The Rural Voice, 1988-05, Page 23ALmAR)
tice and promoting their use is a good
first step. Producers must also demon-
strate that they can accept the respon-
sibility of monitoring their own ethical
matters without outside control, much
as other professional groups (doctors,
lawyers, and dentists, for example) do.
Most importantly, farmers must voice
their support for research into animal
welfare so that facts can be applied to
the issue. Without such facts, opinion
and emotion will dominate the debate.
Ultimately, producers will respond
to what the consumer wants. The
demand for abundant, cheap food has
led to intensification. If it is shown
that intensification is inhumane in
some ways, and the consumer wants
the practices stopped, farmers will
have to change. This trend is already
underway: consumers are increasing-
ly demanding plant products grown
without pesticides or inorganic ferti-
lizers and animal products produced
free-range and without hormone or
antibiotic treatments. According to
Dr. Hurnik, these "health foods"
represent the fastest-growing segment
of the food industry and, if health and
fitness trends continue, they will
continue to do so.
But those market forces can work
both ways. If, for example, veal pro-
duction were to be banned in Canada,
demand for that product would be met
by imports. We would have no con-
trol over the well-being of the animals
raised for veal in other countries.
Animal welfarists must recognize this.
By co-operating in the process of
developing good domestic welfare
standards, they can ensure that their
major concerns will be answered.
Both sides of this issue are going
to have to give a little to gain a little.
It is easy for farmers to call animal
welfarists lunatics, or say they belong
to "satanic cults." It is easy to portray
their organizations as hungry for dona-
tions or say they don't know what they
are talking about and they use the
media to misrepresent the case. It is
more difficult to put aside those reac-
tions (which are characteristic of any
established industry whose methods
are criticized) and ask whether current
methods of agriculture, including our
attitudes towards the use of animals,
are as good as we think.
Similarly, it is easy for the vege-
tarian animal rights movement to
portray farmers as evil and cruel, to
dismiss the concerns of farmers and
concentrate on defenceless animals,
and to call for the dismantling of ani-
mal agriculture. It is more difficult for
them to come up with ideas that will
allow animal agriculture to continue in
a humane way.
This social conflict will resolve
itself somehow, but if it is to be
resolved satisfactorily, farmers as well
as animal welfarists must ensure that
the discussion remains rational and
open. Allowing the animal welfare
issue to be debated only by people
who hold extreme opinions will do
nobody, including the animals for
which both sides are concerned, any
good.0
A READING LIST
WELFARE, ANIMAL
Animal Liberation. Peter Singer. New York: Avon/Discus, 1975.
ISBN 0-380-01782. Paperback $6.50.
In Defence of Animals. Edited by Peter Singer. London, New York: Basil
Blackwell, 1985. ISBN 0-631-13896-X. Paperback $14.95.
Recommended Code of Practice for Handling Chickens from Hatchery to
Slaughterhouse. Agriculture Canada publication 1757/E, 1983 (under revision).
Recommended Code of Practice for Care and Handling of Pigs. Agriculture
Canada publication 1771/E, 1984. (Agriculture Canada publications are available
from: Communications Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, K1A 007.)
Journal of Agricultural Ethics. Edited by Prof. Frank Hurnik and Prof. Hugh
Lehman. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis. ISSN 0893-4282. Vol. 1, 1988.
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