In favor of grass-fed beef

Now, as a native East Coast-er, I will have to freely admit I don't have the foggiest of ideas where Cairo, Illinois is.  "Cay-roh", eh?  Took me a while to work that one out.  Fortunately I heard the story on NPR, or I would have thought it was, you know, like "Cy-roh", Egypt.  The real one. 

So anyway, NPR tells me that the Army Corps of Engineers has blown a hole in a levee on the Mississippi River to save good old Cairo (Cayroh -- Cyroh being on the Nile, not the Mississippi, just in case you were confused).  This has resulted in massive flooding of Missouri farmland, which, obviously, has the farmers in Mississippi County, Missouri (how's that for confusing?) awfully upset. 

According to the glorious wealth of knowledge that is Morning Edition, corn has to be planted on or before May 10.  Apparently it is some kind of magic date -- miss it, and there's no corn crop.  So these farmers are very concerned that the fields won't dry out in time for this year's planting.

Now, my first sidebar question about this is -- why are the Missouri farmers so upset?  Clearly the Army or the state or the Federal Government or some combination thereof is going to come in and pay them back for this.  So personally, I'd just be thankful I didn't have to do any work this spring.  Kind of like maternity leave....  But without the screaming child.

Anyhow, according to my rudimentary knowledge of macroeconomics, less corn crop = higher corn prices.  Higher corn prices spells disaster for pretty much all of us.  Corn is in everything -- helloooo corn syrup -- and it's also the major feed crop for, well, ALL factory farmed animals.  That means more expensive beef, pork, even chicken.  And it's the feed crop for dairy cows so -- you guessed it -- more expensive milk.  If you've watched "Food, Inc." you know all about corn.

So this little levee blowing gives me a really long-winded opening to tout one of my pet projects -- non-factory-farmed animals.  I've tried being vegan and it didn't work.  Meat is pretty tasty.  But I have a healthy respect for animals and factory farming just flat-out sucks.  So much like rising gas prices have done great things for hybrid vehicles, maybe a hike in corn prices can get people supporting their local cattle farmers.  It's more humane, the animals eat what nature intended them to eat, and -- surprise, surprise -- the meat tastes much better.  (If you want to try, Heritage Foods is fantastic.)  I challenge everyone to try it and see if you can go back to the tasteless mass sold at your average chain supermarket.

So there you go --
Grass-fed beef:  It's what's for dinner.