The groundbreaking argument for meat production as a crucial part Uncorrected prooF. not For qUotation.

Uncorrected prooF. not For qUotation. not For reSale.

of a sustainable, small-scale, holistic farming system.
“This book is a masterpiece: original, challenging
”simon Fairlie is . . . shattering the consensus that we should avoid eating any
and brilliantly argued. simon Fairlie is a great thinker
meat or raising any animals in order to save the planet.”—The Daily Telegraph
and a great writer.” —George Monbiot
“no one has ever analyzed the world’s food and agriculture more astutely
than simon Fairlie—an original thinker and a true scholar.”

meat
—C o L i n T u d G e , biologist and author

“Meat, animals and dairy have been in the firing line for so long that in

meat
some circles the assumption is taken for granted that there is no case, ever,
anywhere, to be made for the role of animals in farming, landcare or diet.
This book by simon Fairlie is a wonderful and challenging correction.”
—T i M L A n G , Professor of Food Policy, City university London

In the debate over eatIng meat, vegetarians developed two winning truths:
vegetarianism is better for human health and better for the environment. Meat explodes these
“truths” with a groundbreaking exploration of the difficult environmental, ethical, and social
issues surrounding humans eating meat, and the future of farming livestock. Already earning

Simon Fairlie
huge praise in the uK, Meat answers the question: should we be farming animals? Author
simon Fairlie presents in-depth research favoring small-scale, holistic, integrated farming sys-
tems that include free-range livestock as the definitive answer to the meat debate. George
Monbiot, a well-known environmental activist and supporter of veganism, has retracted his
support for veganism after reading Meat. This is a life-changing book.
Fairlie, a farmer in his own right, presents an agricultural and environmental theory that
A Benign extravagance
picks up where other works on vegetarianism and veganism have fallen short in their scope.
His research is based in deep permacultural theory and a respect for natural systems that flour-
ished long before corporate agriculture and animal factory farms. Refreshingly, Fairlie shows
humility in the face of unanswered questions—a rare and wonderful asset that has already
invited global discussion among those who might otherwise shy away from the topic. Meat is
crucial food for thought in a debate that has been raging for decades.

PuBLiCATion dATe: March 2011

Contact: elliott Bent ‡ elliott@ksefocus.com ‡ 802-229-4900 x112
$24.95 usd ‡ isBn 9781603583244 ‡ Paperback ‡ 7 x 10 ‡ 336 pages Simon Fairlie
Chelsea Green PublishinG
Po Box 428 ‡ White River Junction, VT 05001 ‡ 802-295-6300 ‡ www.chelseagreen.com Foreword by Gene LoGsdon
Chelsea
Green
FOREWORD

Simon Fairlie’s Meat: A Benign Extravagance is the sanest book I have read on
the subject of how the human race is going to feed itself in the years ahead. Its
main attention is given to the pro-meat versus no-meat debate, but it really
involves an intense scrutiny of what we know and don’t know about the entire
food chain. Fairlie’s search to ferret out the truth in these matters is awesomely
thorough—he leaves no stone unturned.

I have been tempted to try writing a book like this one, waving a flag of caution
before all the fervent advocates of one diet or another. But I doubt that I could
endure the displeasure, even wrath, that would be visited upon me if I pointed out,
as Fairlie does, that neither vegan nor meat glutton, nor factory farmer nor,
horrors, even my own favorite food-production system—pasture farming—has all
the answers. Fairlie is made of sterner stuff.

Somebody had to write this book, and thank heavens it was a writer with the wit
and wisdom of Simon Fairlie. The reason his book is so important is that what it
addresses—food security, first and foremost—is being undermined by well-
intentioned people of all persuasions who are demanding rules and regulations in
food matters without enough knowledge. We all have very firm convictions about
what we want to eat and don’t want to eat, but the only direct contact with the
food chain that most of us experience is what we see when we sit down at the
table. We have only foggy notions of how all forms of life interact in the food
chain, how we are all seated at an unimaginably vast table, eating and being eaten.
In fact, even scientists who make these matters their lifelong study know only a
little, and the honest ones readily admit it.

But because we have zillions of reams of information about food production and
endless columns of numbers to pick from in support or denial of whatever we
want to believe, we think that human intelligence has analyzed the subject well
enough to start dictating public policy about what we should eat and how it should
be produced. This book is most valuable because it will convince the open-
minded reader that when we start making grand statements about the earth’s food-
carrying capacity, more than a little humility is in order. No matter how fervently
we support the no-meat or the pro-meat point of view, or how much allegiance we
have for any particular dietary bible, or what kind of farming we think best serves
humanity’s food purposes, or what we think about carbon footprints, global
warming, greenhouse gases and any of the other trendy phrases with which the
news batters us, or what economic religion we think best serves the purpose of
providing food for all, I challenge anyone to read this book and not realize that no
one has all the right answers, because neither science nor ideology knows all the
right answers yet.

Humility is a wonderful asset in the pursuit of knowledge, and Simon Fairlie

gives the reader plenty of opportunity to acquire some. He addresses every aspect
of the food and agriculture debate with unrelentingly thorough research and
unswerving, sometimes almost ruthless, logic. Wherever he finds financial self-
interest prevailing over objective data, wherever he spies ideology undermining
science, he does not spare his rod of criticism. That is the beauty of this book; it
does not take sides. It asks for more knowledge and objective thinking from
everyone, and in the meantime, seeks compromise. In these days of polarization
in almost everything, this book is a benign gift of clear thinking. The author also
brings a sharp sense of humor to the debate, adding to the pleasure of reading the
research.

The no-meat versus pro-meat camps might ponder the lessons of Prohibition days.
No doubt trying to make old demon alcohol disappear was a noble idea, but we
learned the hard way that it just isn’t going to happen. And so it is with eating
meat. As Fairlie argues, allowing for moderation works better for overall food
security than trying to make farm animals disappear, and just might make it easier
for vegetarians to follow their diet preferences, too.

I am constantly amazed at how many people quoted in this book seem to believe
that they have the one and only answer to food issues even though they apparently
have not one farthing of experience in farming. Simon Fairlie has spent
considerable time actually doing farm work, which undoubtedly has informed his
research to great end. I offer this to you, reader—within, find an important, well-
written, and absolutely crucial addition to the agricultural canon, which I trust will
have a much-needed impact on the future of sustainable agriculture.

Gene Logsdon