From: bfish@sequent.com (Brett Fishburne)
Subject: Re: Organic vs. cruelty free
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems Inc.
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 14:40:41 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.174329.10298@socrates.umd.edu> tara@socrates.umd.edu (Tara McDermott) writes:
>spratt@src.honeywell.com (Steve Pratt) writes:
>
>>Now comes my dilemma.  I started thinking about what "organic" farming
>>means.  If you look in a dictionary, you will see something like "grown
>>with only animal and vegetable fertilizers, as manure, bone meal, compost,
>>etc."  I have no problem with compost (although this may be an issue for
>>fruititarians :-) but bone meal?  This sounds very reminiscent of the
>>discussion that we just had about the use of bone char in the refining of
>>sugar.  And manure?  Surely, the animals are not kept around *just* to
>>produce fertilizer (is so, it sounds incredibly inefficient, so it raises
>>economic and environmental issues, at a minimum), so we can hardly call
>>manure an innocent by-product.
>
>>All this makes me really depressed.  Can someone point out the error in
>>this thinking, or are we doomed ultimately to drawing arbitrary lines in
>>this "cruelty free" business?
>
>Unfortunately, he said, there really isn't any alternative to
>pesticide use that doesn't exploit animals or rely on their wastes.
>It is a great concern of mine, and something that will most likely
>become an important issue for vegans.  He wasn't able to offer
>anything other than understanding and some degree of sympathy.
>

I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian who eats primarily organic foodstuffs.  There are
lots of ethical and health reasons for this, but I don't think that I have
to compromise my ethical positions on moral animal treatment to enjoy organic
foods.  Many organic farmers use "winter crops" to create what is called
"green manure" which they plow under in the spring.  These crops include
winter rye and clover, both of which are high in nitrogen.  Additionally,
they use horse manure (the second best manure for the organic farmer) and/or
elephant manure (the very best manure for the organic farmer).  Skirting the
issue of cruelty to horses (those buggies in the streets with horses in 
blinders) and cruelty to elephants (ever circus I'ver ever seen or heard of)
there are places to get manure from these animals which doesn't involve
cruelty.  Zoos come to mind (of course there is an issue here with some
zoos, but there are increasing numbers of zoos which offer wonderful
conditions for animals which may not make it in the wild -- like giant pandas).
I grow much of my own food in my suburban front yard (the neighbors are getting
more tolerant as I use decorative and edible plants such as asparagus and
tomatoes as screens) and use manure from a friend who owns two horses and is
extatic (sp?) when I show up to haul the manure away.  I also use "black
gold" or compost from my kitchen scraps, lawn wastes (what little lawn is
left and my neighbors lawns who don't use pesticides and fertilizers), and
post-season plants.

Of course, you have no assurance that organic farmers you purchase your
produce from do this type of thing.  I have recently stumbled on a farm which
claims to be "biodynamic" featuring free range cows and chickens.  They use
the cows for milk and chickens for eggs.  They allow the cows to graze on 
land which is fallow during crop rotation and the cows naturally fertilize as
they go!  This seems like a pretty good deal and may be something you want to
look for.

I have to admit that I still use some bone meal to feed the bulbs in my
yard.  I bought a 25 pound bag about a year before I started my vegetarian
lifestyle (I've been organic in my garden as long as I've had a garden) and
I plan on finishing it off even though I will not be buying any more.  Which
is worse, to buy it to begin with, or throw it away once you realize that the
buying wasn't such a hot thing to do?

In the end, the only way to do it right is to do it yourself.  Find yourself
a small plot of land and become a subsistence farmer!  Be careful in your
choice of land, however, because even the best organic practices won't 
compensate for your land having been saturated with DDT in the last 20+
years.

-- Brett
bfish@sequent.com
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg