AGRICULTURE FOR PUNKS!

I was born in 1983, musically a generation too late. I love The Jam, The Pistols, Stiff Little Fingers and the riotous array of punk and later ska bands that raged against the machine of the mid to late 70s and offered an injection of hope and joy into the early 80s.

The point of resonance for me is that they tell a story so concise and simple, yet if you shut your eyes and listen to the lyrics they tell a narrative of society. Conjuring the sights, smells, sounds and emotions that wove through the very fabric of society, but demanding better. Narrative is such an important element of life, so important to us that at times we accuse others of hijacking, distorting or worse still ignoring it. Given my professed love for punk, its DIY culture that openly criticised the status quo, you may be wondering why I suggest we should have more punks in Agriculture (Specifically livestock agriculture).

I want to hear more punks because livestock agriculture is woven into society’s narrative and it is being hijacked, distorted and ignored. Ignored by the majority of society as food is cheap, readily available and broadly consistent. Hijacked and distorted by those that claim to be more punk than I, yet have chosen a narrative to fit their goals.

The current narrative, gaining favour is that livestock agriculture is a problem (it does contribute) and a simple solution to climate change would be to end livestock agriculture. This foot shuffling, navel gazing narrative ignores the role livestock actually plays. We advertise the ‘health benefits’ of livestock products and the green credentials of our production systems but these are quite rightly challenged. There are lots of ‘healthy’ products, there are lots of ‘green products’ so competing on the same narrative is fruitless.

I’d like to think that there are those in this industry that can, with integrity, sing loud and proud a narrative of how agriculture is woven into the very fabric of our society and offers to help it grow sustainably. Those brave enough to state that the reason’s they want to support the rearing, slaughter and consumption of livestock is because in doing so they support a vision of a society of the future that is net zero. This means that the whole system works in harmony to balance the collective parts.

Livestock agriculture offers a chance to sing a narrative that is clear, simple and shows that we can have better. Livestock offers us clean fuels (Ammonia, hydrogen and methane) that allow us to continue to drive to work, see those we love and fly on holiday, without ripping apart the globe for rare earth metals. Agriculture’s positive emissions can be harnessed to offset those of transport, meaning that overall, society can reach a net balance of zero. Livestock agriculture also offers the raw materials for 41 separate industries from cosmetics to steel manufacturing, ceramic brakes to bread. They even serve us in saving human life (pig heart valves are used to save children with heart valve defects). They do this whilst reducing food waste from humans, further lowering our societal emissions to wards zero, yet providing nourishment in the form of proteins.

This is the narrative that should be told and it needs to be more punk, angry at those that mislead but empowering change, leading a charge that shouts loud and proud - Livestock agriculture is part of our future. Simple, yet powerful messages of a better future.

So are you out there, Punks?

Is anyone willing to disrupt the narrative?

Is anyone willing to sing a new one?