EinStückLand: Cowfunding instead of factory farming
In times of mass animal husbandry, animal suffering and food waste, more and more people are paying attention to the conscious handling of food, reducing their meat consumption and focusing above all on quality instead of quantity. When shopping, labels and seals can be helpful, as they mark species-appropriate husbandry. But small companies in particular often fail here because of the costs that such a certification process entails, even though they would actually meet the requirements.
EinStückLand offers an alternative to supermarket meat
The online platform A piece of land would like to do it differently: You market the high-quality meat from Galloway cattle, colorful Bentheimer pigs and chickens from northern Germany and sell it throughout Germany. They obtain the meat from small businesses that pay attention to species-appropriate husbandry and respectful treatment of the animals. Here the animals really still stand on meadows and in the open air and lead an animal-friendly life.
Another special feature of EinStückLand: The animals are only slaughtered when the entire animal has been sold. So none of the valuable meat ends up in the bin. The founders of EinStückLand, Lina and Hinrich, then call the whole thing “cowfunding”. We think: a great concept and a real alternative to supermarket meat!
We asked Hinrich, one of the two founders of EinStückLand, our three questions.
1. What was or is your motivation behind EinStückLand?
Lina and I wanted to change something. Through my parents, who market cattle themselves, we noticed that direct marketing is getting more and more complicated and that some smaller breeders will eventually stop breeding altogether. The reason: the workload is simply too high. And actually the heart beats for breeding and not for marketing. We then took on this and had as a basic idea to give the smaller companies a new way of marketing. This would then strengthen the decentralized structures and also be able to offer people all over Germany an alternative to supermarket meat. In addition, we were fed up with constantly reading about meat scandals, about animals that are raised under degrading conditions and about the generally negative headlines regarding meat. We wanted to change something, encourage them to rethink and reflect and show people that there is another way. And we're already on the right track. The great thing: With his order, the customer supports very species-appropriate breeding, the small businesses and our village butcher.
2. What do you advise our readers: What can you do specifically for a better future?
Everyone can do something good on a small scale. It doesn't have to be big changes right away, but if you think a little bit when buying groceries and are aware of the origin, etc. and then maybe turn to another product, then a lot has been achieved. We are fundamentally against radicalism in such things. Everyone has to find a good and appropriate path for themselves. If someone likes to eat avocados, please eat them. But in moderation and not in masses. In addition: ride your bike more, ride a car less, try to google less! And just treat the environment and fellow human beings and living beings a little more respectfully.
3. How do travel and sustainability fit together for you?
We live in 2019. Travel is part of it nowadays. The only question is: how do I travel? Everyone likes to fly to distant countries. That is also OK. Here, too, is: In moderation! Still, you shouldn't forget how beautiful your own country is. However, in this entire aircraft debate, we see companies primarily having an obligation to minimize commuters on the aircraft. Because flying across the country for a day and then sitting at your own dining table at home is not future-oriented in our eyes.
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