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In my early career I worked in the engineering/industrial sector,
in particular making steel wire as the raw material for steel bolts
and screws.
There is a clear and simple industrial philosophy - to increase
productivity by:-
- using cheaper raw material to make the same product
- getting the machine to produce more parts per hour
- getting the machine to last for more years before it must be
replaced (and also to get machines that need less maintenance)
This industrial philosophy has been applied to agriculture, but in
a very simplistic way - animals are fed cheaper stuff, might be
given steroids to put on weight quicker, kept indoors all year,
and persuaded to have more offspring every year.
This may work, and may produce satisfactory results for a while.
Perhaps I am being simplistic, but animals are not machines
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If a machine breaks down, a part can be replaced, it can be checked
for other worn parts, and perhaps there is a planned maintenance
programme (such as an MOT test system for cars). However, if an
animal is pushed beyond its limit by production demands, it may
'break down'. But then,
1. how can you tell this has happened ?
2. how can you predict how the breakdown will manifest (perhaps
a new a BSE-type disease will develop ?)
3. what is the 'planned maintenance' programme for the animals -
how can they get a holiday and recover ?
If animals are industrialised, I can only predict the worst possible
results from this, and I would suggest that BSE resulted from over-exploitation
of the animal-machines, and that worse could follow. The Government
does not seem to have policies for this.
In terms of the dispositive, this section is about the application
of a discourse (industry) to a new area (food production), and notes
the events that have arisen from this (BSE and F+M disease). The
physical products from that industry may be marketed and packaged
in ways which maintain a fantasy about their production
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