A truck-load of caged chickens... another reason to eat local and organic

I'd rather know the chicken and eggs I
eat aren't stuck in shoe-box sized
cages, their beaks cut off and then
pumped full of drugs. Give me
roaming chickens any day... 

Driving to work this morning, I passed a semi-truck with its entire cargo area loaded with cage after cage after cage of chickens. Small, barely-big-enough-for-the-bird cages. Open to the elements. My stomach did a little flip. A voice in my head said this isn't right...

I know some people see these chickens as just birds - they're food, and we're suppposed to have dominion over them - and that it doesn't matter. But not me. It feels cruel, unjust, inhumane. And it's unhealthy - for the bird and for us.

I know not everyone can afford to buy local and organic right now, and that's a big 'shoudn't be' in my mind. But I have to draw the line somewhere, and I just can't eat meat from animals raised this way. I don't need to visit the farm, like they did in an episode of Portlandia, but I want to trust my source. I'd rather eat vegetarian meals than contribute to a food system where animal conditions aren't considered. And I'm not a vegetarian. I enjoy eating meat and I believe my body functions better with at least some animal protein every week.

But watching my cat and other pets (birds included), and having spent time on a friend's farm, I can't believe for a minute that animals don't feel. In addition to being confined to cages with barely enough room to turn around, it's common practice in the commodity chicken market to remove their beaks, fill them with antibiotics and supply feed grown with various pesticides - among other heinous practices. 

A couple of good resources to learn more are Organic Consumers Association and the Environmental Working Group. And while I don't love the title of this one, here's another site that spells it out pretty clearly.

Sustainable and / or organic food could feed the world if big agriculture wasn't calling the shots in our political system. But they are, so the best thing we can do is vote with our purchases. And speak up and speak out when we can. While Scientific American suggests a hybrid approach, this article still states, "When farmers apply best management practices, organic systems, for example, perform relatively better."

Here are a few resources that support organic food production and illustrate why it's important - how it might just eradicate hunger and have a positive impact on our environment.
The Atlantic
PCC Natural Markets
WorldWatch Institute