Green - An environmentalist community

5315 readers

1 users here now

This is the place to discuss environmentalism, preservation, direct action and anything related to it!

RULES:

1- Remember the human

2- Link posts should come from a reputable source

3- All opinions are allowed but discussion must be in good faith

Related communities:

Unofficial Chat rooms:

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

203

The "Backlash" to Plant-Based Meat Has a Sneaky, if Not Surprising, Explanation (sentientmedia.org)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

98 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/2674486

TL;DR: the meat industry's misleading messaging campaign + lobbying

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's not strictly true. The practice of applying the value of subsidies and applying it to retail cost of a product is bad-faith. Not saying some of these subsidies shouldn't be changed.

For example, many of these subsidies just give "Big Ag" an advantage over smaller farms, and actually lower the quality and value of meat on the shelves while raising prices (by hurting competition).

And depending on where the numbers come from, one of the "subsidies" generally included in numbers is the "lease" cost of letting animals graze on national parks. This is an incredibly complicated "subsidy" because it is a net good for the National Parks and for the environment to allow that to happen.

Finally, people generally consider "animal products purchased by government" to be a subsidy. Technically it is, but you can imagine that the army buying what it needs isn't giving an industry an unearned advantage.

Most importantly, these subsidies aren't the government giving ranchers money.

There's no question that some of these subsidies need to be changed dramatically. But you're very likely to NOT see a massive or long-term price jump when they do. (ref)

For me, I buy meat from places that don't benefit from these subsidies, and I generally pay within the range of $1 more or less per pound than stuff from "Big Ag" in my grocery store.