my ideal diet is plant-based with modest amounts of meat and dairy. i think raising animals can be sustainable as long as it's done on a small scale. the CSA we belonged to in Massachusetts was biodynamic, and they emphasized the importance of having a farm in which animals and plants were raised together, mimicking natural cycles to maintain the soil's fertility. the cows, for example, will graze a fallow field down to the stalks, while pigs will turn the soil, and both will fertilize it with manure, as long as you move them around (michael pollan describes a similar routine of pasturing animals in his book, The Omnivore's Dilemma).

from my perspective, large scale agribusiness is the problem, whether it's factory farmed meat and dairy, conventional produce in the Central Valley (California), or endless soy and corn fields in Iowa.

still, i wonder how it's possible to feed all of North America on locally grown food only. how long is the growing season in Ontario? i'm all for reducing overpopulation as well, but i think we'll have to find a way to adapt sustainable production to meet the needs of large, mostly metropolitan populations.