Farming and the Concept of Dominion

Unlike most posts I make on this blog, this post is aimed more at the farming community than at consumers, but if you are a non-farmer, by all means, read on.  It may be interesting to you to listen in on the conversations farmers have with themselves and others.

This blog post started with a pumpkin loaf.  To be specific, it was a vegan pumpkin loaf.

A couple of days ago, I was at a girls' Bible study that I help lead once a month.  One of the girls brought a pumpkin loaf for a snack and proudly told us it was vegan and described how she had substituted flax something-or-other for eggs.  It was a pretty good snack, though I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin outside of pies.

Eventually, I asked the baker why she had made a vegan pumpkin loaf.  She explained that she is vegan (I kind of figured that) and then went on to talk about how she didn't want to be a part of the cruelty and environmental degradation that goes along with animal agriculture.  She didn't actually use those terms, and stated her case in a very open, non-judgmental way, but that's about the sum of it.  She knows full well that I am a beef farmer, and I know full well that she intends no disrespect.  Even so, I had to bite my tongue very hard in order to not launch into a full-on debate with her.  It just wasn't the appropriate time or place.  Instead, I simply put out a tiny bit of information to counter a little of what she had said that wasn't quite accurate, and carried on eating my slice of pumpkin loaf.

This girl had also told me that she had watched a film called Dominion, which had really influenced her view and opened her eyes to a lot of things she hadn't known before.  Rather than berating her for watching a "shockumentary" that probably was made by a bunch of unrealistic weirdos, I decided I'd look the film up and watch it for myself.

I normally don't like to watch such films, but if I'm to counter their arguments, I have to actually know what arguments they are making.  I discovered that the film is free to watch online, so I set it up and watched it in my spare moments over the weekend.

To my surprise, the film did not anger me as such films normally do.  I certainly did not agree with the philosophy of the filmmakers, which seemed to be that animals are on the same level as humans and should just be free, with no human intervention whatsoever.  However, I found that many of the points the film made were accurate.  The film covers a wide range of animals used for food, clothing, entertainment, and research, but focused mainly on animal agriculture.

The overarching criticism made against the various animal agriculture systems was that dignity was denied to the animals.  Watching the undercover videos, I couldn't actually disagree.  My inability to counter the argument was not based on the images I saw, though.  It was based on my knowledge that these were not isolated incidents.

I saw animals crowded together in inhumane conditions, unable to act in a normal manner.

I watched the height of human stupidity as workers repeatedly beat animals, or shocked them over and over again with electric prods to make them move forward or stay still.

I saw hundreds of dead and dying animals given no relief.

I watched workers shouting, swearing at, and mocking the animals.

And I knew these weren't isolated cases.

I have been there.  I have experienced the extreme frustration when that one cow won't go where she needs to go, when the facilities are set up in a way that the cattle just don't want to go past a certain point.  To my shame, I will admit that I have shouted and hit cattle harder or more times than necessary just because I was frustrated, even though I knew it was counter-productive to do so.

We have all been there.

So what do we do about it?  Do we just free the animals and stop eating meat, using feathers for warmth, making shoes out of leather?  Do we refuse to exercise dominion over the animal kingdom?

Should I even own cattle?  Is it okay to be raising those cattle for beef?

No.  For me, that's not an option.  As a Christian, I believe the Bible is the Word of God.  What does God's Word have to say about this?  Let's take a look.

Genesis 1:26-30 (ESV)
"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them.  And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."  And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.  You shall have them for food.  and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."  And it was so."

Genesis 9:1-5 (ESV)
"And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.  The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea.  Into your hand they are delivered.  Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.  And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.  But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.  And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man.  From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.""

John 10:11-13 (ESV)
"I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.  He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep."

1 Peter 1:13-16 (ESV)
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy.""

Before we go any further, let's just define a couple of words.  To have dominion means to rule over or dominate.  To be holy is to be set apart, different, or unique.

In light of these verses, what does it look like for us to have holy dominion over the animals?  Furthermore, we must ask ourselves, since we have authority, what type of rulers will we be? 

Will I be a tyrant or a benevolent ruler? 

A good shepherd or an uncaring hired hand? 

Are we willing to act in ways that are radically different from the standards, even the best standards, in our industries?

Those questions are extremely general, so let's get a bit more personal.  I'll only address the sectors I'm involved in, but you'll get the picture.

For the beef farmers who want to exercise holy dominion over their herds,

• Are feedlots acceptable places to send our cattle?
• Is it really okay to speed up production through the use of ionophores and hormone implants?
• As cattle grow, how fast is too fast?
• Is it okay to feed our cattle a balanced, grain-based diet, or should they all be grass-fed?
• How do we encourage growth in the beef industry, while protecting the environment?
• Are we training our helpers and hired hands to move cattle efficiently without shouting, kicking, beating, or otherwise stressing the cattle unnecessarily?
• How can we give our hired hands a sense of ownership in the cattle?
• When is the best time for calving, from the perspective of the cows and newborn calves?
• Should we keep smaller herds that can be easily managed by one person or family?
• Should we market our beef directly to consumers, giving them a clearer understanding of the production process?
• Should we be scrutinizing our slaughterhouses to ensure that they train their employees in proper handling techniques and that they utilize humane slaughter techniques?
• How can we allow our stock dogs to exhibit natural behaviour in exploring their territory while ensuring that they don't harass the cattle as soon as we leave the yard?
• How do we best build and sustain thriving ecosystems and habitats for wildlife on our range lands?
• Should our diets be more plant-based?

For the crop farmers who want to exercise holy dominion over the wildlife that interact with their crops,

• Are mono-cultures acceptable?
• Is it acceptable to spray insecticides to kill one pest, knowing they will kill all of the insects they contact?
• Should we be putting more money towards research and development for biological pest controls?
• For larger pests, like gophers and moles, what are acceptable means of control?
• How can we interact with the soil and the ecosystems within the soil in a way that builds them up?
• Should our crop rotations include perennial crops and/or grazing livestock?
• Should we continue to clear land for crops?  Which land is suitable for clearing?
• How are we accommodating large animals with large territories, even as we fence in our fields?
• Are we creating areas where pollinators can thrive?
• Is it acceptable to allow hunting on our lands to decrease the populations of deer and other wildlife that eat our crops?

I don't have answers to any of these questions, not even the ones that pertain to my farm.  I've only been thinking about this for a couple of days, after all.  Maybe just asking the questions is a good place to start.

These are hard questions that aren't fun to think about.  Some of them sound extreme, backwards, economically unsound, or maybe even crazy.  Implementing some of the changes required by some of the possible answers would be extremely difficult.  Just because it might be difficult, though, I don't think we should shy away from this.  I'm pretty sure God expects us to do the difficult things in life if they will bring glory to Him.

As we seek to bring glory to our Creator, we as Christian farmers must continually ask ourselves this one question: "What do I need to do differently as I exercise my God-given dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth?"  Once we've asked this question, we need to be prepared to act on the answers.

Farmer friends, I really want to know what you think about all this.  I don't want to have to figure this all out for myself.  Please let me know what you think, either in the comments, or by contacting me directly.  

Non-farmer friends, please don't judge us too harshly.  You may want to ask why we haven't got this all figured out yet and why a "shockumentary" was necessary to get me thinking about it.  No one has all the answers, but we're working to get there.  Please be patient with us, and send us some encouragement.  There are often days when we could really use some assurance that consumers actually do want us to do better, and will help us get there.
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