To Cage or Not To Cage? Oprah's Opinion

Just to set the record straight, I am not a dedicated Oprah Winfrey Show viewer. I do, however, check her show schedule online on Mondays to see if she has any interesting shows during the coming week. If there's one that looks promising, I add it to my schedule (sometimes when you work at home you have to create an illusion on a schedule just to feel productive). Yesterday (October 14) Oprah's show was about: "How we treat the animals we eat." She asks, "Have you ever wondered what 'cage-free' or 'free-range' really means? Oprah reporter extraordinaire Lisa Ling looks inside some of America's farms and brings her findings back to the show.

Next month, Californians will vote on Proposition 2, which requires, according to the Los Angeles Times, "that confined cattle, pigs and chickens have enough space to lie down, stand up, turn around freely and extend their limbs. Because there are few veal producers in the state and the largest pork producer here has already said it would eliminate small crates, the initiative would apply to the 19 million laying hens in California."

A smooth-talking spokesperson for the U.S. Humane Society heavily advocated Prop.2 on the Oprah show, saying that it's high time the nation did some to alleviate animal cruelty at factory farms. On the flip side, a chicken farmer from California said that the changes proposed by Prop.2 would wipe out the egg industry in that state, eliminating income for hundreds of family. He said that eggs would then be imported from other countries, likely with poorer animal welfare standards than farms in the U.S., increasing the cost of eggs. Lisa Ling also visited a cage-free chicken farm, where the laying hens are free to roam and lay eggs in a pasture.

While this is the idyllic image we all have in our heads - friendly farm animals, like those from the movie Babe, frolicking in green pastures - how realistic is this scenario? How much space do we give up for the benefit of animals? Are we willing to pay for cage-free, free-range organic animal products? The majority of the eggs (90-95%) sold in the United States come from factory farms, lining the shelves of Wal-Mart supercentres. Is the consumer - let's say the single mom or the low-income family or even the suburban couple with two cars and no kids - willing to pay a higher price, especially during a time of economic crisis, for specialty eggs and pork?

Oprah's take is a bit more Biblical - she quotes a passage from Matthew where Jesus says, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.' Now, the Bible also says in Genesis that God gave man dominion over the animals of the earth. Here's the moral dilemma: which life do we value more? Animals or humans? Do we put a family out of business in order to make more space for chickens? Do we deprive lower income families of bacon and eggs because we demand that those products be organic and animal-friendly? Do we vote on animal welfare issues based on feelings or facts?

It is difficult to come to a conclusion on this issue, but I am glad that Oprah is at least talking about agriculture. Perhaps such changes in cage size wouldn't cripple the industry, perhaps it's time for a change. Just because a certain farming practice has been done a certain way for generations doesn't necessary mean that it's the best way. We'll wait and see how California votes.

IFAJ 2008 - Austria and Slovenia

Keep reading to find out more about my first IFAJ experience! Thanks to an award from IFAJ and Alltech, I was able to attend the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists' annual meeting in Austria and Slovenia from September 10 to 14, 2008.

September 10

Owen Roberts (University of Guelph, Canadian Farm Writers' Federation, IFAJ) registers for the congress. If not for him, I might have never made it to the congress. We arrived on the same flight and he flagged down a cab to take us, and Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman from the United States, to the hotel.

Owen Roberts and Christina Lombard (Alltech) present me with the IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award. For more info, visit Alltech's website.

Once the annual delegates' meeting ended, we toured the city of Graz. Our Austrian guide, Gudrun Haas, has a passion for the region and its people. She was very enthusiastic about the city and that energy was contagious. I couldn't get enough of the sights, sounds and smells of Graz - mural-covered buildings, renaissance architecture, traditional Austrian folk music, roasted chesnuts.

September 11

How 'bout them apples?

Employees at Steirerfrucht select and package Austrian-grown apples for storage and shipping. On average, the facility processes about 150,000 to 170,000 tonnes per year. In addition to apples, Steirerfrucht also packages pears, plums, peaches and berries. Austrians' prefer apples above all other fruits.

Many apples come from Styria's Apple Road. Styria is the province of Austria known for its agricultural operations. The countryside is covered (literally) with black-netted apple orchards. While you may think the black netting is meant to deter birds, it is actually to protect the fruit from hail damage. Karl and Martin Leitner are the father-son team who run "Niglbauer", an apple orchard and processing facility. We tasted the fruits of their labour - apple juice, apple wine and apple schnapps.



The Canadians (minus three) show a little American pride to promote the IFAJ Congress 2009 in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

September 12

In the morning we visited KWB, a biomass boiler manufacturing company. I love trees so this was right up my alley. The entire office smelled like wood! It would've been nice to have toured a logging site though. David Pock, a marketing representative of KWB, says the company aims to take responsibility for the future, both in product development and manufacturing practices. The boiler systems are so simple, it's a wonder such units are not more popular in Canada, considering our abundant wood supply. Pock says that many farmers in the area purchase large systems and sell excess energy to their neighbours.

Mmm...I love the smell of pellets!

Some of the IFAJ journalists went a little loopy when we visited Celeia Dairy only to discover that it was a milk processing facility with no cows and plastic biosecurity suits. Mlekarna Dairy is the second largest dairy in Slovenia, working with 20 to 30 farmer cooperatives for milk supply and processing about 25,000 litres of milk per hour. Milk is collected every other day from nearby farms. Most farmers only have 10 to 20 cows.

Beautiful Ljubljana. The city tour was a highlight - very old European feel. I could taste history in the air. After the tour, we loaded the buses and headed for Portoroz. Amidst thunder and lightning and torrential downpour, Katie Lomas, a farm journalist from the UK, and I headed out to join the others for dinner. As we emerged from the hotel, we were ushered under a bright orange umbrella held by David Markey, former IFAJ President. Talk about a royal escort!

September 13

This morning we rose early in order to arrive at the Lippizanar Stud Farm on time for a dressage performance by the magnificent white stallions, attended by the Princess of Jordan. Prior to the performance, we toured the stables and a small museum of antique wagons.

Lippizanis are born brown, black or red. They lose their pigment over time and transform into white horses.

Our next stop was a vineyard and a tourist winery in the countryside near Portoroz. The vineyard's claim-to-fame is its Teran wine, which can only be produced in the local area due to the unique environmental conditions. After the tour, we headed to port where we sailed out to the rainy sea.

Cruising the Slovenian coastline in style.

See you next year in Texas!