How Can Life Be Worth So Little?

I was grocery shopping the other day and comparing prices. I couldn't believe that broccoli was more expensive per kilo than a chicken!

It occurred to me that the price of the life on one chook is so little - a vegetable is worth more.

Now, personally I find that very disturbing ... how can a living, breathing animal have such little value?

Never mind that actually producing meat requires a heck of a lot more water - about 46,000 litres per kilo of beef compared to 100 for a kilo of potatoes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not blaming for farmers for this - I think we, the consumers have a lot to answer for.

We demand low-cost food, even at the expense of animal welfare.

Farmers are simply supplying the market, and more often than not, are not receiving the money for their produce they should, supermarkets simply won't pay it.

I would prefer to eat one good free range chook that's lived a free life (and pay more for it) than a dozen which have been cooped up in chicken farms and "processed" in factories.

I remember, as a young child, that having a roast chicken dinner was a treat - something we could only afford perhaps once a month. So, we ate every morsel of that meal, nothing was wasted.

If the price of meat were to go up, then perhaps we would and appreciate it a little more - the farmers too would reap the benefits.

Thankfully, we are slowly learning about the value of locally grown, free range produce - farmers markets are becoming more popular,

We are examining where produce comes from and how its grown. We are starting to think more ethically about the food we eat.

So, next time I go shopping I will happily pay for locally grown, fresh produce - and I'll also continue to purchase free range meat, even if it means I eat less of it.

I just hope that one day we can appreciate that a life, whether it be a chook, a cow, a pig or sheep is worth more than a bunch of broccoli.