There are alternatives which split the difference between humane and productive. Generally what small time farmers will do is keep cows in pastures that don't have enough food to feed them but do have enough area for them to roam. They'll then use their farming ground to produce enough hay to feed the cattle.
But that said, small time farmers are getting priced out by factory farms. Unfortunately, the dollar is king when it comes to meat production.
The worst part is that there's no real way for a consumer to fix this problem. You can significantly reduce or eliminate your meat consumption and that won't affect factory farms. Remember, they are the cheap meat. So who gets the brunt of reduced consumption? Generally smaller operations as they end up priced out of the market.
The only 2 ways I know of to really hurt factory farmers is for either lab grown meat to be less expensive or for government regulations to outlaw the practice. If the quality of lab grown meat is high enough, however, you are going to see major issues with small time farmers being priced out of the cattle industry completely.
> The worst part is that there's no real way for a consumer to fix this problem.
About all you can do is buy local grass fed or go vegetarian. As you say, it's not a huge thing, but at least I'm not participating.
> Generally smaller operations as they end up priced out of the market.
I would love to see some legislative reform on the large scale use of antibiotics in meat raising. That wouldn't necessarily help smaller farmers, but it might push larger scale farms into somewhat less heinous practices.
we need shit farming. 2 reasons: 1. grazing. grasslands sequester more carbon than even forests. 2. phosporous. if you go to iowa. the farmers feed pig shit to grow corn and then feed the corn to the pigs so they'd shit. it's the only way. Soil P is a non renewable resource. when we run out of P, we cant farm anymore.
But that said, small time farmers are getting priced out by factory farms. Unfortunately, the dollar is king when it comes to meat production.
The worst part is that there's no real way for a consumer to fix this problem. You can significantly reduce or eliminate your meat consumption and that won't affect factory farms. Remember, they are the cheap meat. So who gets the brunt of reduced consumption? Generally smaller operations as they end up priced out of the market.
The only 2 ways I know of to really hurt factory farmers is for either lab grown meat to be less expensive or for government regulations to outlaw the practice. If the quality of lab grown meat is high enough, however, you are going to see major issues with small time farmers being priced out of the cattle industry completely.