About 8 years ago is when it all started for me. I began to visit my local farmers market every weekend and, through talking to the farmers, began to understand how they grew things and where. Gradually, I began to wonder about all the rest of the food I ate that I didn't buy from the market.

Most of the food we eat is conventionally grown. Fertilizers and pesticides are often used. These toxic chemicals allow for higher yield, pest control, out of season growth, greater resistance to disease, greater longevity on the shelf and a generally greater mass. Sure, we can produce a lot of food, but at what cost? It was never something I thought about that much. Like many people in this country, I was very much in the dark. Like Leo, the pig in The Meatrix, my ideas of food production were quite naïve.

With meats, which is the business I am currently in but was not at the time, I wanted to know simply that my "bacon ran around" before it got to me. That is honestly how I talked about it back then. If the animal lived a good life on an open field somewhere with other animals and was well taken care of before it became bacon, I was ok with it. Was that really too much to ask?

I knew nothing about filthy large-scale hog production, but I soon found out. Those early discoveries led me to explore more about sustainable food production. I now have a better understanding of why we, as consumers, should seek out and eat sustainably-raised products instead of conventional.

Animals raised on pasture in a sustainable manner live healthier lives. The animals are not overcrowded and they are fed healthy diets and can engage in natural behaviors. Antibiotics are used therapeutically, in the rare case that an animal gets sick. In conventional hog facilities, animals receive daily doses of antibiotics mixed in with their feed. Living in overcrowded buildings referred to as "confinements", they never see the light of day or set foot on something other than concrete. There is not enough time here go into it all, but suffice it to say that there is a humane way to treat an animal being raised for food and a not so humane way.

The health benefits of eating a sustainably-produced strawberry - grown without the use of pesticides - also seem pretty clear when you think of the alternative. Country-wide, conventional strawberry fields have tons of the toxic chemical methyl bromide sprayed on them every year to control weeds. Sure, you can wash the fruit, but doesn't there just seem something wrong that? I don't want to have to wash my fruit and wonder if I got it "clean enough" to eat. Forget it.

There is also the health and longevity of the farmland to consider. Animals and crops raised sustainably are better for the land. The land can be used repeatedly while maintaining its biodiversity. In organic fields you can see birds and animals of many species and surrounding rivers full of fish. Looking over the fence at a conventional field might leave you with a face full of dust.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the people involved with all of this food production. Conventional meat processing facilities are some of the most dangerous places to work in the world. Deaths and lost limbs are not uncommon. Workers in conventional fields can get sick because they are constantly in the presence of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Dangerous conditions for employees are reason alone to support sustainably grown alternatives, but there is another one.

As an American consumer, I want a choice. I am sick of not finding anything I want to eat among all the "choices" at the local convenience store; I see one junk food after another. Consumers' demanding sustainably-raised products ensures that we all have a choice to eat what we want. Beyond all the genetically modified, trans-fat-laden, artificial junk out there on the shelves and in the fast-food joints is a growing, sustainable alternative. We can't all grow our own food, but we can choose to spend our money where we want to spend it on and what. You have that power.

Learning about where my food comes from and how it is produced is an ongoing process, still, 8 years from those first farmers markets. For me, knowing that my food was produced sustainably adds to my enjoyment of its consumption.

I speak with many people from around the country when they visit our shop in San Francisco's Ferry Building. One the most common questions I get from tourists, newcomers and skeptics is, "How is this meat different from what I can get at my local supermarket?" And, although all of the above reasons I have outlined above are important and true, I start off with a very simple reply.

"It tastes better," I say, and we go from there.

Steve McCarthy
Prather Ranch Meat Company
San Francisco, California

Why eat well? >