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Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

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Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#61

Post by Someone »

jawarner wrote: post #40

Land usage per chicken, difference between free-range vs. intensively reared: 1/12 m^2 vs. 1/17 m^2 Consumer cost, difference between free range vs. intensively reared: 4 euros/lb vs. 2 euros/lb. Does the difference in production costs explain the drastic consumer cost difference between these two methods? Why can't free-range farming be automated like it is in the intensive rearing model?

Chickens do not eat in the dark. That’s why the light in stables for intensively reared chicken is on way longer than the sun is up (I’m not up to date on what’s considered optimal today, but I think 24 hours a day was abandoned because it caused too much stress (and stress harms growth, or even kills chicken) for weird things such as “40 minutes on, 20 minutes off”)

Some of the large factors that affect production costs are feeding the chicken and e.g. capital costs of the stable, but optimizing production per dollar more or less boils down to getting the “feed conversion ratio” down.

It is about 1,6 for intensively reared chicken in the USA, meaning they have to eat 1,6 kg of food to gain a kilogram of weight (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio#Poultry)

For comparison, you need two kg of feed to get a kg of eggs, so eggs are about 20% more expensive per kg than chicken meat.

You can’t keep chicken that grow that fast to an age of 80 days, as they would break their legs from excessive weight.

Free range chicken are different breeds that have a higher FCR.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#62

Post by evgen »

ictebres wrote: post #54
evgen wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know what the word monoculture means until you stand in the middle of a soybean field in the midwest and see nothing but more soybeans (from the same small handful of varieties provided by giant seed companies) as far as the eye can see. Please do not imagine for one second that a plant-based diet increases biodiversity.

The fact that we have so much monoculture soybean fields is that they make up the feed for the animals in Factory farming. Here is one link I just found that point out to the fact ‚70-75% of the world’s soy ends up as feed for chickens, pigs, cows, and farmed fish.‘: https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/dri...

You could pick any plant humans consume and it is inevitable that the vast bulk of it would be produced in large, efficient, monoculture operations. The delusion of small farms producing 'heirloom' vegetables in copious variety is a bourgeoisie fantasy of the western middle-class who has come no closer to a real farm than the local Whole Foods. The soy in your tempeh and tofu comes from those same farms, the same operations produce the feedstock of your kale chips and organic lentil puffs.

We have monoculture farming because it is efficient and people (not) surprisingly have decided that they have no interest in paying more for alternative production processes.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#63

Post by miguelrochefort »

toasterlovin wrote: post #56
miguelrochefort wrote: post #22

When I went to America, I couldn't believe how cheap chicken was. I once found boneless chicken breast for $1.99/pound. Eggs were dirt cheap as well, sometimes less than $1.00/dozen. I don't remember ever seeing prices like these in Canada.

Life is incredibly expensive in Canada, across the board, with pretty much only a single exception: healthcare.

I don't know about the healthcare part. I basically paid full price for all healthcare I ever received past childhood. This includes many thousands in dental and vision. I still don't have a family doctor. Anything specialized (dermatology, psychology) has a 6-month waiting list, which is highly discouraging.

Last time I had to deal with the healthcare system was to get some vaccines. They couldn't give me a basic vaccine (tetanus) within 2 weeks of calling them. Most travel vaccinées were out of stock and in the $400/shot. I had to get my basic vaccines and travel vaccines in Thailand (less $100 for immunity tests + 7 vaccines).

Considering that income taxes are 25-50% and sales taxes are 15%, I expect better than that.

A lot of healthcare is about prevention. Lifestyle, habits, nutrition. For example, I think it's easier and cheaper to eat healthy in the USA. Whenever I go to the USA, I make sure to buy and bring back as much as I'm allowed ($800 total, $20 of dairy). The rest of the time, it's still cheaper to order supplements and ship them from the USA than it is to buy them locally. The range of products they have is also much better. For example, it's basically impossible to find grass-fed butter in Montreal. Looking at GoodRx.com, even medication seems cheaper in the USA.

Pretty much everything is cheaper in the USA. Restaurants, food, delivery, gyms, glasses, gas, Netflix, Internet, video games, houses, cars, electronics, second-hand goods, etc.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#64

Post by evgen »

vegetablepotpie wrote: post #60
dyeje wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that relevant to the monoculture topic?

Not OP, but land use due to animal feed is relevant to mono-culture because reducing land use for animal feed would free that land up for other uses (besides soy beans), either for other crops or to leave the land unutilized and left to nature.

