What do organic, free range, and cage free really mean?

The sad truth is that people who sell us food are no better or more honest than the people who sell us cars, tvs, or credit cards. Not everyone who farms does it out of the love of the land or the animals. In fact it seems like most of those people have been run off with sticks and what's left are the salesmen who used to work at the used car lot. There are still some of the good ones left but it's very hard to tell who's who--especially when all you have to judge by is the gallon of milk or dozen eggs sitting in front of you on a grocery store shelf.

Let's face it, all eggs look the same. You can't necessarily tell by looking at an egg or even tasting it whether the hen who laid it sat in the grass, basking in the sun all day or was closed up in a dark warehouse with thousands of other chickens 24/7. When you start to do research into the farms that produce eggs (and milk and other products) at the large chain groceries, problems start to come to light.

In the worst examples, commercial farms adhere to the letter--if not the spirit--of federal regulations to place organic, cage-free, and free-range labels on their eggs. Those chickens in the dark warehouse are technically cage-free. Of course the farmer has to use a little machine to cut off the tips of their beaks so they don't attack each other in such close quarters. And they have access to the outside, so they're techically free-range as well. Of course, it's a very small door that only leads to a gravel pen and the door is only open five minutes a day.

That's the worst case scenario. Even in the best case scenario, however, there are issues. Michael Pollan talks about PolyFace Farms in this video. This farm is local to me so I've looked into their operations a little more closely. I've found some scattered criticism of their treatment of their chickens but stories from people who have actually visited the farm (which I hope to do) are overwhelmingly positive.

But here's the problem: PolyFace doesn't breed their own chickens. They purchase their chickens (and other animals) from commercial operations, treat them well while they have them, but start the whole cycle again from scratch with each generation. So while they're not treating their animals inhumanely, they are inherently a part of--and supporting--the factory farming model that does.

How is this sustainable farming? I think many people were swept away by Pollan's description of PolyFace and really saw it as an example of what all farming could be. But if we do away with the hatcheries where will PolyFace get its chickens? How will there model have to change so that they're no longer dependent on the very practices they're set up as the antithesis of?

So once more I come back to local--truely local--foods. Local as in my own backyard. Almost any discussion of organic/humane foods comes around to cost at some point. Truely organic foods cost much more--twice as much or more--than factory farmed foods. The consumer's option is to raise the food on their own. The cost then is transferred from dollar costs to labor costs. Your time and effort will be required to raise chickens, plant a garden, milk a cow (or goat).

But whether you pay with your wallet or your sweat, you are getting something of value in return. In this country over the last couple of generations it seems like we've forgotten how precious food is. Maybe because it's been so long since any of us have seen real food. When you can pay a $1 for an egg mcmuffin why would you consider spending three weeks turning three little blue eggs three times a day? Assuming you aren't just a nut, like me. :-)