Though researchers acknowledge that workers on small as well as large pig farms may contract and spread the swine flu virus, the large farms are special objects of concern because of the much higher numbers of animals, the confined conditions (some pigs never see the out-of-doors) and the volume of fly-breeding, water-infiltrating manure. What are the alternatives to meat produced on megafarms?
To produce meat on smaller farms in a region like the Valley, you need not only livestock farms but a U.S.D.A.-approved processing plant, says Rochelle Prunty, general manager of River Valley Market in Northampton. Fortunately, the Valley now has one: the Adams Farm plant in Athol. "Just getting this plant up and running has been a godsend for local producers," says Prunty.
Though it's not cheap—hamburger made from beef from local farms costs $7.99 a pound—Prunty says the market for meat produced by small growers is developing nicely. River Valley Market started with one local beef supplier, River Rock Farm in Brimfield (whose beef is also available at Serio's Market in Northampton), and now sells beef from three other suppliers in the Valley as well; in fact, she says, "we had a little trouble over the summer getting as much as we needed." River Valley offers duBreton pork from Quebec, which comes from vegetable-fed pigs raised with space allowing for free movement and without antibiotics or growth hormone.
"So much of the meat industry has gone to such mega-producing plants," says Prunty. "It used to be that every community had their local meat locker. Those have really gone by the wayside. There's a whole system that feeds being able to have a local food system, and when the local food system goes away, it makes it really hard to maintain."
Prunty reiterated an idea that has come more clearly into focus lately: cheap food and other goods may carry hidden costs. "Anytime you try to make a somewhat natural process like growing things or raising animals into a factory," she says, "there's a price to pay. When things are out of balance, there's the environmental cost and health costs we don't even know the ramifications of until farther down the road. … It really is a future food security issue to keep farmers farming, and to have an infrastructure to get their foods to the community."
