The IFAP and Our Relation to It - Alex Fenichell

I don’t think IFAP is sustainable, but I am having a hard time explaining why. In other words, if I had to convince all those involved in IFAP to stop what they’re doing, I don’t think I could do it. Except for an appeal to the morality and humanity and empathy of IFAPers, I know of no effective methods. From the movie we watched, I am most struck by a few things. First, the animal waste confinement farms produce and how poorly managed that waste is. Second, I am struck by the density and poor living-conditions of animals in factory farms [huge space + high density=woah]. Third, I am struck by the corporation-dictators who determine how smaller serf-like farmers work and thus live. Fourth, I am struck by the manipulative power of corporate “bucolic dairy farm” propaganda. Finally, I am struck by how attractive the pasture system and other alternative animal food production methods appear in the film. If IFAP is unsustainable, then I think an alternative for meat and dairy would look like a nation-wide local-as-possible pasture system, with a larger percentage of the population working as farmers.

As consumers: Buying and eating are voting; they are political acts. To avoid contributing to the faults of IFAP, if we eat meat and dairy in the first place, we can eat less of it. If we can afford to, we can buy meat and dairy sourced from independent farms. We should avoid contact and involvement with IFAP as much as possible as consumers, but as citizens we should involve with it by trying to improve it or replace it with more sustainable alternatives.