Growing & raising food: A basic human right

The Sacramento Bee covered a story on whether we Oaklanders should be able to raise and process our own animals for food (read here). Those of us that have chosen to do this are practicing what is a basic human right. I have the right to affordable unadulterated food, including meat. I have a right to raise my own as it seems the only way that I can actually afford meat that is raised organically and humanely. I have a right to access food that is culturally appropriate for me.

The handful of Oakland based individuals that oppose this basic human right use arguments that are incoherent. They resort to using “disturbing anecdotes and a small, pseudo-statistical pile of psychobabble about Fido and Mr. Whiskers” as was done by one of their vegan supporters recently. If you stop to consider what is really going on, you will notice that the people raising their own food producing animals are doing it to provide humane conditions to those animals. We are not driven by profit. We uphold the quality of life for our animals. That is the point.

The other important consideration is that the five or so people in Oakland organizing in opposition to this basic human right, are from a very narrow demographic of white middle class vegans, most of which are not even urban farming. Yet they believe they know the best way to do it. This is an age old dynamic of a small group, who believes their practices are the most righteous, imposing their values on others…and using guilt, shame, and force to accomplish their goal. I don’t want to be told what to eat or how to eat it by anyone, especially this group of people.

Mr. Elwood states that “People are learning through do-it-yourself…” I learned through my mother and grandparents who kept rabbits for food in San Francisco and later a full farm elsewhere. They learned from their parents before them. They did it well and provided many nourishing meals from their “do-it-yourself” skills. I believe in maintaining this basic human knowledge.

Growing and raising your own food is not a scientific endeavor that requires experts and factory farms to ensure “quality.” It is experiential knowledge that is best passed on through oral teaching and hands on experience. We best learn our land and animals through direct contact with them. Why would anyone want to take that away?

Animal integrated agriculture is as old as dirt. The practice of raising your own animals for food in the city has been done for centuries, and will continue to be done- legal or not. However, legalizing it would allow for the open creation of an infrastructure to ensure access to excellent resources for learning and care.

Interested in this issue? Read more here.

Read more at Pluck and Feather