saw hens, thousands of them, milling around freely in large sections of long barns. Layers of chicken excrement build up on the floor during the chickens' lives. After the flock is euthanized, the barn is cleaned and a new flock is brought in. Nest boxes are available, but some hens lay eggs on the floor, where they rest on the chicken poop until workers collect them.

Neither Hickman nor Ryan Armstrong, vice president of his family's farm, likes to eat the eggs produced in cage-free chicken houses. He says they take home eggs from the flocks of caged birds the farm also raises. "Those eggs roll out so much cleaner," he says.

Other things made me uncomfortable about cage-free chickens, too.

The older birds didn't have many feathers around their necks because they peck each other in a constant struggle to establish status in a huge flock. By contrast, a small group of caged chickens soon establishes a pecking order and squabbles are fewer, Hickman says.

The cage-free flock has twice the mortality rate of his caged flock, Armstrong says. Broken bones are more common among the cage-free birds. If the flock gets spooked, they pile up on one another, crushing those at the bottom.

"People think by spending more money on cage-free eggs they are creating a better life for that chicken," Armstrong says.

I was one of those people. I've changed my mind.

After the second tour, Hickman asked what type of eggs I'd be buying in the future.

"I'll go to the farmers market," I said.

Aha, he replied, but those eggs are produced in completely unregulated conditions from chickens that may or may not be healthy. He said some farmers-market eggs were found to have been washed in detergent, which can permeate the shell.

OK. So I buy eggs from caged hens now. And I buy Hickman's eggs. They are locally produced, and I've seen the chickens.

I believe farm animals deserve a quality of life that reflects their status as sentient creatures. Although they are healthy and well cared for, I'm not sure the caged chickens I saw fully meet that standard. I am quite sure the cage-free birds didn't.

Consumer demand for cage-free eggs created something this consumer didn't really want. It happened, in part, because of the secrecy surrounding production of food animals. Hickman and Armstrong showed the courage to let me in, but few people get the chance to really look at what's going on and make a reasoned judgment. That has to change.

If more people looked inside today's barns, there would be a demand - based on reality - for changes that would ultimately result in better lives for farm animals and a better public image for farmers.


Reach the writer at Linda.Valdez@arizonarepublic.com.

[-V-]

Alright, James. I'll once again indulge your fantasies.

First of all, as usual, it is sufficient to retort that there simply is NO rational -- zero -- zilch, for abusing animals in today's society -- where as it is detrimental to your own health and the health of the planet in addition to being unethical and inhumane and totally UNNECESSARY!

What is the root of this journalists argument, the farmers argument, and your posting their arguments, as usual -- finding ways to justify what you WANT to do.

"Man has an infinite capacity to rationalize his behavior, especially when it comes to something he wants to eat . . ." - Cleveland Amory

1. The non-cage-free farmer wants to sell his eggs with the best profit margin
2. The cage-free farmer would also prefer to produce his eggs the more efficient, less humane way.
3. The journalist would prefer to buy any damn eggs she wants, the most convenient and cheapest way possible, but to do so, she must remove some guilt from the equation.
4. Your motive for posting this garbage -- see #3.

Regarding, excrement on the cage free eggs, boo-hoo on the poo-poo. That crap washes clean off of a hard shell (which it doesn't off the flesh of the chickens, cows, and pigs that you have to kill by cooking to a proper temperature).

Regarding cage free hens hurting each other and having less mortality in cages -- though often insane and/or diseased they can stay alive longer in a cage for two years, but so could you. Hey, there's a solution for Iraq. Let's just put the Sunni's and Shiite's in a cage because they might otherwise continue to hurt themselves.

If you could ask the chickens whether they want to live in a cage with no sunlight or room to move for 2 years or whether they'd prefer to face the pecking order and an occasional broken bone outside the cage, what do you suppose they'd say?

What would you say???

[JamesP]

Mmm, uh, V.....

Why did you think it necessary to provide so defensive, insulting & immature a response?

It was an honest inquiry and, I thought, an interesting subject.

It's difficult to learn/discuss anything in the midst of such cynicism, close-mindedness, dishonesty and hostility.

Is it likely that everyone's motives are sinister.... except yours?

An apology is in order.... and a more rational & convincing response.

I was interested in someon'es writing a response letter to the Republic with an alternate point of view. Your's is the usual empty diatribe.