The land would not be left unutilized or left to nature, and those same practices are used to produce all of your food. Take a drive down the central valley of California and the vast lettuce and fruit farms will have less genetic diversity than your backyard garden. Monoculture production is a consequence of efforts to increase production efficiency, regardless of the actual crop being produced.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#65

Post by bonoboTP »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #7
vbuwivbiu wrote: post #4

That man and his automatic shed. How depressing. I'd much rather pay 3x as much, eat chicken 1/3 as often and actually enjoy it instead of eating it every day and hardly noticing it. All those cheap chickens may as well have stickers on saying "1/3 the enjoyment"

> eating it every day and hardly noticing it Our distant relationship with where meat comes from is one of the most bizarre things about humans. Especially next to our psychopathic relationship with our own pets. I've seen people freak out with disgust because there's a tiny feather or some dirt in their carton of eggs. Or disgusted by the hanging, swinging corpses behind the butcher when they go to order something t…

Interestingly enough, rural people (and earlier generations) with a closer relationship with their meat source and who see animals being slaughtered regularly (although perhaps not on industrial scales) seem to be more okay with it and see it as part of how life works.

I guess being distant from it creates more (theoretical) passion for animals, because you just haven't developed this "emotional immunity" due to everyday exposure as our ancestors did, and so you "humanize" them more.

My point is: pushing people to be more in contact with swinging pigs and feathers (especially in childhood) won't make them less likely to want to eat meat, it will just make them desensitized and used to it.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#66

Post by toasterlovin »

miguelrochefort wrote: post #63
toasterlovin wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is incredibly expensive in Canada, across the board, with pretty much only a single exception: healthcare.

I don't know about the healthcare part. I basically paid full price for all healthcare I ever received past childhood. This includes many thousands in dental and vision. I still don't have a family doctor. Anything specialized (dermatology, psychology) has a 6-month waiting list, which is highly discouraging. Last time I had to deal with the healthcare system was to get some vaccines. They couldn't give me a basic va…

Yeah, my wife (who is Canadian) and I joke that Canada is like 5-10 years behind the U.S. in a lot of areas (cell phone costs, availability of Amazon Prime, availability of new consumer products, etc.).

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#67

Post by mrnobody_67 »

ictebres wrote: post #54
evgen wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know what the word monoculture means until you stand in the middle of a soybean field in the midwest and see nothing but more soybeans (from the same small handful of varieties provided by giant seed companies) as far as the eye can see. Please do not imagine for one second that a plant-based diet increases biodiversity.

The fact that we have so much monoculture soybean fields is that they make up the feed for the animals in Factory farming. Here is one link I just found that point out to the fact ‚70-75% of the world’s soy ends up as feed for chickens, pigs, cows, and farmed fish.‘: https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/dri...

Feeding soybeans to fish... just wow.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#68

Post by miguelrochefort »

toasterlovin wrote: post #66
miguelrochefort wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about the healthcare part. I basically paid full price for all healthcare I ever received past childhood. This includes many thousands in dental and vision. I still don't have a family doctor. Anything specialized (dermatology, psychology) has a 6-month waiting list, which is highly discouraging. Last time I had to deal with the healthcare system was to get some vaccines. They couldn't give me a basic va…

Yeah, my wife (who is Canadian) and I joke that Canada is like 5-10 years behind the U.S. in a lot of areas (cell phone costs, availability of Amazon Prime, availability of new consumer products, etc.).

We're not that behind. We have BlackBerry as one of our biggest tech companies.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#69

Post by perfmode »

evgen wrote: post #36
rasengan0 wrote: post #10

Breeding a "product" with a small gene pool, churning out monoculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana or a more imaginative corrective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H7N9 makes a plant based diet a very good hack indeed.

You don't know what the word monoculture means until you stand in the middle of a soybean field in the midwest and see nothing but more soybeans (from the same small handful of varieties provided by giant seed companies) as far as the eye can see. Please do not imagine for one second that a plant-based diet increases biodiversity.

this is an uncharitable and weak argument against the consideration of plant based diets.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#70

Post by perfmode »

toasterlovin wrote: post #52
perfmode wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

black people, too! we were so strong and resilient and good at labor that humans paid for our travel across the seas and gave us the opportunity to help build America! we were fed and housed and everything, oh my! gosh > Shadow with me while I'm steppin' on my own resentment > Life scatter in all directions, I was overzealous > Overcurious, Momma worry her days get better > I know she heard me, a timid voice in her s…

Animals are not people and they do not occupy the same moral category.

blacks weren't people then, either.

back then, blacks didn't occupy the same moral category as the humans who bred and traded them.

afterwards, blacks were upgraded to 2/5ths human.

now, we still struggle for acceptance and parity.

morality is a process.

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