Today I was a guest on InfoWars’ American Journal to speak with adamantine news director/guest-host Rob Dew (who temporarily took the reigns from the ever-insightful Harrison Smith). The topic at hand was a dangerous scam: ‘edible’ insects (see my article Sick from ze Bugs?).
I had intended to discuss how cattle farming is actually—as the kids say these days—a low-pesticide-use, low-input type of farming, even though globalists such as Bill Gates are now trying to portray cattle as being bad for the environment, in their effort to push their ‘environmentally friendly’ insect products. Rob made a great point in this regard at the beginning of our segment, and then I still managed to forget to back up his idea. The gist of what he said is that cows are able to efficiently convert grass into protein, with little inputs needed. (Here is a link to the segment.)
Nomadic tribes have traditionally raised cattle, allowing the animals to eat various wild plants, and continuously driving them onward to new territory. These plants are frequently species that are not edible for humans. Similarly, on private property, cattle are rotated between different fields to allow them to graze on grass and weedy herbs. I’m no expert on cattle farming, but let’s compare it to vegetable farming: I know that raising cattle doesn’t require as much material input. For example, irrigation is not typically utilized in cattle farming, but is always used for cultivating vegetables.
Even organic vegetable farming occasionally requires fungicides, such as neem oil, copper-based sprays, etc. Naturally derived pesticides are allowed per the USDA Organic program labeling law. Third-party certifiers, such as the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), approve pesticides, fertilizers, cleaning agents (bleach is allowed for cleaning microbial buildup in irrigation lines, for example), and other ‘materials,’ for use in organic farming. These are not necessarily safe for people and the environment, albeit they are generally less harmful than materials used in conventional production—but per academic indoctrination at University of Florida, I’m not supposed to say this! If I tell you that conventional production is less safe than organic production for humans and the environment, that implies that the regulations for conventional production are insufficient to protect consumers and the environment. Don’t say that! That’s blaspheming the state!
Insecticides, such as insecticidal soaps, neem oil (from the neem tree; it’s a fungicide/insecticide/miticide), pyrethrins (nerve toxin extracted from chrysanthemum), Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacterial toxins (activated by the alkaline digestive tracts of insects), and so on and so on, are also relied upon in organic vegetable production.
Even if we look at agronomic grain crops such as wheat, oats, field corn, etc., which are grown on vast acreage compared to vegetables and other horticultural crops, and require less inputs, the plants are nonetheless domesticated varieties that cannot grow and yield well without human intervention.
When you go to the grocery store, think about the standards that consumers expect in their produce. They will turn up their noses at the slightest imperfections. Presenting produce to buyers in such pristine condition takes a lot of effort and typically requires significant fertilization, irrigation, and, often, pesticide applications.
Contrast this with the demands of the lowly, lowing cow. She’ll eat wild-type grass happily, and it need not be unblemished. The microbial biome in her stomach will breakdown the grass’ cellulose (a.k.a. fiber), and release nutrients that humans could not obtain from grass. The cow in-turn becomes a source of healthy meat. This is essentially the point Rob made.
Interestingly, Herodotus, in his Histories (published circa 425 BC; it took him 35 years to write), discusses Ethiopians living to be on average 80 years old, and often as old as 120! They achieved this amazing longevity on a diet almost exclusively comprised of boiled meat, cattle blood, and milk. Meanwhile, for Persians and Greeks, who depended on bread, living to be 80 years old was a rarity.
In the context of our discussion on insects, cattle farming is being demonized as harmful to the planet, but meanwhile, no one demonizes vegetable farming. Which one is really more harmful? I submit to you that neither presents obstacles that can’t be overcome without governmental intervention. In-fact, Big Government’s intervention will stymie the innovation that we need individual freedom to cultivate.
The message being pushed is that cattle farming is an existential threat, and that we must switch to eating disgusting bugs. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled money grab, using state policing to push out the old cattle industry and bring in the new insect industry. The people investing in the new insect industry are harnessing state power, under the guise of ‘the common good,’ to regulate out their competitors—supposedly to stop climate ‘change’—the nebulous, ambiguous boogeyman. Are people really going to buy into this frass?
God bless you. Thanks for reading, and please share the link to this article.