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Should meat be on the menu? This page contains public feedback, reviews and comment about the book. I had the fortune the other day to be handed a book which I believe will become a very important asset to the cattle industry’s endeavour to promote the fact we play an essential role in a sustainable food chain. The following except is from the blurb on the back cover of the book which provides a snapshot of how the book presents and discusses the issues. [Trudy then repeats the synopsis of the book started elsewhere on this website] information [Trudy continues] I found the book very engaging and easy to read. The book also provides enlightenment on many of the climate change technicalities which you hear bandied about in the media, which are usually being provided from a negative point of view in regards to the livestock industry. It uses a wide pool of scientific and anecdotal evidence to counter and provide an alternative viewpoint to those who would vilify beef producers as a prime source of harmful emissions. I particularly enjoyed the way it takes the argument back to nature and science, as so many people have come to regard carbon as a ‘poison’, this book brings things back to the reality of how biological systems work. Case studies demonstrate how producers are using practical management strategies to minimise their carbon footprint. I am somewhat pedantic when it come to the discussion of grazing systems, so I was a bit disappointed that it discussed set stocking pretty much as being synonymous with overgrazing, and tended to focus only on rotational grazing as the key solution to improving landscape health (which in principle it can undoubtedly have a role to play). I believe in the end, the grazing systems debate as to how best to achieve ‘A condition’ land is perhaps for us in the industry to sort out according to our situation. I don’t think this small complaint will have a negative effect on the general reader’s enjoyment, or the increased understanding and appreciation of the role of the livestock industry in managing emissions they will gain from this book. I think a practical and positive thing we could all do to promote our industry (and try and stem the juggernaut of negative information being aggressively marketed to our consumers), is to get ourselves a copy of the book, understand the argument so you can back yourself in a verbal tussle with any anti-livestock activist attempting to dissuade you from eating meat, or politician trying to convince you agriculture should be included in a CPRS or ETS! If you follow and agree with the premise of the book buy five copies and send them to your friends in the city and ensure they lend it to five of their city friends who don’t have a connection to someone on the land! David’s website is well worth a look, http://www.journalist.com.au/ . The book can be purchased on-line on this website. The on-line retail price is $29.50 (AUD) with a charge of $6.50 for postage and handling. Review by Terry Naughtin, Agronomist, Ballina, NSW. In his book, ‘Should meat be on the menu?’ David Mason-Jones, has done an excellent job in suggesting that readers look a bit deeper into the real issues surrounding cattle and their carbon emissions. He has done this without being confrontational. The book is easy to read and flows logically through a series of subjects gradually getting into more complicated issues. The writer has tackled a complicated subject using simple non technical language that the layman can easily understand. Mason-Jones has thought through the issues and addressed them in a balanced, common sense manner. He has done a good job of systematically debunking myths in a non aggressive, non partisan way. He has also introduced some new concepts (at least new to me) like Carbon Legacy. Whilst we use the term Legacy when talking about salinity, I have not heard it used when talking about Carbon. He has correctly identified the real issue of nutrient transfer as a major environmental problem in farming, not carbon emissions. He has done a good job debunking the methane myth. His arguments against forestry, and in favour of the maintenance of natural grasslands, are very convincing. All in all, it is a refreshing, original contribution to the environmental debate. The book deserves to be widely read. ***** Review by Julia McKay, National Secretary of the Natural Sequence Association, for submission to The Land Newspaper: July 2010 Should Meat Be on the Menu? by David Mason-Jones When you’re passionate about something, it’s a good idea to find out whether you’re right or wrong before you make a fool of yourself. This is precisely what David Mason-Jones has done and his road to discovery is documented in his recently self-published book, “Should Meat Be on the Menu?” Happily, David has undertaken significant scientific, historical and social research into the entire enteric methane argument and the role of ruminants in landscape rehabilitation. His findings are heartening for most grass-fed, livestock producers in Australia on the proviso that such producers must embrace change if they are to reap the full benefits of their land use choice. David dismantles many myths in his readable hypothesis that domesticated ruminants are an intrinsic element in the solution to greenhouse gas abatement. He proves (beyond reasonable doubt as far as I’m concerned) that pre-European Australia was not heavily forested but rather a landscape of sparsely wooded grasslands, that kangaroo numbers have exploded since settlement to the detriment of the grassland ecology, that plantation forests only benefit bankers not the environment, that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant and that good farming practices are cheaper than bad. It takes a lot of guts for a journalist to publish, at his own expense, a book that attacks the sort of environmental fundamentalism that has received widespread governmental, scientific and social support. David’s book is not perfect nor is it without minor errors of form or substance. However, every contention is supported by authentic scientific research and his conclusions are irresistible – eat meat with a clear conscience. It’s good for the environment, utterly sustainable and ultimately, good for the future of domesticated ruminants whose genetics are based upon our appetite for the flesh and milk of herbivores. You don’t have to be a farmer to appreciate David’s book - it is good reading for secondary and tertiary students, particularly those in cities. In it, he explains many of the innovative farming methods from Peter Andrews’ Natural Sequence, Colin Seis’ Pasture Cropping to Permaculture and the use of bio-char. Buy it through www.journalist.com.au or www.smallfarms.net and recommend it at your local library. About the reviewer **** Comments by Mick Keogh, Executive Director, Australian farm Institute, on the Institute’s website www.farminstitute.org.au A new book has been published which takes a detailed look at the issue of livestock production and greenhouse gases, and concludes that much of the information associated with the issue is either misleading or wrong. Author David Mason-Jones provides an easy-to-read dissection of the issues surrounding livestock and methane production. Perhaps the most powerful image in the book is that of the young boy standing in a field of wheat wondering if the removal of the wheat will reduce the level of the soil as that is obviously where the wheat comes from. Only later does the boy learn that the wheat is composed of carbon fixed from the atmosphere as part of a closed cycle. By applying this same logic to livestock production and the realising that emission accounting rules ignore carbon 'fixed' from the atmosphere as part of the production process, the author reaches the conclusion that livestock production systems in Australia are nowhere near the carbon 'villains' they are made out to be. **** Letter to the editor of The Land Newspaper (8th July 2010) by Graham Pickles, of Burrawang West Station, Ootha, NSW. Current politically correct common wisdom is that livestock (sheep and cattle) are adding to the world’s greenhouse gases and therefore we should stop eating meat. This magnificent piece of logic was popularised by famous people such as Sir Paul McCartney, with Meat Free Monday to encourage Britons to eat less meat. Love the music Paul but please stay away from stretching the truth about science you don’t understand. Meat Free Monday’s website claims ‘it is an environmental campaign to raise awareness of the climate-changing impact of meat production and consumption. Many people are unaware that livestock production is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions – that’s more than the entire transport sector.” David Mason-Jones has just published his book Should Meat Be On The Menu. This book explores the widely held misconception that sheep, cattle and other grazing animals are responsible for an enormous net production of new global warming gases. The reality is that livestock are part of a closed atmospheric carbon cycle where the carbon they emit is equal to the carbon they take in, a far cry from any claim that could possibly be made about the transport sector. Thank you David from the heart of many farmers; your book is very well written and extremely well researched. This book should be purchased by every CWA and given to their local government representatives with a request that they work to shape government policy on agriculture using this book as a guideline to the real world. This book should be bought by every farmer and sent to their city cousins for Christmas. We should take the eloquent words of David Mason-Jones and shout them loudly because logic has escaped the world and its politicians, especially when rock stars shape our beliefs. They have access to the world media which is not equal to their abilities to reason and the world media gives them undeserved credibility outside their areas of expertise. Graham Pickles
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