Most of our grain exports go into feeding animals that are sold as food, but at prices much higher than most of the people in the export countries can afford. I remember the old movie Giant where a little boy breaks down at Thanksgiving time because he realizes that the turkey he is about to eat is his pet. We all are so used to having flesh packaged and presented to us in final eating form that we tend to forget where the flesh came from. Our society has such little contact with the process of getting our food, that we think everything just appears without origin. Most of us have no idea what a tomato plant looks like.
City kids have no idea what a real cow looks like, other than pictures.
Getting to know animals helps us respect what we are eating. We could at least be conscious of what the animal looks like, behaves like, and smells like. And to know that the animal can love us unconditionally. When we eat a hamburger, it's just a sandwich, but when you know the cow, your perceptions change. Suddenly the hamburger is a pet and you are eating him or her.