This rapid shift and how little it is discussed today should deeply concern us, because how meat is produced substantially affects nutritional value, animal welfare, environmental impact, and working conditions within our food system.

The lack of beauty and truth in modern agriculture is not a benign side effect of efficient production. In the short term, it represents a design flaw to be overcome. Marketers are tasked with painting over the truth, and laws are passed to limit public visibility into these operations. These techniques have propped up the system so far. But make no mistake, in the long run, the combination of ugliness and deception is the system’s Achilles’ heel.