In a series of seven articles published earlier this year, The duty presents a portrait of industrial farming conditions in Quebec and Canada. It is nice to see an urban media lift the veil on certain agricultural realities too often hidden by a lack of transparency on the part of industry players.
However, these articles essentially depict two camps: that of the proponents of industrial agriculture, as well as that of the anti-species activists. This dichotomy seems to us to be a fundamental problem, insofar as the postures that exist between these two poles are rendered invisible and excluded from the debate. For the Union paysanne, this conceals essential nuances.
On one side or the other, the arguments staged seem unable to go beyond the framework of their own interests. On the industrial side, the capitalist economy forces production to align itself with objectives of profit, growth and international competitiveness, which forces the maximization of yields to the detriment of the quality of activities on the farm. Through innovation and integration, factory farms are locked into a production scheme that dispossesses them. On the antispeciesist side, the capitalist context in which the animals are placed, which largely explains their condition, does not seem to be taken into account. Moreover, the fundamental role of animals on a farm is obliterated.
For the Union paysanne, the issue of animals in our food models is at the intersection of these perspectives. Indeed, it seems very difficult to design a sustainable and acceptable agricultural model without animals. The role of animals is complementary to that of plant production, because they make it possible, among other things, to limit external inputs and to diversify protein sources. It can also be mentioned that these are present in the vast majority of traditional food systems and that their role in the carbon and phosphorus cycles is important.
On the other hand, the current model, based on the specialization of production and on yields at all costs, is quite simply unacceptable and should absolutely be called into question. It seems essential to us to find agricultural models that value autonomy and the quality of production, in a human, thoughtful and fair context. In such models, the number of animals per herd is greatly reduced, which makes it possible to limit their environmental impact and integrate them into a diversified production, which leads to an equally diversified diet.
There are institutions in Quebec whose intention is not to achieve this peasant agricultural ideal. The hegemony of the industrial agricultural model is maintained in place by the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA), as well as by the current Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, André Lamontagne.
Make no mistake: the recent initiatives of the latter concerning so-called environmental considerations are futile and insufficient and seem only to have as their objective the continuation of the current model in a slightly more acceptable form. This is totally insufficient.
The complex question of the role of animals requires significant in-depth study carried out by society as a whole, from production to consumption. To see many diverse farms flourish that treat animals with respect and integrate them into the ecology of their farm, we are calling for general assemblies on agriculture.
“From field to fork” should be more than a marketing slogan.