My last roomate was a vegetarian and not just for the health rewards. She cared about the treatment of animals and didn't care for the amounts of chemicals and growth hormones used or the effects the pesticides have on the environment. I agree in many respects because I too cringe at the idea of a sweet little chicken living its whole life in a cage, and beakless while being pumped full of breast enlarging hormones. I too feel disgusted eating a genetically enhanced orange...something not natural about the way it's seedless or the way in which it doen't squirt juice everywhere. So can I picture a world of vegetarianism and free ranged animals? It could be that the idea of being a vegetarian, vegan, or organic foods only person is a luxury of the few.

Organic foods and free range chickens aren't feasible on a larger scale. As Simeon Margolis, M.D., Ph.D. says in his article "Organic Foods: Are They Really Healthier?" he states, "organic farming procedures are inefficient; wholesale adoption of them would make it difficult to meet the food needs of the world. Genetic engineering techniques, which are barred in the definition of organic foods, have greatly increased the efficiency of food production." What exactly are organic foods? The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) finally came up with the following definition:

"Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; petroleum-based fertilizers or sewage sludge-based fertilizers; bio-engineering; or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled "organic," a government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules needed to meet USDA organic standards." Which rules out genetically engineered foods of being labeled organic.

It's not likely that animal farms will turn over a new leaf to being free range. Supply and Demand determine the market for free range eggs and they are less attactive due to price. Many people who are free range advocates never look past the certification sticker to the man behind the curtain: the free range farms. It's incredibly expensive to start a free range farm. Devon Foods in the United Kingdom did a study of different free ranged farms. One case was the Colbey Free Range Farm. A family run business, it had operated since 1987 and is still a local operation. The reason they can't expand comes down to the cost effectiveness of the products.

Although the farm makes a turn over of 200,000 British Pounds a year, the cost involved in making that money is crippling. There are 2.5 employees and two refrigerated vans making deliveries four times a week crossing 20,000 miles a year. Demand is also a problem as the study states, "Cobley finds that organic produce is not in great demand with consumers; experience dictates that most purchasing decisions made by consumers are influenced by price and quality." Colbey Farms has tried converting their production over to the ways of Organic, but with no success. "The main obstacle to success was the cost of organic feed which constitutes 70% of overheads in egg production. The price of organic feed was significantly higher than conventional feed but this outlay could not be recouped in the retail price for eggs." The conclusion drawn by both the Colbey Family and Devon Foods was that "Organic egg production is not cost effective."

Although factory farms are the reason why many people choose free ranged foods or go vegetarian, the cost of those farms converting to organic production would be economically disasterous to those farms who would not be able to meet supply or demand.

Effects on Fast Food Chains:
So KFC would find their cost of chicken go through the roof, but also a smaller supply of it coming in. KFC would have to downsize. Many of the working poor would have to be laid off. The people laid off would have little if no working skills and (seeing how all Fast Food Resturaunts would be doing the same) would find themselves part of an epidemic of joblessness thoughout the world.

Effects on Supermarkets:
Meat, Eggs, Dairy, fruits, and Vegetables would be less prominant. The prices would rise to cover food production costs. Perhaps we would see $10 grapes (home grown) like they do in Japan. Most of the produce in Japan comes form California because our imported goods are cheaper then their home grown goods due to the lack of open space for food production. Free Range constitutes for less animals and more space. Things like fresh milk, cheese, butter, eggs, apples, and oranges would inflate to the point of a heavy drop in demand. Watch how quickly people decide to live off of Easy Mac when Milk is $8 a carton.

Effects on Economy:
If one cost factor goes up in price such as minimum wage, cost of milk, cost of gas, etc, businesses are hugely impaced usually resulting in cutting out expenses someplace else. So it is logical that if MCDonalds decided to go free range they would have to downsize employees as well as inflate prices. Grocery stores would do the same. Thus unemployment would rise along with prices created a bigger seperation of the upper and lower class.

It is contradictory to care so much about plants, animals, and the environment that one would choose a lifestyle of organic and free range foods when the consequences of a world turned organic and free range would be catastrophic to so many other people. How weird that people should choose an idealism or a lifestyle that only works if there is only a few participating in that movement. My roomate argues that she cares about animals and is doing her part in choosing not to be one who supports the abuse of animals or the falsifying of food. But if everyone did that the economic effects would be catastrophic, and she knows this. Everyone knows this. So for vegetarianism, veganism, organic and free rang farms to work, there has to be the necessary evil of animal abuse and chemically treated produce. Otherwise, should there be no more animal abuse or unnatural produce and everything be free range and organic, the cause and effect would mean abuse to people and the working poor specifically, a shortage of food, a seperation in classes, and more members would join the starving nations club.

Although I do not support the abuse of animals or mistreatment of food, I don't support the solution of avoiding them either. I believe in the old school thought that a solution should work for all and not just the few. Sorry vegetarians, vegans, and organic only buyers, I do no believe yours is a solution, but a stilt in the thought process towards a better one. Let's think if something that we can all participate in.

--Sue Stone