“They had better consistency, better pork quality, better genetics. So after college, in ’98, I decided to try to modernize.”
He stopped raising hogs in small buildings and built two industrial-sized hog barns. Each of them holds 1,500 hogs.
Nearly all pigs are raised this way in the United States now. The government says the efficiency of large-scale production in a controlled environment has helped reduce the price of a pork chop by nearly 20 percent since 1998.
These efficient and intensive production methods are being used around the world. Many experts say that is a good thing as the demand for meat grows. But livestock expert Carolyn Opio points out that the land, water and feed required to produce it are limited.
“If we are to produce within the constraints that we are facing today, efficiency, I think, is very, is key.”
Ms. Opio is with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
But the results of efficiency are not always necessarily good. The waste from thousands of confined animals can pollute waterways and produce greenhouse gases. And some health experts are concerned about the antibiotics and other chemicals being put in the animals’ feed. Others criticize the conditions in which the animals are kept.
So today, a growing number of people are like Kevin Summers in Amissville, Virginia, and returning to small-scale farming.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25