Critiquing the Ottawa critic.

After some thought and consideration I’m ready to voice my opinion on “Foer’s manifesto” by Susan Salter Reynolds which was published front page of the Ottawa Citizen BOOKS section on January 3, 2010.

A recent Ottawa Citizen book critique painted a harsh picture of livestock agriculture.

In the world of agricultural communications there are topics that really – I mean really – can fire people up.  Those include organic agriculture, GMOs and animal welfare.  When you are fired up by a topic you are more likely to misspeak without thinking and we have all see it happen.  Sometimes a producer gets so enraged by an article or argument regarding animal welfare that they mistakenly justify negative practices out of the urgency of “You are wrong! How can you say that?!”  Knowing that animal welfare articles can cause that kind of reaction I waited to respond.  I wanted to make sure that I really thought about why I didn’t like the article, what made me mad and how I really feel about the critique.

In short, I have a beef.

I have a beef with a critic gallantly praising an animal ‘expose’ using arguments which are inaccurate or inflated.  I have a beef with an editor(s) printing a critique about such a sensitive issue like animal welfare without proper fact checking.  I think that is what really hit a nerve with me after reading this article and I wanted to share some key quotes with you.

In the review, Reynolds says,

Some of our finest journalists (Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) and animal-rights activists (Peter Singer, Temple Grandin) — not to mention Gandhi, Jesus, Pythagoras, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke and Immanuel Kant (and so many others) — have hurled themselves against the question of eating meat and the moral issues inherent in killing animals for food.  Foer, 32, in this, his first work of nonfiction, intrepidly joins their ranks …

I feel like it’s a bit of a jump (read: huge leap) to put Foer in the same category as Thomas Aquinas, Jesus and Ghandi.   Educating people on the realities of livestock agriculture, although important, doesn’t exactly put you in the ranks with major religious or cultural leaders.  Throughout her review, Reynolds uses embellished phrasing and assumptions to paint an inaccurately gloomy picture of livestock farming.

Ms. Reynolds, the only way to see large farming operations is NOT to break in.  Although the farms Mr. Foer wrote to ignored him, you can visit the Ontario Farm Animal Council‘s website to go on Virtual Farm Tours or attend other farm tours like the one OFAC organized for Ontario culinary school students in 2009.  I myself have toured many large farms including one of North America largest dairy farms, a 15 000 head beef operation, multiple swine farms, fish farms, and poultry farms.

Also Ms. Reynolds, when you say “… how to live and care for your loved ones without supporting animal agriculture and factory farming” it seems to me like you are trying to guilt people out of supporting animal agriculture by referencing how to “care for your loved ones”.

I’d like to add Ms. Reynolds, when you said, “Most of Foer’s numbers are American, so we can try to fool ourselves that things are vastly better in Canada. After all, we don’t send people to be tortured, do we?” I would have liked an argument or statistic that showed you have actually researched the Canadian animal agriculture sector.  I would like to point out there ARE differences and I DO have an issue with you insulting the sector with a zingy one-liner rather than research.

Ms. Reynolds, I will let my pork producing friends comment on “[Foers] also raises the spectre of flu pandemics caused by farming — think of “avian” flu and “swine” flu –”.

And one more thing Ms. Reynolds, I just wanted to correct your statement that “The world of large-scale chicken farming has been reduced to two breeds: layers and broilers. The lives of neither of these are pleasant, but at least the broilers endure theirs for only 39 to 42 days.”  Layers and broilers are not breeds.  A breed of chicken would something like White Rocks, White Leghorns or Rhode Island Reds which are examples of some breeds used in today’s poultry industry.

In conclusion, I was frustrated with how this critique was written and not the book it revovles around.  As a writer, I think fact checking is always important and especially when making bold public statements about very controversial issues.  I was disappointed by this article and that inaccurate statements were allowed to run to press.

My apologies for the long post.  The fact this post became so long made me also realize that as this blog develops I notice my most passionate posts (good and bad) arizse when agriculture is reported in everyday media like FASHION magazine, the movies or regional newspapers.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share your own feedback like fellow blogger Christina.

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