STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH

Duane A. Lienemann
UNL Extension Educator

           
     This last week was interesting with news considering fast food restaurants and I was going to write my thoughts on a couple of them, but I felt the information on the Farm Bill was more pressing. I put it on the back burner and today seems like a great time to visit this topic.  Let’s start with Chipotle’s little ruse first. If you didn’t see the headlines, Chipotle Restaurant made the news by saying that there was a pork shortage and that they would not have pork toppings on their “carnitas” last week, but it was allegedly after discovering that one of its pork suppliers wasn’t meeting its standards for responsibly raised meat. Sensationalism at its finest. The company demands that its suppliers raise pigs in “humane conditions with access to the outdoors, rather than in cramped pens.” So, because the supplier violated the pig housing agreement, Chipotle will not purchase their pork, which is resulting in a “pork shortage” in over 1700 locations in the U.S. 
     The announcement also should remind us why Chipotle fans are drawn to the chain in the first place. The burrito chain’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, in part because it sells itself as a “fast food restaurant with a conscience” -- hawking humanely and sustainably raised meat and beans. I would imagine that you can see why we in agriculture need to be cognizant of this thrust and the effect that salesmanship like this can have on how we have traditionally raised our livestock. It particularly points out that we need to tell our story, and educate consumers about what we do and how we do it – including why pork producers use the methods they do. I personally challenge the “conscience” part of their statement, as they really in my mind do not have a conscience when it comes to America’s farmers and ranchers.
     Chipotle has been a poke in the eye for American farmers for the past 3 years.  As part of its food culture marketing campaign, Chipotle has in this time engaged in egregious name calling, fear mongering, fact distorting, and outright slander against the American farmer. All this was in an effort to convince customers that its food was better, safer, and more sustainable than what customers could get down the street. Let’s not forget the fact that Chipotle is importing grass-fed beef from Australia, let alone denigrating the family farmer as “factory farms”. A talking point they constantly use that just makes my blood boil. Farm groups have tried to communicate, educate, and even placate Chipotle, but to no avail. They have no conscience when it comes to the very people that produce the ingredients that they serve. 
     The news that the supposedly “hottest” fast food chain in the country was out of one of its few menu items made headlines, with carnitas fans taking to Facebook and Twitter to ask when the protein would be coming back. Mission accomplished—they made the news and Chipotle was the focus on social media and once again on the back of American Farmers. Myths, lies, sensationalism and throwing farmers under the bus. Does anyone else get tired of their antics? 
     Let’s get back to the “demands” of Chipotle. What are their basic demands for their pork suppliers? There are two technologies that Chipotle does not allow for pork: farrowing crates and in-door housing. That’s right, two major things that many farmers cannot imagine giving up. Anyone that raises or has raised pigs have trouble understanding that philosophy. I believe that they don’t have a clue about some of the things that we in agriculture know, but obviously most consumers and groups like HSUS do not. That is another reason we have to do a better job of agricultural advocacy and literacy.
     First of all, housing animals outside does not equate to better pork. Genetics, nutrition, health care and management do. The winter weather is downright cruel to pigs. Think about frozen water, frostbitten ears, broken legs (from slipping on ice and snow), and sick pigs from pneumonia, are just a few of the difficulties from housing pigs outdoors in the winter. How many of you have seen pigs in the extreme heat of summer? Most people do not realize that pigs do not sweat and can only cool off through their nose, and summer in the sun can be fatal to them. Pigs also sunburn easily without protection. 
     I just can’t imagine not using farrowing crates if I were to farrow out sows. They protect the sows from other sows, but most importantly the pigs from the sows themselves. For you that don’t know, farrowing crates are small pens, measuring about 6 feet by 2-3 feet, where mother pigs, or sows, are confined for a period that is used just before farrowing, or giving birth. The sows stay in the crates while their piglets are nursing. The purpose of farrowing crates is to protect the baby pigs. The crates keep sows from laying and/or stepping on the piglets. I think it much more humane than carrying out loads of dead baby pigs that are not old enough to understand the danger around them at this critical juncture in their lives.
     How about slatted floors, which meanwhile, are a basic feature of most standard hog houses. They allow farmers to raise pigs indoors, out of the weather, and keep them safe, happy and clean. Manure drops down through the slats into collection pits. Critics say it is unnatural and inhumane to keep pigs inside on a hard, bare surface. How does the hard, frozen ground appeal to you? Or the mud holes that I remember our pigs living in during the summer when I was growing up. So, can anyone tell me where the logic of how that is “better?” Is outdoor housing better for the pigs or just better for someone’s ideological views?  Chipotle furthers the myth that farm animals are raised in factory farms. Well here is my explanation to that statement. Farmers raise pigs, not factories. It’s all about marketing and making themselves look better by trying to show they are superior to their competition by using “fear marketing”. They will of course find some producers who will bend to their ideals, but it is not practical or economically feasible for the bulk of the pork industry to be in a position to supply pork protein for the world’s population following their lead. I will simply grill a pork chop, no carnitas for me!!

The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: http://www.webster.unl.edu/home