With so much noise over COP26 and our environmental responsibilities, sometimes it’s hard to know what’s best to do for the planet – and it’s easy to think that an indulgence such as a meat-laden Christmas dinner must be a bad thing.
An emphasis on eating less meat might be a bit hard to swallow for those who love a decadent Christmas turkey, goose, or chicken, but fear not – you can still eat meat and feel good – because not all meat is created equal.
Take our organic pasture-raised birds that live in the meadows of Farm2Fork. They range over fresh pastures; moved daily to the best grass thanks to moveable chicken “trailers”, the turkeys’ “gobblygo” moveable roosts, and the geese’s love for roaming free.
This method ensures that the pastures aren’t overgrazed, and the birds fertilise the soil without leaving bare, weed-laden patches, unlike many conventional free-range and organic birds reared in static sheds.
Our poultry’s diet has to be supplemented with grains BUT with our birds, it’s not GMO soya. We add certified organic grains from sustainable sources.
When you buy any poultry that isn’t certified organic, including free-range birds, it’s likely they’ll have been fed GMO soya.
This comes predominantly from vast plantations in the Americas that have been deforested to grow the crop; it’s also genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup Ready).
If you want to know more about the impact of non-organic soya and where it comes from, you can read more about that here.
Fear not; GMO ingredients are banned here on the farm – giving us our organic certification.
There are many other environmental benefits to buying a Farm2Fork bird.
Our animals function as a tool in the ecology of the farm, and rotational grazing of the pastures creates a healthy grassland habitat.
The poultry pecks at grubs and insects, keeping diseases and pests away. They are happy in themselves, and equally create a happy environment on the farm. The ecologically rich pastures of Farm2Fork, with diverse grasses and forbs, provide sanctuary for insects and birds, small mammals, and soil-dwelling bacterium and fungi, vital for its health.
Grazing the land builds important topsoil, locks carbon into the ground; and as the grass continually regrows, so it continues to draw carbon down through photosynthesis.
Symbiosis is key to how we work at Farm2Fork. Our poultry is raised as part of a restorative process that enriches the farm and its surrounding environment.
When you eat your Christmas meal, be it a Farm2Fork goose, turkey, or chicken, you can be assured that the meat you’re eating is part of the healing process of the planet and not part of its destruction.
It’s all about choice. Choose certified-organic pasture-raised, and enjoy the knowledge that you’ve made a solid planet-saving decision.
There’s a Christmas present that beats them all.
