b'mixed media FOOD FOR THOUGHTSacred CowDocumentary Locks Horns with Beef Detractors By Jason Woods, World Ark managing editorDIANA RODGERS WANTS YOUdemonstrate how animal sourceand increasing productivity TO KNOW that eating red meatfoods contribute to healthy dietson farms around the world.is good for you and, when raisedand a healthy planet. The bookTo illustrate, the film highlights well, good for the environment. provides the foundation for thecattle ranchers using such Cattle have been unfairlyfilm, which covers topics like themethods to regenerate more than scapegoated for our failing healthrise of industrialized agriculturea million acres of Chihuahuan and warming climate, Rodgersand processed foods, the foodDesert back to grasslands without said. Eliminating livestockpyramid, and school lunch menususing seeds. When cows are from our food system couldto show how beef has been unfairlyfrequently moved to graze in a do more harm than good. stigmatized. Butchers, professors,way that mirrors wild herds of Rodgers is the producerformer vegans and particularlyruminants, their manure, saliva, and director of Sacred Cow, afarmers take center stage tourine and hoof impacts help documentary available onmake a case for raising cattle. promote plant regrowth, and Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and otherovergrazing is prevented.platforms that is based on her bookCattle have beenWhen properly managed, by the same name. She is alsounfairly scapegoatedRodgers says, cattle help farmland a registered dietician who saysmitigate climate change by animal source foods are essentialfor our failing healthstoring carbon, which leads to for optimal health, and beef isand warmingimproved water cycles. Of course, one of the most nutritious andclimate.the majority of the worlds beef is widely accessible meats available. not produced using regenerative The global dialogue about Diana Rodgers agriculture, and one criticism the future of our food and howof the cattle industry is that it to nourish people while beingThe film is really [teaching]contributes to global warming. eco-friendly focuses on eatinglessons about regenerativeWhile Rodgers acknowledges vegan, vegetarian or certainlyagriculture through producers,the problems factory farming less meat, she said. I challengedsaid Rodgers. As explained inpresents in terms of animal that from a nutritional andthe film, regenerative agriculturewelfare and poor environmental environmental perspective. is a practice that uses a diversepractices, she says the claim that In the Sacred Cow book,mix of animals and plants toeating less beef would help slow Rodgers and co-author Robbmimic, rather than dominate,climate change is overblown.Wolf use scientific data tonature while repairing the soilWe dont have more ruminant 38| SPRING 2021'