Very few animal advocates have a solid understanding of the economic structure of the meat, dairy, and egg industries. Such an understanding pays off in two ways: it allows us to speak more authoritatively about factory farming, and it enables us to perceive and exploit the industry’s primary vulnerabilities. I devoted much of my book Meat Market
Yesterday, Frank Morris recorded a story for NPR about the “chickenization” of the beef industry—which is slowly but surely turning independent cattle ranchers into modern day sharecroppers. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen mainstream reporting do such a good job of covering the nuances of vertical integration in the meat industry. Morris expertly explains how cattle industry bigwigs are putting short-term profits ahead of the economic survival of small ranchers.
I’ve no doubt that this means greater profits for the likes of Tyson and Cargill—but fewer stakeholders in the beef industry means fewer people to defend it against a growing animal advocacy movement. (Via Simon.) Link.
