True Cost of Beef Flowchart
Reading Omnivore’s Dilemma, one realizes that something is missing. Something that could tie many of Pollan’s points into something greater…Something one could understand at a glance…What the book needs is pictures!  More specifically: flowcharts!  Pollan discusses the hidden costs of cheap beef creation via factory farming. While the paragraphs he devotes to the topic are substantial in detail, one may not walk away with a quick understanding of the big picture.  A good flowchart could help here.
After scouring google image search for “hidden costs of beef” themed flowcharts and coming up with nothing, I decided to take it upon myself to create such a chart. Â My chart is limited to the mere production of the cattle meat (so it excludes its extraction, transportation, and consumption). Â The chart is crude; it lacks hard numbers and neglects to compare the magnitude of the various issues presented. Â However, it does successfully, I think, show an overview of the inter-connectivity between farmers, factory farm production of beef, and its human and environmental consequences. Â Behold:
Although cows are the focus of this chart, it is really the cheap, subsidized corn that makes the system at all possible. The depressed price of corn makes cheap meat possible when manufactured in this way. But, what people often do not realize is that what they don’t pay at Burger King, we all pay for in terms of environmental damage and numerous attacks on human health. The flowchart, hopefully, shows this plainly.
(The EPA had been considering a special tax on cows, but it still seems to be in the works. Also, the flowchart does not show it, but some farmers have begun to capture the emitted methane in order to turn it into electricity. As it stands, far too few are doing so.)
In all, the cattle industry continues to make great profit at the expense of the our health and the environment.
February 26, 2009
Tags: agriculture, cows, farmers, food, green, greenhouse gases, Michael Pollan, subsidies Posted in: Health, Science & Technology
6 Responses
Great post. I was feeling defensive until I saw the flow chart. You pretty much nailed it.
The flow chart for grass-finished beef looks different, of course. There are some who feel grass-finished beef can improve global warming by imitating the soil-building techniques of the bison.
Also, the cattle industry may be making a great profit, but cattle farmers are not. The average cattle farmer would be better off if CAFOs were banned and they were forced to grass-finish. The steep learning curve would be detrimental to some, though.
You’re quite right on all accounts. I’m not sure who said it, but seems to ring very true in this industrialized economy that, “There is money to be made in the food business, unless you’re trying to grow it.”
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