Saturday, May 30, 2009

Organic dairy farmers needs your help


This New York Times article informed that organic dairy farmers haven't been fairing very well lately. This is in part due to rising organic feed prices, falling milk prices, too much organic milk in the marketplace, which leads to lower demands. Organic milk comes from organic cows that have not been treated with antibiotics and synthetic hormones, so it doesn't contribute to the growing problem of bacterial resistance. Also, from a ethical point of view, organic cows are free to roam the greens, rather than cooped up behind bars.


However, there have been debates on the benefits and necessity of cow's milk. Many have gradually switched to soy milk, rice milk, or other nut milk. We are also the only species who still consume mammal milk beyond childhood. And how about all these propaganda with the "Got Milk?" ads? I personally tried to wean myself off from milk, but it's really difficult for me because I enjoy my daily cereal with milk and my share of yogurt. Though I do feel a bit bloated sometimes when I've too much dairy. What's your opinion on this topic?

2 comments:

Maggie said...

I've never liked milk. I can't drink it because it just doesn't taste good to me.

I was very addicted to yogurt (especially greek yogurt) up until a few months ago when I went for 2 weeks without it. After 2 weeks, I felt amazing so I decided to cut out the yogurt. I'm not sure exactly why I was able to do it. I think it helped that I felt amazing when I didn't eat it (dairy makes me bloat AND break out), so that was good encouragement.

It was hard at first, but since I do eat meat I don't find myself craving it. It would be much harder if I didn't eat meat.

I don't think that milk/yogurt/dairy is necessary for a balanced diet at all. I do eat minimal cheese, but that's about it. (I also eat eggs.)

Jennifer Galatioto said...

I am also very torn with dairy milk for a few reasons. From a ethical perspective, treating the cows with BGH is really bad for them and cause them to have udder ulcers, plus we drink the BGH which leads to a lot of weird phenomenon in growing children, like having you period really early, like kindergarten! So, organic is definitely the way to go if you're doing dairy. But also, its strange to drink milk from another animal. As adults, why don't we drink human milk or human cheese. Sounds gross? Well its even more gross from a cow. I know that dairy is very hard for my body to digest and it causes acne on me. Another person I know gave up dairy and her eczema went away. Not sure if its from the hormones they add to cows milk or not. I just try to eat dairy in moderation, in the form of cheese in my home, so I know at least its organic. Otherwise, I drink soy and bake with soy milk, although even there, unless its organic, soy is one of the worst GMO offenders. If you to learn more on GMOs, here are some really helpful links from an article I posted on my blog, and some great films to watch on the subject. (http://mortadifame.blogspot.com/2009/05/have-you-taken-your-gmos-today.html)
I am also reading In Defense of Food. Amazing!