Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on September 17, 2013
Factory Food From Above: Satellite Images of Industrial Farms
Seen from a satellite, an industrial feedlot has a sort of abstract beauty. The washes of colors, the juxtaposition of organic and rigid geometries, initially obscure the subject. Then comes the realization: That’s where our food comes from.
Such is the power of “Feedlots,” a new series of images crafted by British artist Mishka Henner from publicly available satellite photographs. Henner does work with the photos, enhancing the colors — the waste lagoons above, for example, are flat green rather than bright — but the physical details are unaltered.
Henner, who noticed the feedlots while scanning for pictures of oil fields in Texas, didn’t at first realize what he was looking at. Factory farms exist in the United Kingdom, but not at landscape scales.
Even for Americans, though, these sights are unusual. Industrial farming, especially of animals, tends to be hidden from public view — and under so-called ag-gag laws, that secrecy could become law.
The laws, so far enacted by Utah, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri, make it illegal to take undercover photos or videos on farms. Some proposed ag-gag laws would also cover zoos and puppy mills, and would officially label anyone who breaks them as a terrorist.
How might images like Henner’s be affected by ag-gag laws? It’s not clear, said Matthew Liebman, an attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, an animal advocacy group. Texas has no such law, so Henner’s images are safe. In states that do, they could be protected by legal recognition of satellite-level altitudes as public space. Under some proposed laws, though, gathering any imagery without farmer consent is a crime. Taking a snapshot of a feedlot from a window seat in a commercial jetliner would technically be illegal.
Public opinion may be turning against ag-gag laws. Of 11 proposed in state legislatures this year, each was either defeated or tabled until the next legislative session. Utah’s law is being challenged as unconstitutional. “Something’s wrong in the Land of the Free when the act of looking is itself being condemned and punished,” said Henner.
Henner’s work is currently on display at the McCord Museum in Montreal. On these pages are the rest of his photos from “Feedlots.”
7 Comments on "Factory Food From Above: Satellite Images of Industrial Farms"
DMyers on Tue, 17th Sep 2013 11:47 pm
And there I was,…enjoying dinner.
Down with ag-gag laws. How about this law? Any politician who votes for an ag-gag law will be subject to summary recall and fifteen hours of community service for the community of cows at Randall County Feedyard (shown above).
I can hardly wait for the big public interest campaign, “[D]on’t dare be aware of where the shit comes from you’re eating!” Or, it might go something more like, “[Y]ou’re worse off knowing!”
rollin on Wed, 18th Sep 2013 12:54 am
Out of sight out of mind. The American way.
The “ranchers and farmers” don’t want their places photographed because people would stop eating meat or they would be forced to spend money to improve conditions.
They are raising animals like they raise plants.
jedrider on Wed, 18th Sep 2013 1:13 am
It looks like a very advanced stage of a disease like cancer.
BillT on Wed, 18th Sep 2013 2:50 am
jedrider, you are spot on! There is a disaster brewing in Big Ag. And when it happens, millions will die and it will not be someone else. It will be Americans.
I have stopped buying US canned fruits and veggies and now buy only from Europe. when I buy any. At least they have banned GM foods in many places. But the monster has spread to most of the world. Grow your own as we plan to soon.
DC on Wed, 18th Sep 2013 3:32 am
I was thinking it looks like a diseased liver or kidney myself…
GregT on Wed, 18th Sep 2013 4:01 am
Most people have no clue, what-so-ever, where their food comes from. Especially meat.
We walk into our thermally regulated ‘food’ stores, pick out the nicest looking package of ‘beef’, in it’s styrofoam and plastic wrapped package complete with chemical absorbing tampon, take it home, slather it in chemical sauce, and throw it on the Bar-B. Mmm Mmm good.
Anyone that has slaughtered an animal and had it butchered, knows that it doesn’t look, smell, or taste anything like what we routinely buy in our ‘supermarkets’.
Yup, this will all end well.
rollin on Wed, 18th Sep 2013 7:20 pm
Not unexpected for a species that inflicts constant horrors on itself.
It sure does not feel like we are at the top.