ABSTRACT
It is widely acknowledged that the scale of global livestock production and consumption must be drastically reduced. However, the end-point is a subject of an intense debate that pivots around a basic question: is some level of livestock production and consumption necessary within regenerative agricultural systems? On one side is a belief that the labour and wastes of animals are needed in regenerative agriculture, and their eggs, milk, and flesh should continue to be used as complementary sources of food for humans, with far smaller populations and per capita consumption than the present. From this perspective, the functionality of animals on farms limits the extent to which non-hierarchical interspecies relations can be pursued. On the other side is a belief that there has never been a moral licence for the multifunctionality of domesticated livestock, and that these practices do not provide guidance for a new geologic epoch. This perspective has the uncompromising goal of abolishing all animal labour, consumption, and property status. This chapter considers the major elements of this debate with attention to the ethics of interspecies relations, insisting that debates about the necessity of use should stay attuned to conditions of exploitation and the possibilities of non-violence.
