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| Posted by: Cecilia |
Thursday, September 03, 2009 12:17 PM |
It's with great interest I am watching the Future of Food series currently running on BBC 2. In episode 2 George Alagiah investigated meat production and how it can be done in a sustainable way, rather than cause the depletion of natural resources, notably water and oil. A key issue is that the cattle should feed on grass rather than on grain, which could be used for human consumption.
The programme made me particularly happy to live in this region, because of course most of Cumbria's meat is produced exactly according to these principles. Take the Herdwick sheep reared at Yew Tree Farm in Coniston for example.
These sheep are outside all year round, and do not require any extra feed – only what the rough terrain on the fells provide. Jon and Caroline Watson have been farming here for the past five years, having previously reared so called fat lambs on a farm in Yorkshire. And they started out trying the same types of lambs at Yew Tree Farm "The fertilizer cost a fortune, and we were constantly trying to force
the land to give bigger yields - it was an uphill struggle." Instead they decided move to Herdwick and to the way the sheep used to
be farmed, keeping them for as long as it takes to get them ready, at
which point the meat is better, and then charge people for the better
meat, or the extra time, depending on how you look at it. "At first I didn't think the Herdwicks were worth much, but I changed my mind when we started to sell our own meat and it turned out they were more popular, even though we have to charge more because we have to keep them longer. They won out in terms of taste and marketability," says Jon. "They don't eat as much, and they are much better at converting rough ground into meat."
There are many other meat producers in Cumbria, whose animals graze the land. Susan Aglionby rears organic Longhorn Cattle, which produce some of the tastiest beef you are ever likely to eat.
At Deer'n'Dexter Jane and Peter produce gorgeous venison from organically reared deer which graze the fells southwest of Penrith. These animals produce red meat at its leanest and tastiest...
Yes, of course most of the sustainably produced Cumbrian meat costs more than the tasteless, resource draining supermarket equivalent, but to me, that is a price worth paying, even if it means I eat meat four days a week instead of seven.
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