The Compassionate Omnivore

I've been considering eating meat again lately. It's not that I crave the stuff, I'm not actually that fond of most kinds of meat. It's also not for nutritional reasons, though admittedly meat makes getting complete protein a lot easier (many people don't realise we vegetarians have to combine foods quite carefully to ensure we get enough protein - either that or eat Quinoa every day). It was a colleague of mine who recently pointed out that there might be good ethical reason - at least for someone like me who doesn't object to eating animals in principle - for buying meat occasionally, thereby supporting what's known as the 'compassionate omnivore' movement. This just means buying high-welfare organic meat, thereby ensuring that the relatively few farmers out there who treat their animals well can make a decent living. I was also spurred on by this piece on a philosophy blog I read. Here's an excerpt from the conclusion.

I suspect that most non-compassionate omnivores are simply unaware of what happens to the animals whose meat they eat. Luckily, I have just given the readers of this blog the means of disabusing themselves of any misconceptions they might understandably have about how modern farm animals are often raised. As a result, ignorance will not suffice as a justification. Moreover, neither will simply pointing out how delicious meat is. After all, I have not suggested that people should not eat meat at all. I have only suggested that certain forms of meat eating are morally suspect. Indeed, if anything, the meat produced by small family farms that treat their animals well and do not pump them full of hormones and antibiotics should taste better than meat produced by confinement agriculture--plus, it's better for you. This leaves cost as perhaps the main justification for eating factory farmed meat. But I am skeptical that enough moral mileage can be gotten out of cost alone to justify the practice under consideration. Would the people in this country really be that worse off if they ate meat a little less often? The statistics concerning obesity suggest we could all stand to eat a little less of nearly everything (except perhaps fruits and vegetables!). So, what (if anything) justifies non-compassionate omnivorism?