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Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

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Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#71

Post by ictebres »

evgen wrote: post #62
ictebres wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ope…

We can’t conclude that this is the only way, especially with advanced automation or subsidies for ecological and sustainable agriculture. Furthermore animal farming must be the least efficient way to provide calories. So I don’t understand how you can talk down solid alternatives like tempeh or tofu.

(BTW in the link i posted above it says human products take up 6% of soybean production.)

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#73

Post by pcstl »

RandallBrown wrote: post #2

Wow, 39 is much shorter than I expected. I guess it makes sense, because how else could you keep up with demand, but my view of animal lifecycles only has stuff like bugs fully maturing so quickly. Interesting stuff. Now my question is why are bananas so cheap? They come all the way from like Brazil, but they're still cheaper than the apple that is grown just a couple hours from me.

Bananas are dependent on a chemical (ethylene or acetylene) in the air around them to ripen.

If you keep bananas in an acetylene/ethylene-free environment, they stay green.

Green bananas are quite hard and sturdy, which makes transporting them easy and cheap.

When the time comes to sell the bananas, you just need to provide them with acetylene and they will turn yellow and pliable in about 12 hours.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#74

Post by toasterlovin »

perfmode wrote: post #70
toasterlovin wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Animals are categorically not humans. This is a scientific fact which you can quantify and measure. Blacks are humans. That is another scientific fact which you can quantify and measure.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#76

Post by evgen »

ictebres wrote: post #71
evgen wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ope…

We can’t conclude that this is the only way, especially with advanced automation or subsidies for ecological and sustainable agriculture. Furthermore animal farming must be the least efficient way to provide calories. So I don’t understand how you can talk down solid alternatives like tempeh or tofu. (BTW in the link i posted above it says human products take up 6% of soybean production.)

You can imagine any fantasy scenarios you want if it makes you feel any better, but nothing in the past century of agricultural progress has had a significant impact on the economic factors motivating the industry.

Animal farming is not the most efficient way to provide calories, but humanity does not lack for calories. Livestock (excepting ruminants that graze on land that is unsuitable for farming) is a caloric aggregator, turning a large chunk of calories into a smaller volume that is easier to transport and more desired by the market. If you want that to change you need to meet the market's demands (c.f. the unicorn valuations of a few new fake meat companies...)

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#77

Post by ars »

mikeash wrote: post #59
Reason077 wrote: post #11

Chickens are one the most successful animals on earth! By evolving to become fatter, more succulent, and delicious, they have convinced humans to feed and house them, and in doing so have multiplied to vast numbers and spread their genes almost everywhere across the globe.

A flying saucer lands in front of the UN. The aliens’ speech to the General Assembly is the most watched live broadcast in history. The world listens to this speech and learns: - The UFO craze of the mid 20th century was real. Aliens really were abducting and probing humans. - Their evaluation established that we are not clever or strong enough to be useful, but we are delicious and cheap to feed. - A fleet of transp…

Let's go with your idea.

The desires of a chicken are to eat and make more chickens.

The desires of a human are more complex. For this example we don't need to list out what they are.

So let's say you are offered the opportunity to go to space as in your scenario. And your desires are met. But at the age of 40 you are painlessly killed and eaten. And you are assured of having lots of children.

What do you think? Would some people agree to this?

And to make the example more complete, the alternative is not a comfortable life on Earth, but rather war where lots of people are killed young and the rest have very difficult paintful lives of constant fear.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#78

Post by cprayingmantis »

anon5579 wrote: post #12
RandallBrown wrote: post #2

Wow, 39 is much shorter than I expected. I guess it makes sense, because how else could you keep up with demand, but my view of animal lifecycles only has stuff like bugs fully maturing so quickly. Interesting stuff. Now my question is why are bananas so cheap? They come all the way from like Brazil, but they're still cheaper than the apple that is grown just a couple hours from me.

Regarding bananas, I would recommend taking a look at the history of the United Fruit Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company It's really a fascinating but tragic history of the exploitation of "banana republics" where banana exports become so profitable that a US-based company owned more land in some Central American countries than anyone else. They had (have?) huge fleets of ships solely for the…

The book The Fish That Ate the Whale was a pretty good read about all that. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250033314/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_t1...

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#79

Post by conjectures »

evgen wrote: post #76
ictebres wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can’t conclude that this is the only way, especially with advanced automation or subsidies for ecological and sustainable agriculture. Furthermore animal farming must be the least efficient way to provide calories. So I don’t understand how you can talk down solid alternatives like tempeh or tofu. (BTW in the link i posted above it says human products take up 6% of soybean production.)

You can imagine any fantasy scenarios you want if it makes you feel any better, but nothing in the past century of agricultural progress has had a significant impact on the economic factors motivating the industry. Animal farming is not the most efficient way to provide calories, but humanity does not lack for calories. Livestock (excepting ruminants that graze on land that is unsuitable for farming) is a caloric agg…

"Animal farming is not the most efficient way to provide calories, but humanity does not lack for calories."

Actually, a lot of humans do go hungry. The inefficiency of using land for crops to feed to livestock means that the price of staples is higher than it otherwise would be.

While meeting market demands is a large part of what will change things I think you're missing a piece on how this will come about. If there were no vegans, the chance of vegan unicorns succeeding would be much smaller. If some people did not harp on about the inhumanity of industrial farming, others would be less motivated to try alternatives and the chance of vegan unicorns succeeding would be reduced.

Re: Why is chicken so cheap? [video]

#80

Post by feld »

hollerith wrote: post #75
feld wrote: post #72

I feed my dogs almost exclusively chicken leg quarters and can get them for as low as 39 cents per pound (USD). Chicken is insanely cheap.

I'm curious: do you remove the bones or are the dogs able to eat the bones with no ill effect?

They eat bones. Raw bones are safe, cooked bones are not.
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