[Jennifer_SFBA]

I would put this question to definitions of permculture. In the application of permaculture philosophy, emphasis is placed on tree crops. The link below is the home page for the Natural Sustainable Agriculture Information Service website:

http://attra.ncat.org/

The Ethics of Permaculture

Permaculture is unique among alternative farming systems (e.g., organic, sustainable, eco-agriculture, biodynamic) in that it works with a set of ethics that suggest we think and act responsibly in relation to each other and the earth.

The ethics of permaculture provide a sense of place in the larger scheme of things, and serve as a guidepost to right livelihood in concert with the global community and the environment, rather than individualism and indifference.

Care of the Earth

...includes all living and non-living things—plants, animals, land, water and air

Care of People

...promotes self-reliance and community responsibility—access to resources necessary for existence

Setting Limits to Population & Consumption

...gives away surplus—contribution of surplus time, labor, money, information, and energy to achieve the aims of earth and people care.

Permaculture also acknowledges a basic life ethic, which recognizes the intrinsic worth of every living thing. A tree has value in itself, even if it presents no commercial value to humans. That the tree is alive and functioning is worthwhile. It is doing its part in nature: recycling litter, producing oxygen, sequestering carbon dioxide, sheltering animals, building soils, and so on.

A few definitions of permaculture as follows:

From Michael Pilarski, founder of Friends of the Trees, published in International Green Front Report (1988):

In the broadest sense, permaculture refers to land use systems which promote stability in society, utilize resources in a sustainable way and preserve wildlife habitat and the genetic diversity of wild and domestic plants and animals. It is a synthesis of ecology and geography, of observation and design. Permaculture involves ethics of earth care because the sustainable use of land cannot be separated from life-styles and philosophical issues.

From a Bay Area Permaculture Group brochure, published in West Coast Permaculture News & Gossip and Sustainable Living Newsletter (Fall 1995):

Permaculture is a practical concept which can be applied in the city, on the farm, and in the wilderness. Its principles empower people to establish highly productive environments providing for food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs, including economic. Carefully observing natural patterns characteristic of a particular site, the permaculture designer gradually discerns optimal methods for integrating water catchment, human shelter, and energy systems with tree crops, edible and useful perennial plants, domestic and wild animals and aquaculture.

Permaculture adopts techniques and principles from ecology, appropriate technology, sustainable agriculture, and the wisdom of indigenous peoples. The ethical basis of permaculture rests upon care of the earth—maintaining a system in which all life can thrive. This includes human access to resources and provisions, but not the accumulation of wealth, power, or land beyond their needs.

Characteristics of Permaculture

Source: Pilarski, Michael (ed.) 1994. Restoration Forestry. Kivaki Press, Durango, CO. p. 450. Reprinted with permission from the author.

Permaculture is one of the most holistic, integrated systems analysis and design methodologies found in the world.

Permaculture can be applied to create productive ecosystems from the human-use standpoint or to help degraded ecosystems recover health and wildness.

Permaculture can be applied in any ecosystem, no matter how degraded.

Permaculture values and validates traditional knowledge and experience.

Permaculture incorporates sustainable agriculture practices and land management techniques and strategies from around the world.

Permaculture is a bridge between traditional cultures and emergent earth-tuned cultures.

Permaculture promotes organic agriculture which does not use pesticides to pollute the environment.

Permaculture aims to maximize symbiotic and synergistic relationships between site components.

Permaculture is urban planning as well as rural land design.

Permaculture design is site specific, client specific, and culture specific.

The Practical Application of Permaculture

Permaculture is not limited to plant and animal agriculture, but also includes community planning and development, use of appropriate technologies (coupled with an adjustment of life-style), and adoption of concepts and philosophies that are both earth-based and people-centered, such as bioregionalism.

Many of the appropriate technologies advocated by permaculturists are well known. Among these are solar and wind power, composting toilets, solar greenhouses, energy efficient housing, and solar food cooking and drying.

Due to the inherent sustainability of perennial cropping systems, permaculture places a heavy emphasis on tree crops. Systems that integrate annual and perennial crops—such as alley cropping and agroforestry—take advantage of "the edge effect," increase biological diversity, and offer other characteristics missing in monoculture systems. Thus, multicropping systems that blend woody perennials and annuals hold promise as viable techniques for large-scale farming. Ecological methods of production for any specific crop or farming system (e.g., soil building practices, biological pest control, composting) are central to permaculture as well as to sustainable agriculture in general.

Since permaculture is not a production system, per se, but rather a land use and community planning philosophy, it is not limited to a specific method of production. Furthermore, as permaculture principles may be adapted to farms or villages worldwide, it is site specific and therefore amenable to locally adapted techniques of production.

