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Animals in an Organic System: Exploring the Ecological, Social and Economic Functions of Animals in Organic Agriculture by Dr. Fred Kirschenmann With looming crises in both the environment and agricultural systems, Dr. Fred Kirschenmann considers the implications and scenarios for organic animal production systems as a solution for systems of the future. . . . we are in need of knowledge that can really enter into the inner workings of nature. RUDOLPH STEINER Introduction The debate on the role of animals in Organic Agriculture generally has revolved around four questions. 1. Are animals essential to a truly sustainable organic production system? 2. What animal husbandry practices are appropriate or necessary for organic certification? 3. Do animal products or byproducts belong in a truly organic diet? 4. How can one claim to be “organic” if one participates in the killing of sentient species? Anyone familiar with organic food systems will, of course, readily recognize the issues at stake in these questions. The first question deals with the problem of appropriate nutrient cycling. Can any production system which does not rely on synthetic fertilizers sustain productivity indefinitely without the benefit of livestock manure? The second question deals with the conduct of animal management that is consistent with organic standards. Must all Dr. Fred Kirschenmann giving a keynote speech at the 1st IFOAM International Conference on Animals in Organic Production. 2 Special Feature: Animals in Organic Production Ecology & Farming | SEptEmbEr - DEcEmbEr 2006
uminant animals be raised in grazing systems or are confinement feeding operations acceptable? The third question deals with the appropriateness of meat in our diet. Organic vegans argue that a truly organic diet is plant-based and excludes meat and dairy products. And the final question considers appropriate animal welfare standards in organic systems. Some of our colleagues have argued that “sentient beings” must be treated “humanely” in a truly organic system. They believe that killing animals for food is inherently inhumane, so raising animals for food cannot be condoned in organic food systems. Animals in Organic Agriculture’s Past Of course, many of the original proponents of the organic and biodynamic movements argued from the outset that animals are essential components of organic production systems. In his Agriculture lectures of 1924, Rudolph Steiner, for example, defined a “healthy farm” as a farm that had animals embedded in the system. Within our farms, he argued, “we should attempt to have everything we need for agricultural production, including, of course, the appropriate amount of livestock . . . A healthy farm would be one that could produce everything it needs from within itself.” The implication, of course, is that a farm could not produce everything it needs without the appropriate amount of animals. Our modern industrial agriculture system has taken us in a very different direction. We have now adopted an agriculture paradigm which assumes that the only way we can maximize production and achieve product uniformity is through specialization, and by obtaining all of the energy to sustain that productivity from outside the farm. So our current production systems are virtually the inverse of what Steiner envisioned. Most modern farms now grow only one or two crops in simplistic rotations or specialize in producing a single species of animals in confinement feeding operations to enhance labor efficiency and product uniformity. And, as some of our organic production systems succumb to the pressures of industrialization, they begin to look quite similar - even though they use “natural” instead of “synthetic” energy inputs. From the perspective of producing food “stuff,” this modern, industrial system has been successful. It has dramatically increased the volumes of raw material food and feed stuff, and many would argue that this has helped prevent the starvation of millions of people. However, the success of this industrial system was based on the availability of two critical components: the natural resources stored up on the planet over 3.5 billion years of life, and the sinks in nature capable of absorbing the wastes produced by this system. As we enter the next era of agriculture, both of these resources will be in short supply. Owing to its extractive nature, industrial agriculture has been enormously exploitive. In the space of half a century it has been partly responsible for depleting our fossil fuel resources, our fresh water reserves, and the incredible bank of soil fertility which, as Sir Albert Howard reminded us, “is the first condition of any permanent system of agriculture.” During that same half century, it has filled the natural sinks to the point that wastes from the system can no longer be absorbed. There are now an estimated 150 hypoxia zones on the planet, all of them downstream from highly industrialized agricultural production regions. The amount of CO2 released into the environment is now beginning to cause the kind of climate instability that will place increasing stress on highly specialized agricultural production systems. The depletion of these critical resources ultimately will force agriculture to change. It will provide Organic Agriculture with a unique opportunity to help design the next era of agriculture on the planet. And it is in that context, I think, that we must now explore the role of animals in Organic Agriculture. Let us be clear at the outset that animals are not essential to achieve sustainable productivity of specific farming operations. In an enlightening article published in the May/June issue of World- Watch magazine, Brian Halweil reports that in many parts of the world productivity can be increased and maintained without compost or animal manure. He cites the work of a University of Michigan team of scientists who summarized the results of 77 studies from both temperate and tropical areas. The findings demonstrated that “the greater use of nitrogen-fixing crops in the world’s major agricultural regions could result in 58 million metric Special Feature: Animals in Organic Production 2
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