Barbara Schaefer thinks locally raised heritage meat makes economic and environmental sense. (Photo by Lucy Martin)
Variety isn’t just the spice of life. You could say it is life. And you can’t have variety without lots and lots of genes.
Farmers have spent thousands of years developing livestock that do well in different conditions.
Modern agriculture usually concentrates on just a few breeds that maximize profit. But a lot of people don’t want to see all the valuable genes in older breeds just disappear.
Lucy Martin visited a farmer who says the future needs to include heirlooms from the past:
Transcript
Variety isn’t just the spice of life. You could say it is life. And you can’t have variety without lots and lots of genes.
Farmers have spent thousands of years developing livestock that do well in different conditions.
Modern agriculture usually concentrates on just a few breeds that maximize profit. But a lot of people don’t want to see all the valuable genes in older breeds just disappear.
Lucy Martin visited a farmer who says the future needs to include heirlooms from the past.
(Schaefer entering barn: “Watch your head, it’s a little mucky in here…”)
It’s a bright winter day, inside a classic red barn in Southern Ontario. We’re admiring docile animals whose name says it all: Large Black Pig. They look fine. Even though this pig is listed as critically endangered.
Schaefer: Sometimes you’ll be standing here and you think there are no piglets and suddenly one rises out of the straw!
(Sound of contented grunting)
Barbara Schaefer used live in Toronto. Until a few years ago, her career revolved around managing environmental projects. But when she got laid off, she decided to put theory into practice.
Schaefer: I can’t save the polar bear, but I can save this breed. How many things can you say that about? And that’s why what I’m doing now is 200 times more relevant.
What she’s doing now, is weaving different environmental threads together. Preserving the genetic diversity of rare livestock. Putting marginal land to higher use. Trying to revitalize rural economies. Offering an alternative to factory farming.
Nearly all commercial pork across North America comes from just a few main breeds, usually reared in confinement systems. A lot of science goes into maximizing production. But Schaefer doesn’t think that’s the whole picture.
Schaefer: They’re packed in fairly close, they don’t get the benefit of being outside in the sunlight. They have a artificial concrete floor, which for them, is a horror. Because these guys think with their nose, they want to be turning things up all the time and there’s no opportunity for that.
(Sounds of distant tractor and more pigs grunting)
In the barn yard, I mingle with small herds of thigh-high, curious pigs as they as they mill about, soaking up sun. Some amble over to near-by pastures for naps inside cosy hay huts.
Schaefer’s customers include local restaurants and ‘foodies’, people who like to cook and eat.
Fans admire heritage breeds because these animals were bred to thrive in the specific conditions of small-scale, local agriculture.
Lawrence: They’re rustic, they’re hardy, they’re often good mothers.
Ted Lawrence has spent years on this cause with Rare Breeds Canada. Some really admire the animals. And then there’s the whole ‘insurance’ argument: odd breeds have genes worth keeping. As base stock for even newer breeds, to adapt to changes in climate, or to survive some epidemic.
Lawrence: Food security, that will turn heads more quickly than saying we have to preserve the genetic diversity of minor breeds.
If these animals are special, why slaughter them?
Lawrence: That is actually a slogan that has been used in Great Britain: ‘We must eat them to save them’. It sounds counter-intuitive but what’s the purpose of breeding them if you can’t make any money, if you can’t sell them? Then the genetics will not continue. The breed will go extinct.
(kitchen clatter and music playing at Murray Street Restaurant)
Chef Steve Mitton co-owns a restaurant in Ottawa which features Schaefer’s pork. He’d hate to see old breeds die out.
Mitton: I mean, I get entire animals in and break them down from head to toe, and we use every last bit of it. The yield of the Large Black, in particular, is outstanding.
Mitton says more and more people care about where their food comes from and how animals are treated.
Mitton: I just want to broaden their horizons, open people’s minds a little bit, so they know that this is out there. And it’s just as good as commercial pork.
Most meat eaters have no idea what breed of animal ends up on their plate. But making sure there are lots of breeds around can help keep those plates full, and tasty.
For the Environment Report, I’m Lucy Martin in Ontario.