As an example, standard organic farming and gardening techniques utilizing cover crops, green manures, crop rotation, and mulches are emphasized in permacultural systems. However, there are many other options and technologies available to sustainable farmers working within a permacultural framework (e.g., chisel plows, no-till implements, spading implements, compost turners, rotational grazing). The decision as to which "system" is employed is site-specific and management dependent.

Farming systems and techniques commonly associated with permaculture include agroforestry, swales, contour plantings, Keyline agriculture (soil and water management), hedgerows and windbreaks, and integrated farming systems such as pond-dike aquaculture, aquaponics, intercropping, and polyculture.

Gardening and recycling methods common to permaculture include edible landscaping, keyhole gardening, companion planting, trellising, sheet mulching, chicken tractors, solar greenhouses, spiral herb gardens, swales, and vermicomposting.

Water collection, management, and re-use systems like Keyline, greywater, rain catchment, constructed wetlands, aquaponics (the integration of hydroponics with recirculating aquaculture), and solar aquatic ponds (also known as Living Machines) play an important role in permaculture designs.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/perma.html#defined

[-V-]

It was an honest inquiry and, I thought, an interesting subject

Your history in this area of the site indicates otherwise. If there was one discussion started by you in the animal-rights forum that was pro animal rights rather than espousing "interesting" anti-animal-rights positions, I'd give your intentions the benefit of the doubt.

If you are impartial, as you imply, you might occasionally offer your own rebuttal rather than merely serving as a megaphone for voices that reason for the continued exploitation of animals.

I'm sorry if my reply was insulting. If it dissapointed you, however, that's OK. I'm not a monkey who perfoms on cue everytime someone cranks the music box. If someone wants to crank the music box by dumping that kind of article into this subforum, they shouldn't be surprised if the monkey gets a little cranky.

Frankly, I'm offended and dissapointed that anyone would give credence to an editorial that discourages even a minor improvement of the living conditions for hundreds of millions of farm animals.

[-V-]

Thanks, Jen. I had never heard of the term Permaculture.

(James and Jen, please don't forget to quote copied text so we can tell it apart from your writing)

[-V-]

alright, in honor of the innocent beasts I answered the call of the bat signal and submitted this rebuttal to the Arizona Republic. It was no small feat, condensing a 600 word essay to the max allowed 200 words without losing contextual integrity.

In the future, life would be more pleasant, James, if you resisted the urge to play The Riddler to my Batman.

=================================
In rebutting Linda Valdez’s knock on cage-free egg farms, I’d rather wash feces off cage-free eggs than eat those from hens with lifetimes of wastes dropped on them from wired cages stacked above while breathed toxic fumes from manure pits below.

Regarding mortality rates, you too would be safer under intense confinement but you’d end up, like them, diseased and insane. Also, the only reason caged birds peck each other less is because their beaks are severed with hot blades.

Sure, that cage-free farmer prefers to eat eggs from caged birds. He also sells eggs from caged birds and prefers that method. The most abusive methods are most cost efficient. His bias claim that "some farmers-market eggs were washed in detergent, which can permeate the shell" went unchecked by Valdez.

Valdez’s editorial is weak justification to do what she wants to do -- buy cheap, convenient eggs, with less guilt, instead of paying a few more cents to reward the mother who provided them with space to spread her wings.

Ultimately, if we could ask a hen whether she prefers to live cramped in a cage or face the pecking order outside, what would she say? What would you say???

[JamesP]

In the future, life would be more pleasant, James, if you resisted the urge to play The Riddler to my Batman.

=================================

I don't get the Riddler / Batman reference (having outgrown the "Superhero" thing years ago)..... but I'll grant your wish for a more pleasant life and will refrain from posting in this section in the future.

You've "turned me off" to the subject of Animal Rights and to "Animal Rights activists"...... and added, in the process, to my understanding of why some people prefer animals to humans.

[-V-]

the comic allusion refers to your tendacy to post "Riddle me this..." articles to provoke conflict.

Regardless of how distasteful you feel my presentation is, it is sad that you would let me and/or your ego dictate what issues you will or will not be drawn to. All you need to be "turned on" to animal rights issues is an honest enthusiasm to pursue truth and justice, and a connection and compassion for all sentient life forms.

Thank you for suggesting I really do have superpowers, but I do not accept the responsibilty for turning you on or off to anything, nor do I believe, in your case, that I could entice you believe anything that you weren't already predisposed to believing.

You've, likewise, added to my "understanding of why some people prefer animals to humans".