A Meaty Read by Simon Fairlie

If you are looking for the textbook on the environmental impacts of meat production and consumption, then look no further than Simon Fairlie’s new book Meat: A Benign Extravagance, just released by Chelsea Green Publishers in the US. As long as you can get past his use of quaint British terms like “ley, smallholder, and hectare”, you will find a trove of information on all of the controversial, hot topics around animal agriculture.

At first the title perplexed me- “benign” means harmless, like a tumor that just sits there and “extravagance” means a luxury you could do without. Is the consumption of meat a harmless luxury?  That is certainly not what usually comes to mind for me- a luxury yes but not exactly benign.  There are impacts of animal production, both good and bad, influenced by how and where they are raised.  Nonetheless, I dug in.

This book is organized as a series of independent, meaty essays. They are not tender or easy to digest, so approach them in chunks.  Thus far I have chewn off an easy little chapter on the history of livestock and civilizations, finally walking away with an understanding of where the whole cattle vs. pigs divide came from.  I read about the land efficiency of meat and dairy production and how it might compare to an equivalent amount of calories, protein, and fat generated from purely plant sources.  One of my favorite statistics shows that the production of vegetable oils (such as soy & canola) uses as much land as a similar kilo of beef, supposedly the most 'inefficient' form of meat to produce. I like this statistic because when I hear the constant drone of meat critics saying that meat is just too expensive to produce (in terms of land), I often wonder how much land and inputs the equivalent amount of vegetable-based fats consume.  In another chapter, Fairlie points out that 'default livestock', which is to say 'animal products and services that arise as the integral co-product of a wider agricultural system', may take little land away from food production at all. Default animals are usually grazed on non-arable (read: no irrigation, too hilly or rocky to till) or fed on food wastes of human societies, which the omnivorous pig and chicken are particularly adept at.  Of all the production systems that Fairlie outlines in this book, the concept of 'default livestock' appears to be the most sustainable path for animal production on this planet. 

At times the chapters gets tedious with statistics, but you can’t say that Fairlie didn’t do his research.  Quite the contrary, this book is the most thoroughly researched treatise I have ever seen on the subject.  Simon does not obscure his biases- he is a small-scale stockman that wants to see animals as part of a sustainable, biologically-based farming system.  Yet he approaches his subject with refreshing openness.  He sees some potential in vegan ‘stock-free’ agriculture (meaning without animals), although fails to talk about where the mechanical power will come from in that system. Without animals for draft power, a vegan farmer becomes highly reliant on petro fueled machinery.  Fairlie spends considerable time comparing chemical agriculture to organic, both with and without domesticated animals in the mix.  There is no definitive ‘perfect' sustainable farming system according to Fairlie but he recognizes the many deficiencies of moving animals away from crops, thus breaking the nutrient cycle and requiring more and more synthetic substitutes of nitrogen and phosphorus.  Everyone talks about Peak Oil, but Peak Phosphorus is about to get much more serious to our way of life much sooner than the oil reserves start to run dry.  It is time we start talking about where it will come from.  Too much of it is wasted in our sewage systems or manure lagoons.

As a former meat producer myself and an ardent environmentalist, I am sometimes challenged to explain the complexities of why I think livestock and meat eating are an integral part of a sustainable agricultural system. Animals are best at harvesting inedible forages, utilizing marginal lands, recycling nutrients and waste, and providing draft power.  In many cases they can provide more nutrient-dense foods in terms of calories, protein, and fat than vegetables, grains, or pulses grown on an equivalent amount of land.  Next time I am challenged to verbalize the compatibility of meat eating and ecological sustainability, I will simply point someone in the direction of this book.  This is an important book for anyone interested in the future of agriculture, family farmers, and rural landscapes, especially those that like to chew on some animal flesh now and again.

P.S. You can buy this book directly off my blog by scrolling down on the right under "Honest Books" and looking for the title. I work with my favorite independent book store, Powell's, to offer you books I think are worth reading.  The tiny commission I receive just helps to offset the monthly cost of the blog hosting. Thanks!

Comments

[Rebecca T. of Honestmeat]

Thank you Walter for reminding me of those salient points in the book. It was just so DENSE I couldn't possibly comment on all of it. The rest of you SHOULD read this book- well worth the small investment due to the shear amount of research and references that went into this book. You could probably save yourself from reading over 100 other books & journal articles by reading this 1 book by Simon Fairlie.

[Walter Jeffries]

One of the points he makes is that animals can make use of lower grade foods to raise them to higher grade food stuffs for us. Examples are:

1) pasture turned into protein and lipids (meat & fat).

2) whey from cheese making turned into pork

3) cheese trim, veggies and meat scraps turned into chicken and eggs

The problem with modern factory meat production, please don't call it farming, is that they are using the wrong resources and insane amounts of petroleum and other energy to do what could be done on a broad based small scale production at many small farms leading to healthier lifestyles and healthier better quality food.

[Lamberto]

You have a comprehensive and insightful review. I am going to check out this book because of your wonderful review.

[Throwback at Trapper Creek]

Thanks for the honest review of this - as a farmer on marginal land myself, our cattle are the single most sustainable thing on our farm.

Looking forward to reading this, the it sounds like it will go well with The Vegetarian Myth.

[Tommacg]

Have the book sitting beside my bed, waiting to be read. Can't wait to get through it.

A bit angry that I've been misled (and allowed myself to be misled) for so long by blanket "stop eating meat for the sake of the environment" claims. Goodbye life-long vegetarianism!

[Kim Williams]

Tantalizing review - looking forward to reading this. Thanks Rebecca!